Cornland School facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Cornland School
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 Location in Virginia
Location in the United States
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| Location | 5221 Glencoe St., Chesapeake, Virginia 36°36′50″N 76°22′41″W |
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| NRHP reference No. | 15000546 |
| Added to NRHP | August 24, 2015 |
The Cornland School is a special one-room schoolhouse located in Chesapeake, Virginia. It's thought to be the oldest school of its kind in the Tidewater region of Virginia that was built before the famous Rosenwald Schools. In 2015, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's an important historical site.
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History of Cornland School
The Cornland School building was likely built around 1902. Some clues even suggest it might have been there as early as 1885. When it was first built, the school didn't have electricity or indoor bathrooms. It was kept warm by a wood-burning stove in the middle of the room.
This school was very important because it was one of the first places in the area to offer education to African American children. It closed its doors in 1952 when students started going to bigger, combined schools nearby.
People who support the school's restoration say that there was an even older school building close by. Records show that three schools for African American children existed in Norfolk County as early as 1871. The first Cornland School was probably one of them. Local stories say that formerly enslaved people, who really valued education, built it on land given by Israel Foreman. By 1885, official papers started listing the teachers' names at the school. Restoring Cornland School helps us remember the beginnings of African American education and how much progress has been made.
To learn more about the school's past, members of the Cornland School Foundation are talking to people who used to go there. Some of these former students are also helping to save and restore the school.
Saving the School: Preservation Efforts
In 2010, an organization called Preservation Virginia listed Cornland School as one of the most endangered historic places. This was because the building was in very bad shape. The City of Chesapeake is now working to restore the building.
The school has already had some smaller repairs, like replacing the front steps. After the school closed in 1952, the building was used as a church and then as a home. Some of the changes made for those uses are still part of the building today.
School Building Design: Architecture
The Cornland School is built in a style called Vernacular architecture. This means it uses local materials and building traditions. The school is made of wood siding, which are overlapping wooden boards. It has a metal roof with standing seams. A small brick chimney sticks out from the middle of the roof.
The windows have six panes of glass on the top and six on the bottom. However, the glass itself is one piece, not broken up by small frames. There are three windows on both the east and west sides of the building. The remaining glass in the windows has been covered with plastic films that look like stained glass. The windows have also been boarded up to protect the building from weather until it can be fully fixed and restored.
See also
