The Negro Rural School

Tuskegee Institute prepared plans for the earliest Rosenwald buildings, published in a 1915 pamphlet THE NEGRO RURAL SCHOOL AND ITS RELATION TO THE COMMMUNITY. Professors R.R. Taylor, Director of the Department of Mechanical Industries, and W.A. Hazel, of the Division of Architecture, created designs for a 1 teacher school, two variations on a 5 teacher school, plus an industrial building, a privy (outdoor toilet), and two residences for teachers. In 1920, control of the schoolbuilding program shifted to the new Rosenwald Foundation office in Nashville, where director S.L. Smith drew up a fresh set of designs. These first appeared in book form in 1924 as COMMUNITY SCHOOL PLANS (shown on this website) and remained in print with revised editions into the 1940s. Smith made careful use of natural light, providing separate designs for buildings that faced east-west and buildings that faced north-south. Schools ranged in size from 1 to 7 teachers, and there were also plans for privies, industrial buildings, and teachers cottages.