Shady Grove School

The Orange County School Board acquired five acres here in 1894 and established Shady Grove School for African American students. With contributions from African American patrons, the county erected a new two-room frame building here ca. 1923. Although the school received no money from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, its design reflected the architectural influence of that program, which helped construct thousands of schools for African Americans across the rural South. Shady Grove, which served grades 1-7, closed in 1954 when the brick Lightfoot Elementary School opened six miles northeast. The frame building was restored in 2007. Orange County schools were desegregated in 1967-68.