St. Joseph's Industrial School is a historic former Black Catholic

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

and

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

in Clayton,

Kent County, Delaware Kent County is a County (United States), county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 181,851, making it the least populous county in Delaware. The county ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2002.

Building

It encompasses three contributing buildings, one contributing structure, and three contributing objects. They are the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

-style Chapel (1896),

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

-style Administration Building and Rectory (1951), St. Michael's Hall (1960), the Entry Arch (1896), and three figural marble religious statues. and '

History

The school was founded by the St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart and opened in 1896 as an educational institution for young

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

men during the time of segregation. The school was closed in 1972 by the Josephite Society, which established the St. Joseph Center for Prayer at the facility in 1973. In March 2002, the St. Joseph's Project Foundation purchased the property and secured a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

to rehabilitate and occupy the buildings. It was added to the

the same year. A Marine Corps JROTC school known as First State Military Academy (part of the

New Tech Network New Technology High School is a secondary school located in Napa, California. It focuses on project-based learning, student-centered culture, college and workforce readiness, and technology integration. It is the flagship school of the New Tech ...

) occupied the property as of 2014, still using the three main buildings.

References

External links

First State Military Academy website
African-American historic places School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware Italianate architecture in Delaware Colonial Revival architecture in Delaware Educational institutions established in 1896 Schools in Kent County, Delaware National Register of Historic Places in Kent County, Delaware Josephite schools in the United States 1896 establishments in Delaware Historically segregated African-American schools in Delaware Educational institutions disestablished in 1972 1970s disestablishments in Delaware {{Delaware-NRHP-stub

Building

History

See also

References

External links