Clarksville’s Pisgah Elementary School to Host Community Open House Sunday

Montgomery County, TN – A community open house will be held at Pisgah Elementary School Sunday from 2:00pm to 4:00pm. The school is located on the corner of Hazelwood Road and Needmore Road.

Pisgah Elementary School was so named by the Clarksville-Montgomery County Board of Education in honor and commemoration of Pisgah School, which was served African American students from 1923 to 1962.

The original school, located in eastern Montgomery County near the corner of Memorial Extension and Highway 76 (Martin Luther King Boulevard), was one of several Rosenwald schools built in Montgomery County before desegregation.

Rosenwald Schools represent an important chapter in the history of the United States. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the buildings represent the “most important partnership to advance African American education in the early 20th century.”

What began in 1912 as a partnership between an ex-slave, Booker T. Washington, and Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company, led to the construction of more than 5,300 schools in 15 states for rural African-American children.

Across Tennessee, at least 375 schools were built between 1912 and 1932.