Allen-White School

The Allen-White School, also known as Hardeman County Training School, was a Rosenwald school in Whiteville, Tennessee, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Allen-White School
School in August 2010, before fire
Allen-White School is located in Tennessee
Allen-White School
Allen-White School is located in the United States
Allen-White School
Location100 Allen Extension Street
Whiteville, Tennessee
United States
Coordinates35°20′01″N 89°08′51″W
Area0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built1918 (1918)
ArchitectDresslar, Fletcher; Smith, Samuel L.
Architectural styleRosenwald Plan 6A
NRHP reference No.05001214[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 9, 2005

Description

The school was started in 1905 as Hardeman County Training School, a school for African Americans that held classes in a Masonic lodge building. The school was led by Jessie C. Allen, who is one of the two men that Allen-White School was later named for. Circa 1918–1920, the school's own building was built on donated land with a $4000 bank loan obtained by the school's trustees, matched by a $4000 donation from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.[2][3]

The school's second namesake, J.H. White, became school principal in the 1928–1929 school year. In 1930 the school added a junior high school program and in 1932 it expanded to include the four grades of high school. The school's first high school class graduated in 1933.[2][4] Allen-White was Hardeman County's only high school for African Americans and enrolled students from throughout the county; some students boarded in Whiteville in order to attend.[4][5]

After it closed as a school, the building was acquired by an organization associated with the El Canaan Missionary Baptist Church.[3]

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[6] It was destroyed in an arson fire in May 2012.[3] Alumni of the school hoped to rebuild it and contracted with an engineering company to investigate the feasibility of reconstruction.[4]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Allen-White's History" (Notes for a school reunion, circa 1980s).
  3. "Allen-White School: correspondence regarding historic registers" (metadata). Middle Tennessee State University.
  4. Smeltser, Jennifer (December 12, 2012). "Allen-White High School: More than 75 years worth of history will never be destroyed". Bolivar Bulletin-Times.
  5. "Whiteville". Hardeman County Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  6. Harper, Herbert L. (November 28, 2005). "Letter to Reverend Guy Hendree". Tennessee Historical Commission.
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