Edwin Washington Project

Lovettsville Colored School

Photo (undated) of Lovettsville Colored School, courtesy of Claudette Bard, July 11, 2017.

Edited 8/18/2023.

Opening and Closing

• Original opening data is still being determined.  Archive records go back to 1892.
• Closed 1950/51 academic year. – students sent to Waterford

Physical and Map Location

• Corner of North Berlin and West Broadway. The Lovettsville colored school also met at the AME church, whose formal and legal name is “Antioch."
• During segregation the building was in the Lovettsville School District.  Was school A.

Petitions

Undated Petition. Looks like it is missing the operative page.  The remaining page shows a list of parent and students and ages, probably to justify keeping the school open.  We have not researched each person yet; but based on preliminary examination, the data of the petition is likely to be in the 1930's.

Children of Cecil Berry

1. Leslie Berry, 13
2. Louis Berry, 10
3. George Berry, 10

Children of Ray Anderson

1. Helen Anderson, 8
2. Thomas Anderson, 6
3. David Anderson, 15
4. Ray Von Anderson 14
5. Pearl Anderson, 12

Children of Bora Moten

1. Helen Moten 11
2. Mary Moten 10
3. James Moten 7
4. June Moten 6

Children of Addie Nickens

1. Gladys Nickens 12
2. Vergie Nickens 10
3. Ray Nickens 8
4. James Nickens 7
5. Josephine Nickens 6

Children of Lula C. Brown

1. Anna Margaret Brown 6
2. Edna Hogans, 15
3. Charles Henry Hogan 6

Transportation 

Walking was a common method of school transportation even before the creation of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS).  It’s believed that students who lived within 3 miles of a school could walk from their home to school.  The figure at https://edwinwashingtonproject.org/admin/item/31201 shows the location of the school with a circle representing the area from which students could have walked, back and forth from their home to the school.  Travel by horse was also used and could have extended the travel distance.

History

(Grades 1-7)

• Registers Available for Viewing
• LCPS stated using 3x5 cards in 1917 to track enrollment, attendance, term and teacher statistics. There are no records in that system for 1917 through 1920.  The school was also not open in academic years 1923/24, 1925-1928.  See EWP 6.6 Lovettsville Colored.
• 1923/24  Not open
• 1924 (March): The County School Board voted to operate Lovettsville for the 1924/25 Academic Year. Source: Emerick, Ruth. M. (1924). Minutes of the County School Board Meeting for March 17, 1924. Purcellville: LCPS.
• 1924 (8 July 8: The School Board authorized the Chairman and Clerk of the Board to renew an outstanding loan for Lovettsville District. We don’t know if this benefitted the colored school. That’s TBD with further research. Source: Emerick, Ruth. M. (1924). Minutes of the County School Board Meeting for 8 July 1924. Purcellville: EWP Archives.
• 1925/26 Not open
• 1933/34 Closed
• In 1938/39, the number designation for Lovettsville Colored was #4. Source EWP: 1.7 1939 Socio Econ Study.
• 1949/50  was the last academic year of learning. The school was then closed and students were "hauled to Waterford."

Instructors

• 1892/97:   James F. Hamilton.  Registers, as well as  Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975 (1893 1894 Colored Reel 4418 Census of Colored Teachers 1893/94 – March 30, 1894), Richmond, Virginia, USA: Virginia Department of Public (1895 Colored A Census of Colored Teachers 1894/95 – Done Dec 10, 1894), Richmond, Virginia, USA: Virginia Department of Public Instruction/Education.
• 1897/99: Harvey Johnson.
• 1924/25: Sarah C. Lewis. Source: Term Reports, EWP Archives.
• 1925/26 – 1927/28. Missing.
• 1928/29. Mrs. Effie Robertson Gray. Born June 28, 1905.  Educated at Peabody High School, Pittsburgh, PA and Cheyney PA Training School, Sept 1923-June, 1925. (note: Journalist Ed Bradley would later graduate from the same school). Source: Term and Teacher Reports, EWP Archives.
• 1929/30: Mrs. Mattie C. Moats. Source: Term Reports, EWP Archives
• 1930/1931 – 1932/33: In July, 1930, the School Board Milda M. Smith, then with nine years experience teaching, one in Loudoun, and was paid $60 a month. Smith was born July 3, 1900 and was educated at Hampton Institute and Petersburg. Sources:Term Reports and teacher Reports, EWP Archives, Loudoun Times Mirror Staff. (1930, July 10). School Board Holds Its Regular Session. Loudoun Times Mirror. (b) Virginia Dept. of Education, Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975. Richmond, Virginia, USA.
• 1934/35 1939/40: Elizabeth C. Jones.
• 1940/41 – 42/43: Luventa Ramey. Sources: Term Reports, EWP Archives, Loudoun Times Mirror, Times Staff, School Board (from page 1), pg 2 showed colored teachers. April 16, 1942.
• 1943/44 – 45/47: Mildred Boyd Gray, Born Feb 16, 1903. Lived in Washington, DC. Educated at Dunbar High School and Miner Normal (1921-23). In 1940 boarded with fellow public school teacher Anna Gaskins. Sources: Term and Teacher Reports, EWP Archives and 1940 U.S. census for Loudoun.

Insurance and Physical Description

• Frame, Owned by the School District in 1893.  1 room.  9  windows.  Heated with a coal stove.
• In 1898, had in good condition, 15 desks and  teacher's desk, 5 benches, 3 black boards, 1 stove, 1 scuttle and 1 shovel, 1 broom and 2 buckets, 5 cups and 1 chart.

Additional Photographs

Early Attendance and Upper Branch Learning Statistics.

• AY 1892-1898
  • Oct 1892.  9 Boys and 11 girls.  1 child was in upper branch training, which was a secondary school level course.  Probably Annie Rivers, age 19, daughter of a former spy for the Union Army.
  • Oct 31-Dec 23, 1892.  9 Boys and 11 girls.
  • Jan 2, 1893 -Feb 14, 1893.  13 Boys and 14 girls.
  • Feb 27, 1893-March 25, 1893.  11 Boys and 13 girls.
  • Oct 1893 - Nov 3, 1893.  10 Boys and 10 girls.
  • Nov 6 1893-Dec  1893  10 boys and 12 girls.
  • Dec 4 1893- Jan5, 1894. 9 boys and 16 girls.
  • Attenn
• AY 1898-1899

Upper Branch and High School

• 1892 October.  One student received upper branch instruction.   We suspect this was was Annie Rivers, age 19 (oldest in the student body and also the daughter of a spy for the Union Army during the civil war.
• 1893/94: One student received upper branch instruction, perhaps Steele's Physiology.

Textbooks in 1897 perhaps for the indigent

The register for this year made special note of books used by pupils from School Board.  FYI:  Other notes on books are listed throughout the register, which is the normal procedure.   This list might have been created for indigent students, though that's not certain.   Books and stationary were provided the indigent by the Literary Fund.

Cora Gray received:   Barnes U.S. History, Language Grammar, Complete Arithmetic, Appleton's Geography, McCuffey's Fifth Reader, Webster's Dictionary.  Cora in July, 1897 was 13  years old and her parent or guardian was Lou Streams of Lovettsville.

Nettie Davis received:   Appleton Geography, McGuffey's Fourth Reader, Elementary Arithmetic, Independent Book.  Nettie in July, 1897 was 12 years old and the daughter of Dinah Davis of Lovettsville.

Lonia Davis received:  McGuffey's First Reader.    Lonia in July, 1897 was 9 years old and the daughter of Dinah Davis of Lovettsville.