Fairmont School

Fairmont School was a two-room schoolhouse for white students in the Blackwater district of Franklin County. The school was built on a concrete foundation, and it was heated with a stove. The building did not have electricity, running water, or indoor restrooms. Fairmont School opened in 1928, when it consolidated several one-room schools (including Bunker Hill and Retreat) that had been deemed inadequate. The school closed for about two years in the late 1950s. It reopened as a school for black students in 1960. In 1965, the school was closed for good and the remaining 40-50 students were transferred to Lee M. Waid (on the site of the former County Training School). Flora Thomas, Julia Laprade, Geneva Matthews, and Blanche Webster were teachers at the school.

---