Edwin Washington Project

Willard Colored

Willard Colored School, Photo of Margaret Peck just before hauling.

Background

This covers research in 2018  on Willard Colored, which is based largely on Loudoun County Public School Records and local memories, and Willard White School, which is based on records by the Loudoun County Public Schools regarding the 1915 School Fair, as well as research by Jeff Clark, Producer/Director, Communications and Community Relations, Gatehouse Administrative Center, Fairfax County Public Schools, and Debbie Robison, Sully District History Commissioner, Fairfax County.

Loudoun School Board adopts names for four new schools, considers improvements for transportation | News | loudountimes.com

Willard Map

Opening and Closing

2018: A new intermediate school in Loudoun was created in 2018, and after recommendations were received from a naming committee of citizens, the School Board titled the structure Willard Intermediate School. 2017 (May) In order to preserve the memory of the African-American community in the village of Willard, the Black History Committee of the Friends of the Balch Library successful lobbied the naming committee of LCPS to name a fresh intermediate School Willard. Address is 40915 Braddock Road Aldie, VA 20105.

Physical and Map Location

Larry Roeder discussed the location of Willard Village and school with Margaret Peck and her daughter Ann in 2018 and then with the Operations Office of Dulles Airport on June 28, 2018 and was informed that they consider the community to be under the intersection of Runway 1L/19R. The coordinates for 1L are Lat 38-56.698000N and Long 077-28.488585W. Source for coordinates is airport/KIAD.

• Willard Colored School: Based on County CPS records and a review of the 1915 USGS map of the area, we have determined the location to be on the current Dulles Airport property just west of the site of the white school at coordinates 38.9400000, -77.462000. This point is marked on the above map (lower left) with a red dot. The referenced area for the colored school would best be identified as “abeam the approach end of Runway 1C”. the small roadway to the west of the marking is Tracon road.
• Willard White School: Based on Fairfax CPS records and a review of the 1915 USGS map of the area, we have determined the location to be on the current Dulles Airport property just east of the site of the Colored school at coordinates 38.94220000, -77.450000.  This point is marked on the above map (mid level) with a blue dot. For the white school, that area would best be identified as the “ R26-28 remote aircraft parking area on Taxi-lane Foxtrot”.
• For detailed map, see EWP  9.2.2 Yr 2018 Map of Willard School Houses below.

Final Resting Place of the Building:

Location was 38.9400000, -77.462000.  See location overlaid on Dulles Airport in map on Willard Schools Page. See also discussion on the Willard White School page.

Final Resting Place. Recent scholarship by Wynne Saffer, an historian in the Aldie area, indicates that the Colored School might have been moved to just above the brown line in the follow map of Dulles. The brown line is the contour of the Airport. Dark black boxes are modern structures. We are now trying to determine if the building survived on what remains of farmland above the airport. The village was supposed to be around the Newman area.

See also Vertical File in the Edwin Washington Research Center, Douglass HS building for a lot of details.

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/31303 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

Little-known history of an all-Black town called Willard.

Willard: A Brief Journey into the Historic Black Village at Dulles Airport | Loudoun Farms

The village of Willard is no more. Approximately 26 square miles (67 km) of Virginia land from Willard, Chantilly, Pleasant Valley, Sterling, and Ashburn was bought for construction for Dulles Airport. By the airport's completion, all remains of civilization before 1958 on this land had virtually disappeared, except a stretch of Willard Rd (used as a service road), and three storage outbuildings between Runways 1C/19C and 1R/19L. This paragraph and other history can be found in an article on the hamlet by Eugene Scheel and others on Wikipedia. There are a few other small buildings still in existence; but little else.

Probably in the 1890's. The Colored School was a “… weatherboard one-roomer finely built with tongue-and-groove wood-lined walls inside. After lower Loudoun schools for black children consolidated at the brick Oak Grove School in 1948, Willard School was jacked up, hitched onto John B. Hornbaker's threshing machine and rolled three miles north to the place of Eugene Beard, no relation to Ernest G. It spent its last years there as an outbuilding near Coleman's School, the white children's one-roomer. ”Source Dulles Airport Has Its Roots in Rural Black Community of Willard by Eugene Scheel. According to Insurance record, Willard, Colored was not owned by the School Board. Source: EWP Archives: 11. Yr. 1923 to 1961 Insurance Book See Bk for Corrections.pdf

• Willard had a well-defined white and African-American populations. Some white citizens were public school teachers, such as Miss Annie R Fouche, who instructed in 1905/06. In 1907/08, her address was shown as Arcola, then Waxpool in 1908/09. In 1911 her address was Ryan and her school might have been Aldie. Her salary then was $45 a month. Source: 4.5 Lists of Teachers Contracted, 1899-1929. According to Ancestry.com, her middle initial was either E or R.& She married J.M. Frame 15 May, 1912.
• When we initially began our research, it appeared that the village did not have its own white schoolhouse. There was certainly no record of one in Loudoun County School Records. The colored School was described very well in Margaret Peck's 2005 book, Washington Dulles International Airport, part of the Images of America series published by Arcadia; but given that we had no records of a white school, we assumed there probably was none, with the exception of Bears(Carters) school, a one roomer on the far western edge of the airport property, very close to Rt 606. We now know that there was indeed a white Willard, thanks to research by Debbie Palmer Robison, who found Fairfax County, Dranesville District School Board Records. In their list of schools, taken in 1917, the first 12 schools, including Willard, for white children, and the last three schools, indicated as Floris, Dranesville and Carterville for black children. The Willard White School was led by W. F. Watson, who was paid $50 a month. Floris was led by Pauline Harris.

• Willard White

  With the exception of analysis of the 1915 School Fair, material on this page was mainly developed by Jeff Clark, Producer/Director, Communications and Community Relations, Gatehouse Administrative Center, Fairfax County Public Schools. Note: The Edwin Washington Project is also reviewing LCPS records relative to Loudoun actions mentioned in the Fairfax records.

  CONTENT: (1) Deeds, (2) Location, (3) Dranesville District School Minutes (1896 to 1919), (4) Fairfax County School Board Minutes (1922 to 1936), (5) Virginia Room Records, (6) 1915 Loudoun County School Fair

  (2) LOCATION: See Willard Schools

  (3) Dranesville District School Board Minutes (Fairfax County Public Schools)

  1896, Sept. 12: Teachers Appointed: Alma Fox is assigned at the teacher of School # 11, the Cockrill School.

  1897, Sep. 4: Teachers Appointed: Alma Fox is assigned as the teacher of School # 11, Cockrill.

  1898-99 School Term: Teachers Appointed: Madge Ryan to School # 11, Cockrill.

  1899, Sep. 9: Teachers Appointed: Kathryn Groh to School # 11, Willard.

  1907-08 School Term: Firewood was purchased for Willard School. Pay Warrants were issued to Annie Orrison, Teacher of School # 12, Willard.

  1910-11 School Term: B. D. Hurst was contracted as the teacher of the Willard School for a term of five months.

  1911, Jan. 21: $9 was paid to M. E. Palmer for a stove for the Willard School.

  1911, June 2: The Willard School proposition came up, but no conclusion was reach about how many children would attend the school, so it was agreed by the patrons and board to continue the school at Willard another year.

  1911-12 School Term: Firewood was purchased for the Willard School.

  1911, Sept. 9: Teachers Appointed: Ruth Mitchell was assigned as teacher of School # 12, Willard, at a salary of $35 per month.

  1913, July 22: W. F. Watson was assigned as teacher of School # 11, Willard for 1913-14 school term.

  1913, Nov. 29: Mr. McNair agreed to get in communication with the Broad Run District School Board (Loudoun) and to try and arrange for a meeting of the Boards of the two districts in order to discuss the matter of defraying the expense of the school at Willard.

  1913, Dec. 30: The Board meets at Herndon and has the honor of having with them Mr. Coleman, Chairman of the Broad Run School District, who met with them to discuss the matter of running and of financing the school at Willard which is attended by pupils from both Loudoun and Fairfax Counties. The following proposition was approved and put forth for the Board of Broad Run to approve: that beginning with the opening of the school term, September 12, 1913, that the Broad Run District of Loudoun County and the Dranesville District of Fairfax County should each share equally in paying the teacher's salary, and the running expenses of the school, and that as the school house was situated in Loudoun County that hereafter the Broad Run District School Board should have the privilege of appointing the teacher for the Willard School, and the Dranesville Board will pay half the teacher's salary and running expenses. (Was there a county boundary adjustment because the property at purchase and sale was said to be in Fairfax and was deeded and sold as such, or is this clerk error? It was very, very close to the county line).

   1915-16 School Term: Teachers Appointed: W. F. Watson to School # 11, Willard.

  1916, July 8: Teachers Appointed: W. F. Watson to School # 11, Willard.

  1917, Aug. 21: Teachers Appointed: Mr. W. F. Watson to School # 11, Willard, at a salary of $50 per month.

  1919, Sept. 13: Teachers Appointed: W. F. Watson to Willard School at $70 per month.

  The Dranesville minutes from December, 30, 1913 reflect participation by Mr. Philip Johnston (PJ) Coleman, a member of the the Broad Run District of Loudoun. The two districts noted that the Willard School was located in Loudoun; but students from both Fairfax and Loudoun attended. There was agreement that the teacher salary and expenses of White Willard would be paid jointly by Loudoun and Fairfax counties, since students from both attended and it was situated in Loudoun. Note: Mr. Coleman Was Philip Johnston Coleman, born 12 October, 1886 in the Sterling area and worked as a farmer until he died 10 November, 1956.  He was married to Mary Louis Bridges Coleman. On September 1, 1921 he was appointed Chair of the Broad Run School District, which ceased to be an independent Board in September, 1922 when the unified school system went into place. This paragraph drafted by Edwin Washington Project. Willard 1913 School Board.

  (4) Fairfax County School Board Minutes and Related Newspaper Reports

  1922, Nov. 6: Meeting # 7: A letter from Superintendent Emerick, Loudoun County, relative to the sale of the school building at Willard, Dranesville District, near the Loudoun County line was read, and the following resolution was unanimously carried: “Resolved: That this Board approves the sale of the Willard School property by due process of Law and that it is the wish and desire of this Board to sell the same; and C. M. Lawrence and F. S. McCandlish are appointed a committee to take necessary action to sell same.”

  1923, Mar. 5: Meeting # 12: The sale of the land on which the Willard house stood was taken under consideration, upon which the Board desired to sell the Willard land and appointed Mr. Ellmore to be a committee of one to see after the sale of said properties.

  1923, Dec. 4: Meeting # 8: Relative to the sale of the Willard school house, again brought up by a letter from Div. Supt. of Loudoun County, the following resolution was passed: That the Chairman and Clerk of this Board be and they are hereby authorized to enter into an agreement with the County School Board of Loudoun County, Va., for the sale to the said board of the old Willard school building, for the sum of $100, expressly stipulating in said agreement that said building be moved to lot adjacent to colored church. Note by Edwin Washington Project. We need to be certain that the two schools are not being conflated into one. LCPS doesn't have comparable minutes for this period.

  1924, Dec. 5: Meeting # 8: Mr. McCandlish now offered the drafted resolution relating to sale that said building be moved to lot adjacent to colored church properties: In the judgment of the Board it is desirable to sell the following properties, situated in Fairfax County, namely: Powell's school property and Money's Corner school property and Willard school property in Dranesville School District. And that the Board proceed to file its petition in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Va., or before the Judge of said Court in vacation, asking leave to sell such school properties in accordance with the statute in such cases provided.

  The Dec, 1924 decision by the Circuit Court Judge to sell the property in the Dranesville district for consolidation purposes was reported in the Fairfax Herald, Jan 30, 1925. The old buildings in various districts were to be sold and the students moved out of one-roomers into buildings with better equipment. Article found in Virginia Room, Fairfax Regional Library by Edwin Washington Project.

  1925, May 4.  Herald Observer reported that a bid for Willard property was too low. “Sale of School Properties,” page 1. Col 3.  Article found in Virginia Room, Fairfax Regional Library by Edwin Washington Project.

  1925, May 5: Meeting # 14: It was the sense of the Board that the school property known as the Willard school property be valued at $50. Mr. Ellmore reported that all he had been offered for it so far was $17.50.<

   1931, Apr. 7, Meeting # 15: SCHOOL SALES: The Board resolved to secure the permission of the Court to sell abandoned school properties: building and lot at Colvin Run, building and lot at River Bend, building and lot at Money’s Corner and lot at Willard. This decision was reported in Fairfax Herald, April 10, 1931, pg 1, col 3. Article found in Virginia Room, Fairfax Regional Library by Edwin Washington Project.

   1931, May 5, Meeting # 16: SCHOOL SALES: Mr. Murphy reported that he had made private sale of Money's Corner School building and site to J. D. Thompson of Herndon for $400 and of the lot at Willard to Mr. Turner Wamsley of Herndon for $50. The Board approved of both sales and requested Court confirmation.

   1932, Nov. 5, Meeting # 6: Mr. Wamsley, from the Willard community, appeared representing a petition that a bus be run from this community to Floris. He stated that there were approximately 20 pupils living from 1 ½ to 3 miles from Floris School along the proposed route. The Board agree to change the route of the bus from Navy to Floris to include a run to Willard.

   1933, May 5, Meeting # 16: The Clerk and Chairman were authorized to sign the deed conveying the Willard school property to Mr. Turner Wamsley when the purchase price of $50 had been paid.

   1935, March 5, Meeting # 16: Mr. T. A. Wamsley had still not paid for the Willard School property, but promised to make payment in full between March 15th and 20th.

  1935, April 5, Meeting # 17: Mr. T. A. Wamsley paid $25 of the $50 owed on the Willard School property.

   1935, May 6, Meeting # 18: Mr. T. A. Wamsley had completed payment of the purchase price for the Willard School property and the deed was executed and delivered.

   1936, March 5, Meeting # 17: Mr. Murphy presented a letter from Mr. H. W. Cockerille complaining because the school bus on one afternoon had let children off to walk part of the way home to Willard on account of high water. Mr. Murphy stated that it was seen to that the children were gotten across the high water safely by other means since the bus could not cross and that he felt that all had been done that could have been under the circumstances.

  (5) The Virginia Room at the Fairfax Regional Library had a few additional files, which we examined in September, 2018.  These are found in the Dranesville District School Board Records Minute Book for 1886 to 1904, MSS 11-07 Series A, Box 1.  These were mainly contracts for furnishing wood for Willard School #8 (white) and B (Colored), as well as Floris (where some Loudoun children also attended), and other schools. See pp 81 (1896), 90 (1897), 102 (1907/08), 109 (1898), 116 (1900), 126 (1905)and 173 (1905). There is also an undated 1921/22 wood contract in Fule folder 004. This paragraph drafted by the Edwin Washington Project.

  (6) The 1915 Loudoun County School Fair: This section developed by the Edwin Washington Project: Willard White School probably participated in the April 29/30, 1915 Loudoun County School Fair. School Fairs were segregated at the time; these exhibits must have been from white students. The school presented 22 Exhibits, but won no prizes. Nearby Bear and Coleman schools also participated. Unfortunately, detailed records of happenings at the fair, beyond the report by Oscar Emerick, then Secretary-Treasurer of the fair, have disappeared with time. Source: EWP Archives: 15.2 Yr. 1915 School Fair Purcellville. What is interesting is that Willard school is considered for purposes of the School Fair as being in the Broad Run District, which was Loudoun. Note that Bears was a white school near the intersection of Bears Road and today's 606.

• Visits by Management to Willard Colored School According to EWP Archives: 6.3.3 Willard 1921 to 1926, the Superintendent visited once in 1921 and special supervisors visited twice. Those were probably the Colored Rural Supervisors. No similar visits were made in 1922 or 1923

• 1921/22 Academic Year: The structure wasn't described, but the toilets were termed outdoor and in poor condition. Ten benches were used with a seating capacity of 44, which was the enrollment that year. There was also a wooden blackboard of poor condition covering 20 square feet. Source: Julius, A. M. (1922). Term Report for Willard, 1921/22.

  1922/23 Academic Year: One room, frame house with poor ventilation and very poor heating. The toilets were out of doors and in poor condition. 7 Benches were used for seating with a capacity for 14 students. 24 students attended that year. Source: Term Report for Willard for 1922/23

  1924/25 Academic Year: No physical description was provided in the Term Report, other than that the school lacked an American Flag.

• (Statistical Information on the Willard Colored School House

  1921/22  Academic Year. 33 children were instructed, 16 boys and 17 girls.

  1922/23 Academic Year. 24 children, 12 boys and 12 girls, could obtain texts at the contract rate. The day ran for 5.5 hours. There was no US flag.

  1923/24 Academic Year. No Information.

  1924/25 Academic Year. 16 children were instructed, 8 boys and 8 girls. The school was also open only for 4 months, spread over 84 days.

  1925/26 Academic Year. 17 children were instructed, 8 boys and 9 girls.

  Wood and Coal Supplies for Willard Colored and White schools, as well as Floris White and Colored

  Found in Mss 11/07 Series A, Box 1, Dranesville District School Board Records, Minute Book, collection of Virginia Room, Fairfax Regional Library

  1896/97 Term. Contract for wood furnished to Willard school #8, Charles Cockrille. $10.00

  1896 Contracts for Floris Colored and White. Page 81

  1897 Shovel for Floris White, 1st Saturday in May. Page 90

  1898 1st Saturday in November. Wood for Willard (probably white) and white and colored Floris, Page 109

  1900 Oct 6. Wood for white and colored Floris Page 116

  1905 October 11. Wood for Colored Willard. Page 181

  1907/08 Wood for Willard White Page 102

Instructors For Colored School

• 1903/04: Ms Kate H. Macintosh (white), Later in the 20th century, white instructors never taught African-Americans; but it did happen the 19th and early 20th century. Ms. S.L. Pearson was also shown as an instructor. Pearson was “colored.”
• 1904/05: Mrs. Rachel Palmer (white), taught at Willard; but evidently also transferred to Evergreen where she continued to instruct in the 1905/06 academic year, along with Raymond Maffett. We have no records on Evergreen other than it was a white school which participated in the 1915 School Fair in Purcellville.
• 1905/06: Ms. Annie E. Fouche (white), taught at Willard.
• 1917/19 : Mary Stewart (colored) instructed at Willard.
• 1921/22: Miss Augusta M. Julius (colored) of Sterling (brn about 1892), who operated on LP permit issued in 1921. She was contracted for 7 months and was paid $45 a month to teach grades 1-7. Source: Julius, A. M. (1922). Term Report for Willard, 1921/22. Purcellville: LCPS and Virginia Dept. of Education, Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975. Richmond, Virginia, USA. Interestingly, the 1920 U.S. Census had her living in Marshall, Fauquier County.
• 1922/23 : The original is hard to read. Appears to be E. Virginia Orme. (Colored). Was contracted for all 7 grades and operated on an LP license to expire in 1922. Was paid $45 a month. Source: Term Report for Willard for 1922/23 and Virginia Dept. of Education, Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975. Richmond, Virginia, USA:
• 1923/24: No Term Report. Teacher was Charles H. Willis
• 1924/25: Ms. Romaine L. Gaskins (Negro), which was the term at the time. We didn't find anything on her for that year in the Virginia Dept. of Education, Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975. Richmond, Virginia, USA: Was supposed to be N. Howard Stanton of Herndon.
• 1925/26: Edna V. Russ (colored) of Sterling. She operated on an LP license and was paid $45 a month to teach 17 children, 8 boys and 9 girls. Her contract was for 6 and 3/20 months. Sources: Russ, Edna V. (1926). Term Report for Willard, 1925/26,  Purcellville and Virginia Dept. of Education, Lists of Teachers, 1892-1975. Richmond, Virginia, USA: The following year 1926/27, Russ instructed at Conklin.
• 1926/27 Academic Year. The School was closed, along with Trappe (white) and Hughesville because they had not made a legal average. Source: Emerick, Ruth. M. (1924). Minutes of the County School Board Meeting for Feb 9, 19246 Purcellville: LCPS. It appears that the school reopened, as often happened when enough children could be enrolled (see Conklin), then closed permanently in 1948, according to a history developed by Eugene Scheel. However, we do not have academic records for the years 1926/27 -1948.

Instructors Willard White School

1916:   Mr. Gallaher (photograph in 2014 Reunion of Arcola Elementary School, Vertical Files of Edwin Washington Society)

1916:  Zelma Roller (Marshall) (photograph in 2014 Reunion of Arcola Elementary School, Vertical Files of Edwin Washington Society)

Insurance and Physical Description

Condition of Willard Colored School and Building and Furniture. According to the Term Reports for 1921 through 1926 (EWP Archives: 6.3.3 Willard 1921 to 1926): In 1921/22, the character of the building was described as “out-door” and in poor condition, likely meaning the toilets. There were ten benches with seating capacity for 33. The school also had 20 sq feet of blackboard space, which was made of wood and in poor condition. The size of the school lot was described as none.

Deeds

Deed of Purchase: Charles W. Cockerell and Sallie N., his wife, of Fairfax County, 1 acre of land in Fairfax County to the School Trustees of Dranesville District, on Sept. 15, 1892 (FXDB N-5:327).

Movement of the Willard School to the corner in November, 1902 was reported in Lynchburg Virginia, Dec 4, 1930, page 1 “Floris.” Which corner isn’t clear.  The school opened on November 30. Teacher was Miss Kate McIntosh of Leesburg, Loudoun County, Va. Kate was born April, 1871. Article found in Virginia Room, Fairfax Regional Library by Edwin Washington Project.

Blanket Deed: School Trustees of Dranesville District to the combined Fairfax County School Board, 1 acre of land, formerly of Charles W. Cockerell and wife, on Aug. 30, 1922 (FXDB Z-8:82).

Deed of Sale: Fairfax County School Board to Turner Wamsley, 1 acre of land, on April 26, 1933 (FXDB K-15:594).

Enrollment Cards

Enrollment cards for the Willard Colored School exist for 1917/18 to 1930. These can be found in Edwin Washington digital files in 6.6 Student Enrollment Cards.

Academic Year            # of Teachers Enrollment      Average Attendance   Term

1917/18          1          33        22        100 days

1918/19          1          32        25        120

1919/21          Closed                        

1921/22          1          33        25        140

1922/23          1          24        18        122

1923/24          Closed

1924/25          1          16        13        84

1925/26          1          17        12        125

1926-1930 Closed