NEWS

Valley Rewind: Schools before segregation, including Carver Elementary

Courtesy of Swannanoa Valley Museum
Special to Black Mountain News
Prior to the 1940s, the two-room Carver Elementary School (possibly also known as Clearview Elementary) was built in the present location of the Carver Community Center. In 1942, the building was replaced by a stone structure seen in this photograph from the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center's collection.

According the Jessie Sherrill, John Myra Stepp donated the land for the first school for black students in Black Mountain, Flat Creek Road School (also known as the Black Mountain Colored School), in 1886.

The March 3, 1899, issue of The Asheville Register reported that three schools served the 331 white students in town. However, though there were two schools serving black students in Swannanoa, the paper reported, "the necessity for erecting a suitable house for the negroes prevented the committee from having any school taught for the negro race this year [in Black Mountain]."

The original Flat Creek Road School building located in the Brookside community was replaced in 1917 by a building that no longer stands. Prior to the 1940s, the two-room Carver Elementary School (possibly also known as Clearview Elementary) was built in the present location of the Carver Community Center.

In 1942, the building was replaced by a stone structure seen in this photograph from the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center's collection. In 1951, the present-day brick building was constructed. Carver Elementary closed in 1966 when black students integrated Black Mountain Elementary.