Alachua County Training School

Side One: The Alachua County Training School was built at this location as the first school for blacks in the City of Alachua in 1922. In 1920, a delegation of courageous black men from Alachua led by Jack Postell, who could neither read nor write, approached the Alachua County School Board to build a school for the city’s black children.

Postell was inspired by the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which provided aid for the construction of African American schools in the rural South. Directed by the School Board to raise $10,000 for construction of the school, Postell and his delegation raised the money in two years. Donations included $1,600 from the Rosenwald Fund and money from the John F. Slater Fund to furnish the school.

The school opened in September 1922 with Napoleon B. Campbell as its first principal, and 300 students, ages 7-25 in grades 1-6. By 1938, grades 7-12 had been added. Students were given an education that emphasized agriculture and home economics, as well as academic subjects. A.L. Mebane served as principal from 1924 until the 1950s.

The school operated for 36 years and was a mainstay of the African-American community until it was demolished in 1959. Side Two: This one-story frame vernacular style building, supported on a brick pier foundation with lattice infill, featured exposed rafter tails, decorative gable end brackets, and nine-over-one double hung windows.

The school consisted of an auditorium and seven classrooms. Many of its graduates returned to the county after college as successful contributing professionals.