CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A historic African American schoolhouse in northeast Charlotte will soon move to the Charlotte Museum of History. 

According to the museum, the community built the Siloam School around 1920. The building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the community’s last standing Rosenwald-era schools, and it served Black students in the rural Mallard Creek neighborhood. 

The Rosenwald Fund helped build free high quality schools for Black children in the segregated south. Dr. Booker T. Washington and other educators at the Tuskegee Institute and the president of Sears, Julius Rosenwald, made the program a reality. 

The Rosenwald Fund didn’t contribute to the Siloam School, but the community used its architectural plans to build it. 

In the 1950s, the Siloam School became a family home and later an auto garage. It’s been vacant since the 1980s. 

The building, which is behind an apartment complex, is in disrepair. However, a seven-year fundraising campaign called Save the Siloam School Project raised $1.2 million to relocate it and preserve it. 

Save the Siloam School Project Committee Chair Fannie Flono is proud to lead this effort. 

“It also shows the perseverance of the African American community in this area who worked so hard to find the resources to actually build this building and have it available for the students in this community,” Flono said. 

The building will be moved to the Charlotte Museum of History, where it will be restored.

“I think it’s important to preserve this kind of history because it represents so much of our story in Charlotte from the early days of segregation where Black folks have to build schools for themselves through the history of commerce and folks really building themselves up in the Charlotte community through today,” Charlotte Museum of History Programs and Exhibits Manager Nolan Dahm said. 

The building will eventually be used for history programming. 

“We are elated that this has come to fruition,” Flono said. 

Flono, a retired journalist, also has ties to Rosenwald schools. Her cousin attended a Rosenwald school in South Carolina and later helped save it. 

“It’s fascinating to hear people talk about what it was like to be able to attend a better school and get a better education and use that as a stepping stone to achievement,” Flono said. 

She added the historic building can also serve as a lesson. 

“Looking at our community, how we are better when we are unified than when we are fractured,” Flono said.

The Siloam School was one of seven Rosenwald schools in Mecklenburg County. 

The move from the northeast Charlotte site to east Charlotte is planned for the next few weeks. The restoration process is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2024.