Cairo Rosenwald School is a former

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

children located in the unincorporated community of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Sumner County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. It was one of seven Rosenwald schools built in the county.

History

Construction of the school began in 1922 and was completed in 1923. The Julius Rosenwald Fund provided $500 toward the construction cost, the African-American community of Cairo raised $700 toward the project cost, and the Tennessee public school fund provided the remaining $700. The school was built according to a standard design for a one-teacher Rosenwald school. Built on a stone foundation, it has a gable-end entrance and weatherboard siding. Its interior contains one classroom, with two cloak closets on either side of the entrance door and a platform across the end of the building opposite the door. Modernization efforts after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

included addition of electric wiring and indoor

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling (HVAC), waste removal, and potable water delivery ...

, resulting in one of the cloak closets being converted to a restroom. The school was operated until 1959, serving grades 1 through 8. After it closed due to school consolidation, it became a community center. In 1996, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

due to efforts by the Cairo Improvement Club. The building underwent a major restoration in 2008–2009 under the direction of the Tennessee Preservation Trust and the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation. The restoration project was assisted by a grant award of $46,987 from Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation.

History

References

Further reading