Before Lake Norman, there were farms, churches, mills, and small communities spread throughout the countryside. And in those communities, there were little schoolhouses where generations of children learned, grew, and dreamed of a better future.
Before Lake Norman became the centerpiece of our region, before waterfront neighborhoods, marinas, and busy highways transformed the landscape, the communities of Cornelius, Huntersville, Davidson, and the surrounding countryside were built around farms, churches, mills, small businesses, and family traditions.
Among the most important institutions in these communities were their schools. But for African American families living in the early twentieth century, providing their children with an education was often a difficult struggle.
Under Jim Crow laws and segregationist policies, African American children attended separate schools that were frequently inferior to those available to white children. Many lacked adequate classrooms, books, supplies, and basic facilities. These inequalities created significant barriers to education, economic opportunity, and social mobility.
Yet families throughout the South refused to accept that their children should have fewer opportunities simply because of the color of their skin. They organized, raised money, donated land, contributed labor, and worked together to build schools that would provide a better future for the next generation.
One of the most remarkable efforts to emerge from this period became known as the Rosenwald School movement.
The story began with two influential men: Dr. Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, and Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Recognizing the enormous educational inequalities facing rural African American children, the two developed a partnership that would help transform education throughout the South.
Beginning in the 1910s, the Julius Rosenwald Fund provided financial assistance and architectural plans for school construction. However, the program required local communities to participate. African American families raised money, donated land, supplied materials, and often contributed their own labor. Local public education authorities also provided financial support.
It was a unique public and private partnership, but more importantly, it was a grassroots effort. The people who needed the schools helped build them.
By the time the program ended in 1932, approximately 5,400 schools and related buildings had been constructed across 15 Southern states. North Carolina became one of the leading states in the movement, with more than 800 Rosenwald-supported schools. Mecklenburg County had 26.
These buildings were often modest, but their importance was enormous. They represented the determination of families who believed education was the key to a better future.
Perhaps one of the most meaningful examples of this movement can be found in the Pottstown community of Huntersville.
Affectionately known as “The Little School” by former students and neighbors, Huntersville School No. 2 opened in 1925. It replaced a smaller Rosenwald school built in 1921 on the site of what is now New Friendship Presbyterian Church on North Old Statesville Road.
The new four-room school was designed to accommodate four teachers and was built on three acres of land donated by Olin W. Hunter, the man for whom the town of Huntersville was named.
The total construction cost was approximately $5,100. Local African American residents helped raise the money, following the community-participation principles of the Rosenwald program.
Children from Pottstown and surrounding neighborhoods attended the school. It quickly became an important part of the African American community in northern Mecklenburg County.
The Little School was more than a place where children learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. It represented a community’s determination to provide educational opportunities in a society that often denied them.
In many ways, the school itself was a statement of resistance to segregation and the inequalities of Jim Crow. The families who helped build it were investing in something that would benefit generations.
In 1937, another public school for African American students opened nearby. Originally known as the Huntersville Colored School, it was later renamed Torrence-Lytle School.
The new school initially served grades one through eleven, providing an opportunity for older students to continue their education without having to leave the area.
In 1938, Huntersville School No. 2 and the newer school were combined into a single union school.
The Little School continued serving children in grades one through four, while the newer building accommodated grades five through high school.
Because the Little School lacked some of the resources available in the newer facility, students sometimes traveled between the two buildings to use the library and cafeteria.
Both buildings shared an administration headed by Principal Isaac T. Graham, who became an important figure in the educational history of the community.
Huntersville School No. 2 closed in 1958, but Graham continued serving as principal of Torrence-Lytle until that school closed in 1966 following school integration.
What happened after the Little School closed may be just as important as what happened during its years as a classroom.
The residents of Pottstown were not willing to let the building simply disappear from their community.
They organized the Huntersville Better Community Civic Organization, purchased the property, and converted the former school into a community center.
Over the years, the building has also been known as the Dellwood Center and the Torrence-Lytle Community Center.
For generations, it has remained a gathering place and focal point for the African American community in northern Mecklenburg County.
The Little School is one of Mecklenburg County’s surviving Rosenwald school buildings. Its continued existence is a testament to the people who built it, the children who attended it, and the residents who recognized that its value extended far beyond its original purpose.
The Little School was not simply preserved as an old building. It continued serving the very community that had worked so hard to create it.
In September 2025, the community celebrated the school’s 100th anniversary, recognizing a century of educational and community history.
One of the most fascinating connections to our local history can be found along NC Highway 73 in Huntersville.
What is today the Burgess Supply building, which currently houses Accent Prone, was once the Caldwell Rosenwald School, erected in 1925.
It is one of seven surviving Rosenwald school buildings identified in Mecklenburg County. The school served African American children from the Lemley community of North Mecklenburg County.
When it was constructed, the school was surrounded by rural farmland, reflecting the agricultural character of the communities that existed here nearly a century ago. Today, industrial development and the growth of Huntersville have transformed the surrounding landscape into a much more urban setting.
Although the building has undergone several physical alterations over the years, it remains recognizable to those familiar with Rosenwald School architecture. Its original design followed one of the architectural plans approved by the Rosenwald Fund, which provided standardized school designs to help communities construct functional, well-planned educational facilities.
The school represented more than a building. It was the result of a partnership between the Rosenwald Fund, local African American families, and public education authorities. Families in the Lemley community helped make the school possible through their financial contributions and commitment to providing better educational opportunities for their children.
The school eventually closed as Mecklenburg County consolidated its smaller African American schools. The Burgess family purchased the property in 1953, giving the historic building a new purpose.
Today, the historic building continues to serve the community and is home to Accent Prone, within the former Burgess Supply building at 15435 NC Highway 73 in Huntersville.
Think about that the next time you pass the Burgess Supply building or visit Accent Prone. What is now a business location was once a classroom where generations of children learned their lessons, developed friendships, and prepared for their futures.
The surrounding farmland may have given way to businesses, roads, and development, but the building remains a tangible connection to a time when local families worked together to create opportunities for their children.
It is a wonderful reminder that sometimes our most meaningful historic landmarks are hiding in plain sight.
The Rosenwald movement also reached the historic Smithville community in Cornelius.
Built in 1922, the Smithville School was a three-room facility that served African American children from Smithville and nearby communities.
Its construction cost approximately $4,000. The Black community raised $500, the Rosenwald Fund contributed $900, and donations from the local white community covered the remaining cost.
The school enrolled 135 students, even though the surrounding area had approximately 160 elementary-school-aged Black children. Many students walked to school, and the school year included seasonal scheduling that allowed children to help their families during planting and harvesting.
The building had no indoor plumbing or electricity. Large windows provided natural light, and a wood stove kept the classroom warm during winter. These details give us a glimpse into what education looked like for rural children nearly a century ago.
The school eventually closed as Mecklenburg County consolidated smaller African American schools.
But the building’s story did not end there.
In 1954, five local men purchased the building and converted it into the Smithville Better Community Club. The club became an important center of neighborhood life, hosting dances, fundraisers, a barber shop, vaccination clinics, and visits from a mobile library.
The former school became a gathering place where the community continued to come together.
Today, the building remains an important historic landmark associated with the Smithville community. Its history reminds us that these schools were never simply educational facilities. They were centers of community life.
Although Davidson did not have a Rosenwald school of its own, its educational history is closely connected to the same struggle for opportunity.
African American children initially attended classes in small buildings in the Westside community. In 1937, the Davidson Colored School opened, providing a much-needed educational facility.
One of the most influential people in this effort was Ada Jenkins, an educator who dedicated her life to teaching and improving educational opportunities for African American children.
Following her death in 1944, the school was eventually renamed Ada Jenkins School in her honor.
Her influence extended far beyond the classroom. She was an educator, advocate, and community leader whose contributions continue to be remembered in Davidson today.
Although the school was not part of the Rosenwald program, its story belongs alongside the stories of the surrounding Rosenwald schools. Together, these institutions demonstrate how determined local families and educators were to provide better opportunities for the next generation.
It is easy to look at an old school building and see only its walls, windows, and classrooms. But the Rosenwald schools tell a much larger story.
Imagine being a child in one of these rural communities in the 1920s or 1930s. There were no modern school buses traveling along today’s Highway 73 or NC 115. Many children walked considerable distances to school. Roads were often unpaved, transportation was limited, and families balanced education with the demands of farm work and household responsibilities.
Inside the classrooms, teachers often instructed several grade levels at the same time. Supplies were limited, and many schools offered instruction only through the eighth grade.
Yet teachers and parents understood the importance of what was happening inside those buildings.
They were preparing children for opportunities that previous generations had rarely been given.
The schools also became important gathering places for families and neighbors. They helped strengthen communities, build relationships, and create a sense of shared purpose.
The buildings might have been small, but their influence reached far beyond their walls.
When we look back at the history of the communities surrounding Lake Norman, we often think about the farms, churches, cotton mills, family homes, and businesses that once occupied the landscape.
But we should remember the schoolhouses, too.
Long before Duke Power began creating Lake Norman, families throughout this region were investing in something they believed would last for generations: their children’s education.
The Rosenwald schools represent an important chapter in that history. They remind us of the determination of African American families who worked together despite the inequalities of their time.
Some of the buildings have disappeared. Others have been given new purposes. A few still stand as physical reminders of the communities that built them.
And one of those reminders is right here in Huntersville, inside the former Burgess Supply building, now home to Accent Prone.
The next time you travel along Highway 73, remember that the building you see today once echoed with the voices of schoolchildren nearly a century ago.
Before there was a lake, there were school bells ringing across the countryside. And inside those little schoolhouses, children were learning, growing, and preparing for a future their parents hoped would be brighter than their own.
Life Before the Lake is dedicated to preserving the stories, people, and places that shaped our communities before the creation of Lake Norman.
