Richland County · Marker 40-163
Monteith School
6505 Main St., Columbia
Front inscription
This African-American school, built nearby before 1900, was originally New Hope School, a white school affiliated with Union Church. It closed about 1914. In 1921 Rachel Hull Monteith (d. 1958) opened Nelson School as a black public school in the Hyatt Park School District. With about 100 students in grades 1-5, it later became a 3-teacher school with Monteith as its principal and added grades 6 and 7.
Reverse inscription
Nelson School was renamed Monteith School in 1932 to honor Rachel Monteith. A civil rights activist, she was the mother of prominent civil rights activist Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899-1992). By 1936 her daughter Rebecca (1911-1967) also taught here; she became principal when her mother retired in 1942. The Hyatt Park School District was annexed into the city in 1947, and the school closed in 1949. Moved here in 2003, it now serves as a community center.