Century-old school that’s part of Charlotte region’s Black history for sale for $2.2M
The Smithville Rosenwald School, a century-old former pillar of the historically Black neighborhood of Smithville in Cornelius, is up for sale.
The historic landmark on South Hill Street is listed on Zillow by North Carolina-based NorthGroup Real Estate with an asking price of $2.2 million. Details on the sale are sparse. One of the property owners, Milton Howard, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Charlotte Observer.
The Zillow ad was posted on Feb. 23.
A school and community center
The school has been a learning and gathering place for the Smithville community since it was built in 1922.
It was part of The Rosenwald School Building Program, which was founded by businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald and African-American leader and educator Booker T. Washington. The program funded the construction of over 5,300 schools and buildings throughout 15 predominately southern states to provide education to Black youths during segregation.
A majority of the Rosenwald buildings were constructed in North Carolina —more than 800 structures, according to the Charlotte Museum of History. Approximately 26 were built in Mecklenburg County.
About 135 students enrolled in the Smithville Rosenwald School after it was built and were taught by the school’s first teachers, Zetta Sherrill and Geraldine McCullough, according to the Cornelius Historic Preservation Commission.
The school closed in the 1940s and was later sold by the Mecklenburg County Board of Education in 1954.
For $2,500, the school then belonged to Wilson Potts, Ernest Harvell, Ozon Brice, Mack Brice, and James Caldwell. The five community leaders turned the school into the Smithville Better Community Club, allowing the facility to remain a gathering place.
There the neighborhood hosted parties, fundraisers, a barber shop and information clinics.
An empty home and deteriorating building
According to county records, Howard and Medley were given the school in 2000 and it remained a community hub. In 2006, at the request of Howard, the school was designated a historic landmark.
But in 2010, the building began to deteriorate, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
In 2011, Nannie Potts, the first woman and only African American Mayor of Cornelius, told The Charlotte Observer that she had hosted summer camps at the school for decades but stopped because of the condition of the building and the rent.
Since then, it’s sat empty, said Lisa Mayhew-Jones, executive director of the Smithville CommUNITY Coalition.
It’s unclear what will become of the site. With the historic designation, property owners need to receive approval from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission to change parts of the building, such as the facade.
But change in ownership or use doesn’t need approval. If the future owner wants to demolish the property, they would have to receive a Certificate of Appropriateness from the historic commission.
The CommUNITY Coalition is interested in the property, Mayhew-Jones said. It’s just a matter of whether the nonprofit can afford it.
While the listing price for the 2.09-acre site is over $2 million, a 2024 county assessment says the property is worth $287,300. According to Zillow, the market value is worth $491,400.
Mayhew-Jones said the coalition is looking for grants or potential partnerships that could help the nonprofit purchase the school. In the past, nonprofits such as Silver Star Community Inc. and the Wells Fargo Foundation have assisted in restoring Rosenwald Schools for new uses.
The Charlotte Museum of History helped save and relocate the Siloam School to its campus in 2023, turning the space into a community resource and education center.
Purchasing the school would be part of the coalition’s revitalization plan, which seeks to build affordable housing, needed infrastructure and keep residents in place.
It could remain a community center or be turned into affordable housing, Mayhew-Jones said. But first, they need to buy it.
“We would love to acquire it,” Mayhew-Jones said. “It’s part of our history.”
