- City:
- Sterling, VA
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Schools
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Built with funding from the Public Works Administration in 1939, Arcola School represented an upgrade in school facilities standards by providing a separate room for every grade. The four-room school replaced the one-room rural school school typical of rural areas. This was part of a larger school modernization effort across the United States. Arcola School was built during an era of segregated public schools and was the county’s first elementary school for white students.
From a 2009 nomination form of the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places”:
“This building was a school within the Loudoun County Public School System until 1977 and was then followed by use as a community center until it closed in 2006. In addition, according to a plaque in the vestibule, Arcola School was built in 1939 with aid from the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works and was visited by President Roosevelt. The school at Arcola was the fifth PWA construction enterprise in Loudoun County. Apparently, the building cost $31,000 in 1939.”
Source notes
Arcola School (https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Loudoun/053-0982_Arcola_School_2013_NRHP_FINAL.pdf), accessed January 22, 2018.
Arcola School: National Park Service: (https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13000363.htm), accessed January 22, 2018.
Site originally submitted by The Living New Deal on November 9, 2012.
Additional contributions by Mark Richman.
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