Liberty Colored High School
National Register Listing
Street Address:
jct. of SC Hwy 93, Liberty, SC (Pickens County)
Alternate Name:
Liberty Colored Junior High School; Rosewood School; Rosewood Center
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817739013
Description and Narrative:
The one-story brick, side-gabled Liberty Colored High School (Liberty Colored Junior High School, Rosewood School, Rosewood Center) was completed in 1937. It is one of the last remaining buildings in the county associated with the history of segregated education for blacks. Formal education for blacks in Liberty began as early as 1899 with students meeting in a local church, and later in a small wood-frame building. The black school was destroyed by fire in 1935. A new brick school for blacks was completed in Liberty with federal assistance from the Works Progress Administration in 1937, representing a substantial improvement in educational facilities for blacks in the county. High school grades were added in the late 1940s making it one of only two black high schools in Pickens County (served Liberty, Norris, Central, Clemson, and rural areas in between). After consolidation with the colored high school in Easley in the 1950s, and integration in 1969-70, it became an elementary school named Rosewood Elementary School. The building, later re-named Rosewood Center, was utilized by the county school district until the 1990s. As of 2002, the building is owned by the town and leased to a local church for youth activities. Listed in the National Register April 18, 2003.
Period of Significance:
1937 – 1952
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Education
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
April 18 2003
