Duncan Signs Deed Transferring Ownership Of Former "Smithville Colored School" Site To Alpha Phi Alpha for Reuse as Museum

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 2, 1999

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan today ceremoniously signed a deed to mark the transfer of ownership of the former Smithville Colored School -- a remnant of the days of segregated County schools -- to the local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest and largest of the nation's historically Black fraternities. The transfer of the Colesville area property clears the way for the fraternity to restore the historic structure and provide for its reuse as a museum to honor local African American history.

"The Smithville Colored School is a facility that recalls for us - here in Montgomery County -- the dramatic inequities of the so-called `Jim Crow' era," said Duncan, "and of the struggle of the African American community to obtain better educational facilities during an era of segregation. Its restoration and rebirth, as a cultural and historic museum, will help to celebrate the achievements and contributions of local African Americans."

Built in 1927, the former two-room, one-story wooden schoolhouse was constructed as part of a building program for the improvement of African American educational facilities. One of 15 such schools built in the 1920s, the Smithville elementary school was closed 25 years later and was acquired by the County as surplus school property in 1956. For many years, the site served as storage facility for highway maintenance equipment.

Montgomery County's "White Oak Master Plan" notes that the Smithville Colored School "was built with financial assistance from the Julius Rosenwald fund, established by the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company, which contributed to the construction of more than 5,000 schools for African American children in the South before 1940. It is the most intact example of 15 `Rosenwald Schools' built in Montgomery County during the 1920s." The master plan, adopted in 1997, recommended that the school be reused for historical and educational purposes, and for community meeting space. The school, located at 811 East Randolph Road, is now listed as a historical property with the Maryland Historical Trust.

The Iota Upsilon Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha has been leasing the property since 1997. Under a cooperative agreement worked out between the County, the fraternity and the neighboring community, through the leadership of the Greater Colesville Citizens Association, the two-acre property - including the historic Smithville school building -- has been conveyed to Alpha Phi Alpha for the sum of $10.

"Our hope is to turn what was a symbol of segregation into a place that will bring people together from all parts of our community - into a place that, indeed, reflects the diversity that is Montgomery County," said John Porter, President of Alpha Phi Alpha's Iota Upsilon Lambda Chapter.

Release ID: 99-203
Media Contact: David Weaver 301-217-6530