Origin of the Elm bend Rosenwald School
By Lynn Pruett
When we began our research, we found that documentation called the wooden frame Elm Bend School on Troy Pike a Rosenwald School. (See map) This idea suggested that a white philanthropist started education for Elm Bend students. Our research showed something completely different. In 1885, the St. John A.M.E. Church deeded land for the school, thirty-nine years before the Rosenwald program arrived here. Education was a value of the Elm Bend Community long before Mattie Johnson Gray applied for and got Rosenwald funding to modernize the school facilities. The Woodford County Board of Education rejected her initial request for funds to improve the building but agreed once the community and Rosenwald Fund committed to half the expected cost. Expected total: $1600, real cost $2800.
