History on Tap opens up first school for Black students in Salisbury to the public

SALISBURY — The first Black grade school in Salisbury has been closed to the public for more than two decades, but on Thursday the Historic Salisbury Foundation opened up the Lincoln School as part of its History on Tap event series.

While the foundation does not own the school, it does have a purchase option on it and is working with the owner, Mt. Calvary Holy Church of America, to find developers willing to revitalize the property while keeping the historic aspects.

Kimberly Steig, executive director for the foundation, said that the organization has had preliminary discussions with developers about turning the property into apartments or office space. The foundation has also hosted discussions with members of the surrounding Dixonville and East End communities, with Stieg crediting former Lincoln student and HSF board of trustees member Emily Perry as an important guide through the process.

“We had 100 people on July 9 sharing their thoughts on what they would like to see happen to this, because it’s important to the community. Some of them, while it would be nice to have, you also have to weigh it with ‘is it economically feasible?’ If a developer comes in here he’s got to be able to get a return on his dollar. So, a community center would be nice, but unless it’s city-owned, if the city wanted to come in and do that, that’s one thing, but a private developer has got to be able to make their money back,” said Stieg.

Perry was present at the event on Tuesday along with other former students of the school, including Gary Robertson, to speak about their personal history with the school as well as its importance to the community.

“This was like the hub of the community. This is where our PTA meetings would be standing room only, and I remember when they did their PTA meetings, we would get out of school a little early so that we could eat and get back here to perform. We had an excellent glee club with Ms. Kate. There were other smaller groups, but it was just a wonderful time,” said Perry.

Perry also showed attendees photo albums that showed houses and other prominent buildings from throughout the Dixonville community before a 1964 urban renewal policy called for the destruction of many of the buildings.

“Throughout the mid-20th century, Lincoln School was not only a place of education, but also the center of the Dixonville community. The school was used for everything from plays to Christmas decorating workshops to troop meetings for Boy and Girl Scouts, and more. An urban renewal plan in 1964 called for a five-acre park near Lincoln School, a four-acre shopping center, 44 apartments, 76 single-family homes, and 19 duplexes. Lincoln School would even more so be the center of the neighborhood. While 230 dwellings were demolished and new homes built, part of the plan, including the park, did not come to fruition,” wrote the foundation in the application.

The HSF has applied for the school property to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would allow any potential developers to receive up to a 40 percent rebate on the renovation costs.

“It’s almost like we’re the middleman and we are doing a lot of research to help them find the perfect developer,” said Stieg.

The Salisbury Colored Graded School opened up in the 1880s and first appeared on maps in 1896, when it was a two-story frame structure with four classrooms and an upstairs apartment where the principal lived, said Revolving Fund Project Manager Rachel Fink. At that time it was the only urban school for Black students in Rowan County.

By the 1920s, the school had become overcrowded by hundreds of students, with the Salisbury Evening Post noting in 1911 that students had to sit three to a seat and most did not have desks. The school was also in dire need of repairs by around 1920.

“The Dixonville negro school building is an old wooden building consisting of six classrooms. It is difficult to conceive poorer accommodations than it affords for satisfactory school work,” read a Post article from June of 1921.

To combat the overcrowding, the schoolhouse that currently stands on the property was built in 1926 and renamed to the Lincoln School. During that time, the school was led by Flora Bernhardt Flack was listed as principal in the Salisbury-Spencer City Directory, making her the only female principal in the history of the school.

In 1970, the school closed down as schools were integrated by the Civil Rights Act. Students were moved to Allen Elementary School, which stood where the First National Bank stands today on the corner of North Long and East Innes streets, said Fink.

A special committee of the Salisbury City Board of Education stated in a report from February of 1970 that the members did not believe that the Lincoln school district could be drawn to “establish a student body that would reflect the racial identity of the total community.” The committee, therefore, did not include the school alongside Wiley, Overton, Henderson and Allen Street elementary schools in its recommendation of how to implement integration.

The building was then used by the Rowan Vocational Workshop for approximately 30 years until 2002, when it was sold to Mt. Calvary Holy Church of America.

Mt. Calvary initially had plans to move their congregation into the building, but the church backed off of the plans and the building has been vacant for over 20 years.

Stieg said that two of the buildings, the former administrative offices and cafeteria, that are not attached to the actual school building were not viewed as historically significant.

The northern side of the school building suffered damage in an intentionally-set fire in 2020. According to the foundation’s application to the national registry, most of the damage was centered in a 6-foot-by-10-foot area of the floor, which was removed.

The application also notes that the original window and door trimming is still present throughout the building along with many of the original doors. Much of the bead board that is present throughout the building is also original.

Plans the foundation had drawn up by local architect Eddie Bell showed the property being utilized as a tech school and business incubator. The school building would be renovated and turned into classroom space while new buildings would be built to serve as business incubator space.

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