The former Lemon Street Elementary School, a school in Marietta, Georgia, that educated Black students during America’s era of segregation and “separate but equal” education policy, had a plaque honoring its status as a member of the National Register of Historic Places unveiled on Oct. 5.
According to WSBTV, the school was added to the registry earlier in 2024 in recognition of its work during segregation, recognizing history that education system leaders in Marietta said reflects the city’s history.
As Marietta City Schools Board Member Angela Orange told the outlet, “The history of the Lemon Street School reflects the history of Marietta itself. It’s a story of progress, resilience, and hope. As we welcome back the alumni and families who lived through that history, we’re reminded of just how far we’ve come,” Orange said.
Orange concluded, “This plaque is more than a symbol of the past—it’s a call to action for the future, to ensure every child has the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to succeed.”
According to the Marietta Daily Journal, former students at the school attended a ceremony where a replica of the plaque that will be showcased in front of the school was unveiled.
Over the years, the school, which officially closed its doors in 1971, has seen use for several other functions, including a junior high school, public library, community center, and a storage facility.
Marietta Superintendent Grant Rivera said at the ceremony that in his first five months in the position, numerous offers were made by developers to purchase the school, but he rebuffed them because “This place is special. This place stands today to honor your legacy, to tell your story so it is never forgotten.”
Rivera, along with the members of the Marietta Schools Board and former students at the school, were instrumental in keeping the building where it currently stands.
In 2020, the Marietta City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to spend $5.3 million to renovate the school so it could again be used for its original purpose as an education facility.
Following the completion of that work, in 2021, the school was re-opened as the Woods-Wilkins Campus and is currently the home of three of Marietta High School’s nontraditional education programs.
According to Lemon Street alumna Fleeca Wilson Taylor, the preservation effort was one way she and the members of the community felt they could honor the lessons taught by the educators who once walked the halls of the school.
“We all came together and focused on one goal, one common goal: preserve this building and the history it represents,” Wilson Taylor told the Marietta Daily Journal
. “We did exactly what those teachers…who used to teach in these rooms (taught us).”RELATED CONTENT: $3.9M Restoration Project To Preserve Brooklyn’s Weeksville Houses, One Of America’s Oldest Black Communities