{"nrhp_refnum":"04000037","name":"St. Paul's School","other_names":["St. Paul's Chapel School","012-5010"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Brunswick Dr. at I-85","address_restricted":false,"city":"Meredithville","county":"Brunswick County","state":"VA","lat":36.82507675700003,"lon":-77.95847037699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Black","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-room, one-teacher wood-frame school for African American children, completed in 1920 on a two-acre site near Meredithville in rural Brunswick County, Virginia, with funding from the Rosenwald Fund, private and public sources.","why_significant":"The school is tied to the education and ethnic heritage of Brunswick County's African American community (Criterion A). It is also an important surviving example of the early years of the Rosenwald Fund's rural school program, when the Fund was still run from Tuskegee Institute and before standardized plans (Criterion C). It was the only one-room school among the 13 Rosenwald-supported schools in the county.","narrative":"Set in a grove of pine trees beside Interstate 85 and State Route 644 in rural Brunswick County, this one-room school was completed in 1920 to serve African American children. Built of wood frame with unbeaded weatherboards, a standing seam metal roof and a rubble-stone foundation, it measures about 20 by 40 feet. Six large south-facing windows lit the single classroom, and a cloakroom and small workroom adjoin it. Pine beaded board still covers the interior walls and ceilings. Funding of $1,500 combined $300 from the Rosenwald Fund, $450 from the African American community and $750 from public sources. It was the only one-room school among the 13 Rosenwald-supported schools in the county and dates from the Fund's early years, when it was administered from Tuskegee Institute. Ownership of the land was disputed in the 1940s and 1950s. The school closed in 1960, sat vacant for four decades, and is now being restored as a museum and cultural center.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1917-1941","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Other","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The school closed in June 1960 and stood vacant and disused for over 40 years; it has since been purchased and is being restored, with plans for use as a museum and cultural center.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.008713-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/6786/41678605/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/04000037.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000037/48ab03af58-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000037/48ab03af58-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Paul%27s_School_near_Meredithville.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Paul%27s_School_near_Meredithville.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678605","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul%27s_School_(Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713250"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/brunswick-county/st-pauls-school-04000037/"}