On Booth Street between the George Washington Carver Leadership Center and Wright’s A.M.E. Church, there stands a small, nondescript masonry block building. On this parcel by 1892, there was a frame schoolhouse for African-American children in Elkton, according to Board of Education Minute Books and Sanborn Maps. Keys and Miller Lumber Company, of Elkton, and Strawbridge and Clothier, of Philadelphia, made contributions to help improve this facility.
In 1917, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, wanted to make a difference in education for young people in needy, segregated communities, so he established a foundation that encouraged the building of up-to-date schools in the south.
The Rosenwald Foundation donated $1,300 toward a $7,600 project in 1926, which significantly expanded the school on this parcel. This larger facility had classrooms for five teachers, according to Fisk University records. It was used to educate Black children until 1954.
When the new academic year got underway In 1954 there was a modern, mid-20th century school — now the Cecil County Public Schools central administration building — to serve the needs of 300 African-American students across Cecil County. The Carver School was formally dedicated in January 1955.
.Just after the Civil War (1867), the county had started considering arrangements for African American Schools in Cecil County. While they mulled things over, churches in Elkton served as classrooms, but at some point in this post-Civil War era, there was a building that was used until the 1892 structure was built.
