John Berry, Jr., an African-American living at Mt. Zoar was authorized by the Cecil County Board of Education to raise money to help build a school at the small community a mile or so outside of Conowingo late in 1871. He successfully raised local funds and the school board matched it with the school tax that was paid by “the colored people.” Thus a contract was awarded to J. Dixon West and the Cecil Whig wrote: “Soon now we shall have a good house for the colored children in the 8th District and in the most central place, which will accommodate at least seventy-five children (Cecil Whig, Dec. 17, 1870).”
On February 25, 1871, a Pilot Town News Item in the Cecil Whig announced that “The colored public school in this district commenced on Monday. They have a very fine school room in the basement of Thad Stevens Hall on the road from Conowingo to Port Deposit.”
While we can say with certainty that there was an African-American School in Conowingo by 1871, it is not the building that survives there now as the physical description does not align with the surviving structure. For example, for the original Mt. Zoar School the article states that the contractor was to build a schoolhouse with a hall over the classroom.
When Mr. Berry died in 1879 his real estate was sold at an estate sale and the listing included: “All the interest of said deceased in the property known as Thaddeus Stevens Hall and School House (Cecil Whig, Sept. 27, 1897)
The Maryland Historical Trust reports the “Mt. Zoar Colored School” near Conowingo opened about 1875. But the building pictured in this post went up in 1914, the Board of School Commissioners inspecting “the new colored school house at Mt. Zoar” that October, the Whig reported.1 The School Commissioners had allocated $2,000 for the project, but competitive bids came in and the contract was awarded to S. M. McCardell for $1,674.2 This current structure was used until the start of the 1941/42 school year.
The Cecil County School Board Records provide a partial listing of some of the teachers assigned to the school: 1918-Miss Lucy D. Jackson, Conowingo; 1921 – Miss Katharine Whiteside, Conowingo; 1931 – Bessie C. Harris, Conowingo & Albert B. Wilson, Conowingo; 1932 – Bessie C. Harris & Mrs. Ada J. Berry; 1934 – Bessie C. Harris, Rowlandsville & Mrs. Ada J. Berry, Rowlandsville, 1935-36 – Mrs. Bessie C. Harris, Goldsboro, and Mrs. Ada J. Berry, Conowingo; 1939 – Mrs. Ada J. Berry, Conowingo.
It closed for the 1941-42 school year, according to the minutes of the Board of Education (5/13/1941). After that, the children from the Mt. Zoar School were transported to the new school in Port Deposit.
Endnotes
I love that building.
Falmanac:
Isn’t that an interesting old building. I don’t have much information on it though. Do you have any more data? It’s worthy of a search through the Board of Ed records someday, if not. I’ll pass on whatever I come up with to you.
A fellow named Ellwood Griest wrote a novel about that area, the Northwest Barrens, in 1873. I haven’t read it yet. The nearby church and graveyard are also interesting. We have several entries on the subject over at Falmanac. Just search on the blog with the keyword “Zoar.”