At last, years of hopes and dreams are paying off.
The old Jefferson School is on the last lap toward a fresh future.
Charlottesville this week officially kicked off an $18 million renovation project to turn the building into a city community center.
Constructed in 1926, the downtown building has been unoccupied since 2002. Its fate had been uncertain.
But because of the school’s historic position in the black community, there was strong sentiment to save the structure.
If it was to be saved, it had to be repurposed and reused.
The building had served first as an all-black high school and then as an elementary school. It closed in the late 1960s during racial integration. Later it was used as a “swing school” to house students as other elementary schools in the city were being renovated. Most recently, it provided space for offices, a preschool and programs for Piedmont Virginia Community College.
But the building needed serious renovations if it were to continue to be useful. Many in the community objected to the other option: shuttering the building for good.
“I remember when blacks had businesses in this community,” said Lelia Brown, referring to the Starr Hill area of the city where many black-owned businesses were razed in the name of urban renewal.
“Now this is all we have,” said Ms. Brown, who once served as chairwoman of the Jefferson School Task Force. “I didn’t want to see it go away.”
Nor did many others.
By next fall, the Jefferson School will have been transformed into the Jefferson School City Center, planned home for a variety of cultural, educational and civic groups.
Tenacity helped bring this vision to the edge of fruition. Supporters held a dream for the future, a desire to honor the past, and a plan for the present. And they never gave up.
One day soon, the old Jefferson School will again be a rich contributor to its community.
Thanks to those who grew and held the vision.
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