Berkeley County · Marker 08-51
St. Stephen Colored School
Russellville Rd./Old Mill Rd., St. Stephen
Front inscription
St. Stephen Colored School, the first public African American school in St. Stephen, was built here in 1924-25. A three-room frame building, it was one of almost 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation 1917-1932. It opened with grades 1-7, but burned in 1935. A brick elementary and high school with grades 1-10 replaced it. Grades 11 and 12 were added in 1936-37 and 1948-49.
St. Stephen High School
A nine-room brick high school was constructed here in 1944-45, with Woodrow Z. Wilson as its last principal. It closed in 1954, and its students transferred to the new Russellville High School. The elementary school, with grades 1-7, was replaced by a new St. Stephen Elementary in 1966. The buildings here were torn down in 1965, and their bricks and lumber donated to Allen A.M.E. Church.