Orangeburg County · Marker 38-34
Bowman Rosenwald School
the corner of Adam & Center Sts., Bowman
Front inscription
Bowman Rosenwald School, which stood here from 1927 to 1952, was one of several African-American schools in Orangeburg County funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. The school, built in 1926-27 at a cost of $6,000, was a five-room frame building typical of the larger rural schools built by the Rosenwald Foundation between 1917 and 1932. The school burned in 1952.
Reverse inscription
Bowman Rosenwald School educated about 250 students a year for most of its history, at first in grades 1-8 with five teachers and a five-month session, but by 1948-49 in grades 1-12 with nine teachers and an eight-month session. Its enrollment grew dramatically after World War II, reaching a peak of 576 students in 1951-52, its last full school year.