The school was built in 1906 to serve the African American community. Its a compelling story of how the Riverside neighbors unified around the issue of their childrens education and took on the local educational power structure to negotiate first, adding ninth and tenth grades to the new school, and, within a few years, a full, certified high school curriculum.
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This was a first for the African American families in the Elkins area, and they opened their doors to students, often, distant kin, from neighboring counties. After school desegregation in 1954, the outstanding educational standards and traditions of excellance in both sports and academia at riverside School were abandoned arbitrarily, the school closed, the faculty dispersed or let go, and the students left to fend for themselves in previously all white classrooms in other neighborhoods. Gone were the support systems, which had been in place for African-American students from all over the region. Since that time the old brick school building overlooking the Tygart River has stood as a quite memorial to the opportunities offered and shared within its walls.
The African-American community has largely let the region in search of greater opportunity. |
Today only a few graduates of the Riverside School reside in Elkins. Yet there is a movement afoot to save and preserve the old school as a museum of African - American historical, educational, and athletic experiance and to preserve the pictures, storys and traditions of the remaining alumni in Elkins and wherever else they may be found. Here is a rich opportunity for our community to piece together the tattered remains of a compelling past. In February 2009 the Riverside Alumni were able to purchase the school on a deed of trust, with money that was raised by the Future Business Leaders of America. Mountain Partners in Community Development inc., a local non-profit along with the Riverside school Association and Youth Empowered Solutions, are interested in partnering with Davis and Elkins College and any other non-profit for an academic and community outreach program that will be based on Allegheny / Appalachian regional African - American literature, culture and history. The Community Outreach program has been in the process of developing the first annual Riverside Blues Fest to be held July 18, 2009, on River St. in Elkins WV., from 11am - 9pm - all procedes will benefit the stabilization and renovation of the old school. We are at the begining of the Riverside School revitalization project and see an opportunity for citizens, organizations, and institutes alike to help secure a place in the future for the African-American past that has played a vital role in the development of this region.
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