Nonprofits share care of historic site
“I’ve got big plans. ... Hopefully it won’t take so long to finish things up.” kathe hambrick jackson, executive director and founder of the River Road African American Museum
DONALDSONVILLE -- The grass around the vacant Central Agricultural School building was freshly cut for Friday’s ceremony marking a new partnership between the owners of the 1930s-era schoolhouse and a local nonprofit group.
Kathe Hambrick Jackson, the executive director and founder of the River Road African American Museum, said she was able to hire work crews with the Donaldsonville Area Association for Retarded Citizens to maintain the lawn around the schoolhouse thanks to a $2,000 donation from Motiva Convent Refinery.
Jackson said the schoolhouse is one of three building left in Louisiana that were originally built through a partnership between Booker T. Washington, the president of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. The two created the Rosenwald Foundation, which built more than 5,300 schools in 15 states, she said. John S. Jones, a native of Smoke Bend, a community north of Donaldsonville, was the Rosenwald agent responsible for the development of more than 400 schools built in Louisiana, she said.
“This is a great partnership,” Daryl Hambrick, a member of the RRAAM board, said. “It’s one nonprofit to another nonprofit.”
Daryl Hambrick, who is also on the board of the Community Opportunities — The ARC of East Ascension, said he suggested to Jackson, his sister, that she hire the local agency to help maintain the grounds of the schoolhouse.
The blue schoolhouse is part of the museum’s master plan to create a complex in the city’s historic district to highlight the history of African-American education, history and culture in the area, Jackson said.
“We’re just glad to be able to help,” Kevin Hardy, communication manager for Motiva, said.
The St. James Parish School Board donated the building to the museum in 1998, and it was moved in 1999 to Lessard and Williams streets in Donaldsonville.
The schoolhouse, a 3,500-square-foot, four-room wooden structure, is across the street from True Friends Hall, another restoration project in the museum’s long-range plans.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Rosenwald Schools to its list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002, she said.
The history of the building is documented on a marker placed in front of the building in 2010. The marker is part of a “Circle of Supporters” sidewalk system that will include more than 200 bricks which were purchased by “supporters from around the country” Jackson said.
Jackson said the heating and air-conditioning units and furnishing still need to be installed before the schoolhouse can open for tours and educational program. The land is already the site of a community garden, which will be maintained by the ARC workers, Jackson said.
“I’ve got big plans,” Jackson said.
She said upon completion, the museum will have invested $1 million in the renovation project and employ eight people.
The renovation project was delayed when the first contract had to be dismissed for not completing his contract and the bidding process for the work had to start over.
“Hopefully, it won’t take so long to finish things up,” Jackson said.
During the Friday’s ceremony, Jackson and ARC Executive Director Marlene Domingue talked about plans to maintain the grounds.
“It’s important that the grounds don’t look abandoned,” Jackson said, adding that despite being closed, the schoolhouse is part of a walking tour she hosts for visitors.