Fairview to break ground this summer for restoration
♦ The groundbreaking for the restoration of the Fairview-E.S. Brown School firstgrade building in Cave Spring is likely to come in July or early August.
The groundbreaking on the restoration of the Fairview-E.S. Brown School first-grade building in Cave Spring is now being planned for sometime in July or early August, said Joyce PerdueSmith during the eighthannual barbecue fundraiser Friday.
As the chairwoman of the Fairview-E.S. Brown Heritage Corp., and the daughter of a former principal at the school, she could not help but to share her excitement about the project.
“We are ecstatic,” she said. “It’s a dream about to become a reality.”
With pledges totaling $112,000, Perdue-Smith said the hope is to have a grand opening of the refurbished school as a museum by next year, with the initial thought to have it open once a month.
A $100,000 fundraising was met earlier this year, spurred on by Wes Walraven and Brian Moore who pledged $75,000 if that fundraising goal was met by Aug. 1. Cash donations are at $97,000 and the last $3,000 is coming in, she said. In-kind contributions have also been pledged in the amount of at least $25,000, with numerous local businesses committing to assisting with work, which estimated to run around $200,000.
“It’s a seven year labor of love,” said Eddie Hood, the president of the alumni association who attended the school from 1948 to 1964.
The barbecue fundraiser goes to the restoration effort as well as operating expenses of the corporation, PerdueSmith said.
Though the Rome Civic Center was not packed for the goods from Johnny Mitchell’s Smokehouse at mid-afternoon, with people trickling in every so often, she said the majority of sales are through deliveries at the lunchtime hour.
The restoration of the 1945 building is about all that is left of the original old Rosenwald campus which was originally constructed 1924 to educate the African-American youth of Floyd County. But it was not just a school, Perdue-Smith said, but a place which saw to the molding of strong resolve and commitment to selfimprovement in each of its students.
This is just phase one, said Perdue-Smith. The corporation is working with Floyd County Schools to develop STEAM — science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics — curriculum for activities at the school site, with studios being built. Also, Floyd Medical Center is a partner in providing lifestyle education. A garden is also being planned.
From the re-discovery of the school in 2009, Perdue-Smith said alumni knew what they wanted in its rebirth — a school.
And as the school’s motto goes, “Good, better, best. I will not let it rest until my good is better and my better is best.”