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History of Hope School
Pomaria,
Newberry County, South Carolina
Shown above is an artist rendering of
the restored Hope (Rosenwald) School in Pomaria,
SC -
a two room
schoolhouse serving the African-American
community from 1925-1954
and a National
Register of Historic Places
nominee
“Hope School,” a
rural community school is located on Hope
Station Road in the St. Paul A.M.E. Church
Community of Newberry, South Carolina. This
school served the Negro children of the area
from 1926 until 1954. This area lies between the
towns of Pomaria and Peak, SC.
Mr. James H.
Hope, Sr., then Superintendent of Education, and
his brother J. J. and sister Mary, donated the
land, and built the school. The school was later
named for the Hope Family.
Hope School was
a two-room school house. There were two coat
rooms, a glass library, a stage and a kitchen
for cooking hot meals.
Hot meals were
served at the school for a time, but later
students had to bring their lunches from home.
Ms. Annie Grace Young, Ms. Elizabeth Smith and
Jonell Johnson were some of the
cooks.
To keep warm in
the winter, there were two pot belly/coal
stoves-one in each classroom. Two outside
toilets were available for the students. One
toilet was used by the boys and the other by the
girls.
Most time one
teacher had to teach four grades at once. Mrs.
Gertrude B. Brown remembers teaching grade’s
fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Mrs. Alberta
S. Reeder taught grade’s first through the
third. Mrs. Reeder speaks of the school as the
most beautiful school in the county at that
time.
Other teachers
at Hope School were Mrs. Mamie Moore, Ms. Annie
Martin, Mrs. Q. Glenn, Ms. Sara Baiten, and Ms.
Beatrice Counts.
Hope School was
used until the fall of 1954 when new schools
were built in the county for Negro children. Mr.
Dave Tobias, a Trustee of St. Paul AME and Mr.
John Earnest Gibbs, a teacher, moved all of the
useful furniture to the new school, Garmany
Elementary. Mr. Robert Holley, another St. Paul
Trustee also helped a lot at Hope
School.
The building was
used by the St. Paul AME Church as a meeting
place until 2007 when the title was transferred
to Hope School Community Center, Inc. The church
took care of the building, the original
structure is still the same, some of the desks
used by the students are still
there.
Further information of the school
can be obtained here:
Hope School
Community Center, Inc.
Mailing
Address: POB 305, Pomaria, SC
29126
Physical Address: 1917 Hope Station
Road, Pomaria, SC 29126
Phone (803) 345-4572,
www.hopeschoolcenter.org,
EIN#
55-0892561 |