Historic School Display

Compilation of images used in displays about the historic Mars Hill Rosenwald School. More materials are needed! If you have photos, books, report cards, or other materials, please contact us today!

The Long Ridge School was visited in August 1918 by Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs. Students at Long Ridge were told to dress in their best for this occasion.
The men stopped at Long Ridge School, as the Dixie Highway ran through Marshall, Mars Hill, and the Long Ridge Community. Henry Ford donated money for an additional school room for art, named the Henry Ford Room. Left to Right: Harvey Firestone Sr., Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, Jr., E.W. Grove, Henry Ford, Fred Seeley

Left to Right: Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Louis Armstrong

Joe the Slave went to prison in 1859 for a debt owed by Mars Hill College to the building contractors.
Joe’s descendants attended the Mars Hill colored schools. Two of his descendents taught at the school.
Over twenty of Joe’s relatives are buried in the Mt. Olive cemetery, adjacent to the school.
Joe’s grave is located on the Mars Hill University campus.

In need of restoration.

In March 1910 the mother and father of Billy Strayhorn, the eminent African-American composer-arranger, were married in Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in the Long Ridge community, in 1905.
Both his mother, Lillian Young, and his maternal grandmother, Alice Young, had attended the Long Ridge School.

Painting of the Mars Hill Rosenwald School building by Charity Ray. Charity, retired from Mars Hill University School of Education and Library, is a local artist. She also attended the Long Ridge School.

Viola King Barnett was a washerwoman for Mars Hill College personnel. All of her children, including Shirley Sewell, attended the Long Ridge School.
Mrs. Barnett wrote to the Superintendent of NC Schools saying that her children and other black students were entitled by law to secondary public education.
Because of her letter, all black children in NC gained access to secondary education.

Artifact found during tear down of the addition.