{"nrhp_refnum":"95000397","name":"Josephine City School","other_names":["VDHR File No. 21-177"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"301-A Josephine St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berryville","county":"Clarke County","state":"VA","lat":39.14104727600005,"lon":-77.97954625199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-04-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-room, one-story frame schoolhouse at 301-A Josephine Street in the African-American community of Josephine City, on the edge of Berryville, Clarke County, Virginia, built around 1882 and moved about 100 feet around 1930.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare late-nineteenth-century Black schoolhouse built as part of a self-contained community, erected with labor and money from the local Black community. It reflects efforts by Clarke County's African-American residents to improve their educational facilities. It is listed under Criterion A in Education and Black Ethnic Heritage.","narrative":"Josephine City School is a two-room frame schoolhouse in Josephine City, a Black community founded in 1870 on the southeast edge of Berryville, Virginia. Built around 1882 on land bought for a public school, it was funded in part by labor and money from local residents. It served as an elementary school until about 1930, when it was moved roughly 100 feet, stuccoed, and folded into the new Clarke County Training School as home economics and agriculture classrooms. Classes continued until 1971, after which the building held storage. The plain interior retains its blackboards, beaded wainscoting and a home economics sink. When built, it was one of only seven African-American schools in the county, none teaching beyond seventh grade. Its significance lies in education and Black ethnic heritage, and in showing how a self-sufficient community worked to improve schooling for its children. A local improvement association now leases the building from the county and is restoring it as a museum and cultural center.","period_of_significance":"1882-1945","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Used for classrooms until 1971, then for storage; a local improvement association has leased it and is restoring it for use as an African-American museum and cultural center.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.305401-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/6802/41680248/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/95000397.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000397/732a2cd90e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000397/732a2cd90e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JosephineCitySchool_0257.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JosephineCitySchool_0257.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"14000010","name":"Chapel Rural Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/chapel-rural-historic-district-14000010/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680248","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_City_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712646"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/clarke-county/josephine-city-school-95000397/"}