African American Heritage in the City’s Historic Parkside District
The Acworth Rosenwald School, in Doyal Hill Park, was originally located on School Street and served as Acworth’s only African American school from 1925 to 1948. The school had two teachers who instructed different grades with a removable wall separating the main space into two classrooms.
The Rosenwald School was constructed on School Street in 1924. Rosenwald Schools were part of a partnership between Julius Rosenwald (Sears Roebuck and Co.) and Booker T. Washington that brought schoolhouses to children in Black communities throughout the segregated South in the early 1900s. Acworth’s Black community contributed $700 towards the cost of the school. Rosenwald matched the $700, and the Cobb County Board of Education provided a further $1,850.
The school building was slated for demolition by the Cobb County Board of Education in 1948. Dismantled by volunteers, each timber and board were numbered, the nails were removed and straightened, and roofing shingles were stacked and stored. In 1953, the “Community House”, as it was known to residents, was rebuilt on Cherokee Street where it stands today. It was reassembled backward with some alterations to the height and roof of the building. Its first major renovation since its move was completed in 2023. The Acworth Rosenwald School is used as a community center and has served as a vital part of the Parkside District in this capacity to this day.
