Taylorstown White School
Opening and Closing
1900-1940: The School Board decided to close Taylorstown in AY 1940/41. See EWP Archives. 8.1 Loudoun County School Budget, Beginning July 1, 1940, pg 30. At a meeting of the School Board on Feb 28, 1940, it was resolved to close the school and transport children to Leesburg. Source: EWP 8.1 Loudoun County School Budget for Fiscal Year starting July 1, 1940, Pg 29.
Physical and Map Location
13107 Furnace Mountain Rd, Lovettsville, VA 20180. According to Carl (last name protected - 5/9/2018), who attended the school until the 6th grade in 1941, when he transferred to Lovettsville, the old building faced Furnace Mountain Road and sat directly over the green bush in a photo by Larry Roeder. To the right was a baseball diamond and the left a shed for holding coal. There was also a water well, which is still in use After the school was closed in 1941 and sold, it was torn down and most of the wood used for a home down the road. Some was also used for the current brick structure.
Petitions
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/s/ewp/item/31273 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
According to Wikipedia, During the 19th century, the Taylorstown area was one of the most densely populated areas of Loudoun County. The town had a post office, a blacksmith’s shop, 2 mills (one is still standing), a U.S. Government-operated still, general and supply stores and a movie theatre. There are also records of schools, most notably the Crossroads School built in 1834, which was located near Waterford Downs until the 1940s.
“Taylorstown is today a community of about four thousand people (3,216 were recorded in the 2000 census, a number that has grown significantly) who live generally within a three-mile (5 km) radius of the original town center. It is no longer considered an official township of Virginia, and has consequently been vaguely divided among the distantly neighboring towns of Leesburg, Lovettsville, Lucketts, and Waterford. This has resulted in a confusion of government services: some residents have the address of one town, the phone number of another, and the school of whichever district maintains the nearest bus route.
The population is economically diverse. Some residents are artists and do not possess working plumbing, other residents live in mansions worth tens of millions, and the rest are somewhere in between. Easy access to the MARC commuter rail has also brought in a number of residents who commute to work daily in Washington, D.C. via an hour-long train ride.”
Paper Term Reports for Taylorstown White, Lovettsville District for 1924/25 to 1940/41 are in EWP Archives 6.3.2 Box 3
Instructors
Insurance and Physical Description
An ordinary joisted, two story, detached frame building with metal roof on stone foundation. The schoolhouse only had two room! It was heated by stoves, the flues of which were of standard construction. The footprint was approximately 24.5 x 45′ and in 1940 was only in fair condition, being badly in need of paint. Its insurance value was $1600. Construction cost in 1900 was $2000.
Additional Photos
