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Above: this image of the school was taken in 1942, showing the back side of the building. The larger bank of windows lines the classroom; the set of two windows to the right denotes the location of the kitchen, with the chimney between. (Photo credit: Montgomery History, photographer unknown)
Below: Scotland school as it appeared in 1968, only a few month before its demolition. (Photo by Alan Siegel)
Below: Scotland school as it appeared in 1968, only a few month before its demolition. (Photo by Alan Siegel)
The Scotland school building was a one-room, all-black Rosenwald school built in 1927 during the era of segregation. Geneva Mason petitioned for a schoolhouse to be built in Scotland on land owned by her family to replace the nearby 19th century schoolhouse that had been used since 1879. The community raised the necessary funds to apply for a matching grant required by the Julius Rosenwald fund. The Scotland school served grades 1-7; after that students had to attend high school in Rockville to further their education. That school in Rockville, Montgomery County's first high school for black children, was also completed in 1927.
In 1955, when the down-county schools were integrated and students were transferred away from the Scotland School, it was used as a recreation center for the young people. When the redevelopment plans for Scotland were drawn up in 1967, the architect determined the building was in the way of the layout of the townhouses, and it was demolished during the construction project in the winter of 1968.
These photos, taken of a clothing drive/rummage sale held in October of 1967, are some of the last ever pictures taken of the school building, and perhaps the only ones in existence that show the interior. See the "Groundbreaking Day" page for more pictures of the exterior of the building as it appeared only months before its demolition.
Left, Joyce Siegel with daughter Barbara and son Adam. Right, Mary Dove Crawford with daughter Terri.
Entrance to the small cloak room at the front of the building.
A key feature of Rosenwald schools was the wall of tall windows, to facilitate light. (pictured: Terri Crawford)
Barbara Smith stands beside the stove, with its stovepipe venting to the outside. There are built-in bookshelves behind it.
Barbara Smith, center. Right (background) Arie Crawford. The door leads to the kitchen, a side room opposite the cloak room entrance.
Built-in bookshelves, filled with shoes for the drive. A church pew from the Scotland AME Zion Church stands to the right.
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