Cismont School, Louisa Road, Keswick, Albemarle County, Virginia

This documentation was completed for a class at the University of Virginia & subsequently donated to the HABS collection.

Significance: Used as an Albemarle County Public School from 1908 to 1961, Cismont School was the first high school in the Village of Cismont. The 4.5 acre tract of land was originally sold by W.W. Johnson to the School Board of Rivanna District No. 1 of the county for $209 on 18 September 1907. As stated in the original deed delivered to Principal A.L. Everett on 14 April 1908, "it is understood and agreed that said tract of land shall be used for the establishment and running of a public school for white children exclusively." Cismont is an example of a rural school in Virginia impacted by segregation. It represents the improvement of educational facilities for the white community with the provision of a library, three main classrooms, an auditorium, an athletic field, stables, and every necessary outbuilding. Going beyond just an educational facility, the Cismont School provided an arena for community involvement through the sponsorship of many events outside of school activities.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N955

Survey number: HABS VA-1377

Building/structure dates: 1908 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: ca. 1920- before. 1930 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: before 1961 Subsequent Work

high schools education segregation community service building failures keswick cismont school cismont school louisa road albemarle albemarle county virginia amanda b davis gretchen a hilyard historic american buildings survey lauren m macdonald elizabeth h moore louis nelson cora m palmer virginia barrett price catherine h redfearn district no 1 school board of rivanna anh k thai library of congress

1920

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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