Lexington County · Marker 32-55
Oak Grove Colored School
222 Cromer Rd., Lexington vicinity
Front inscription
This is the former site of Oak Grove Colored School, est. 1900 as a public school for African Americans. It was built on a lot previously owned by John Sewell (1831-1915), a Black farmer who lived nearby. He conveyed the land to school trustees in 1899 and later sold them materials for the school’s construction. Upon opening, it was part of Lexington Co. School District No. 2 (Oak Grove).
Reverse inscription
Oak Grove was also called Sweet Gum Colored School and was housed in a wooden one-room building. Twenty-six students attended in 1900-01 with one teacher. In the mid-1930s around thirty-five students in grades 1-7 attended each day for a four-month term. The school closed in 1952 as part of the consolidation of Lexington Co.’s country schools. It burned down a few years later.