Program

Hometown Heritage®

Subject

Building, Education

Location

108 C S Brown School Dr, Winton, NC 27986, USA

Lat/Long

36.385382, -76.938199

Grant Recipient

Chowan Discovery Group

Chowan Academy was founded in 1886 in Winton, North Carolina by local minister and educator, Dr. Calvin Scott Brown. C. S. Brown was determined to advance education among the African American community and received a land donation to erect a school in Winton. He became the school’s first principal and remained in this position for 50 years. The school was renamed as the Waters Training Institute, to recognize northern benefactor, Horace Waters in 1893. The Hertford County Board of Education took ownership of the school in 1922 due to financial difficulties.

In 1926, The school applied to receive financial support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The Rosenwald Fund was the product of a partnership between Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist, owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and Booker T. Washington, a prominent civil rights activist and founder of the Tuskegee Institute. They established the Rosenwald Fund in 1917 to support education for black children in the rural American South. The fund provided communities with architectural plans and matching funds to build modern schools and other buildings. The Rosenwald School project ultimately produced over 5,300 schools, shops, and teacher homes in the U.S., including the new Waters Training Institute school, built from 1926-1927. Rosenwald Funds were also utilized to erect student dormitories and a shop near the school.

The local school board and community members donated their time, mules, and wagons to transport materials for the new building. The school was a Greek Revival structure comprised of six classrooms, a principal’s office, and an auditorium. After C. S. Brown passed away in the late 1930s, the school was renamed in his honor. C. S. Brown School served children in grades 1-12 and flourished until 1970, when the last class graduated. It was eventually restored and reopened in 1986 as the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum. The center at Brown Hall now hosts exhibitions, stage performances, seasonal and children’s programs, reunions, funerals, and weddings.