Hopes to save one of the county’s two remaining African-American schools now look to be realized, with the help of funds from a leading cable television network.
The History Channel has awarded the Caldwell County Historical Society in Princeton with a $10,000 Save Our History grant to partner with local students to preserve the one-room school on Grove Street in Fredonia, a building that is also home to the Fredonia Colored Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
The project, entitled “Save Our 1926 African-American School,” partners the county historical society with the Caldwell County school district and the Fredonia Heritage Committee as leaders of the community project.
Students from all grade levels will, under the guidance of the Kentucky Heritage Council, be involved in the physical restoration of the structure, while also gathering oral histories, developing a documentary film and creating exhibits and brochures about the site.
The path to having a funded project began this spring, when local Renaissance on Main/Main Street Committee member Phyllis Robertson read about the grant program and passed the information along to program manager Sam Koltinsky, who in turn shared the news with the historical society.
With that organization’s support for the project, work began to identify a site suitable for the Save Our History grant program.
That search led to the Grove Street school; its caretakers, the Blair family; and the Fredonia Heritage Committee, a group eager to preserve the school/church and its history.
With their backing, and that of the City of Fredonia, which owns the property, Koltinsky enlisted the support of the Caldwell County school system and its students.
With their support, Koltinsky, as project director and historical society representative, Caldwell County Elementary School Library Media Specialist Tammie Sanders and Judy Boaz, director of the George Coon Public Library and the Glenn E. Martin Genealogy Library, began the detailed grant application process.
Their efforts have now paid off, and, with student and community support, the historic African-American school will forever have its place in the fabric of the community’s history.
Several educational projects will be incorporated into the Grove Street school’s restoration, including some heavy-duty carpentry work by Caldwell County Area Technology Center students.
Under the direction of carpentry instructor Stephen Young, students will work with Fredonia residents Leon Brasher, Phillip Phelps, Jimmy Riley and Dennis Cox to stabilize the building’s foundation, remove its porch, restore the roof and back room, and paint and patch its exterior.
Younger students will be involved when possible: painting, caulking windows and removing carpet, for example.
Several other educational endeavors will also play key roles in the site’s preservation.
• In September, students will be involved in an archaeological dig to try and uncover artifacts from the site’s 80-year history, under the direction of archaeologist Jessica Allgood.
• Student groups, under the leadership of the school’s teaching/student team and staff from the George Coon Public Library and Glenn E. Martin Genealogy Library, will research and scan historical documents for significant materials and information.
• The Caldwell County High School multimedia class, instructed by Kim Farmer, will produce a documentary film next semester.
• Brochures will be designed and created by local students.
• Students will also produce a photo documentary of the restoration.
• Oral histories, from community members who attended one-room schools similar to Fredonia’s, will be gathered in September.
• In February, all students, grades K-12, will be invited to participate in a community artifact collection event, to seek out school furnishings and supplies common in the one-room school era.
Artifacts will be documented, researched and incorporated into a permanent exhibit at the school.
When the projects are completed, an open house will allow school classes and community members the chance to visit the newly-restored site and view its permanent displays, as well as the student-produced documentary.
The History Channel created the Save Our History grant program with the counsel of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and is “committed to inspiring and motivating local communities to learn about and take an active role in the preservation of their past through projects involving artifacts, oral histories, sites, museums or landmarks that exist in their own neighborhoods,” according to a release from the cable network.
With support from its sponsors, The History Channel has contributed nearly $750,000 in grant funding toward the cause.
The county historical society is one of 27 history organizations across the U.S. that will receive Save Our History community preservation grants in the 2006-07 funding cycle.
