Brown Elementary School honored with historic marker
Location of former elementary school now site of Brown School Lofts at Legacy Heights
The Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission recently unveiled a marker honoring the legacy of Brown Elementary School. The marker honoring one of the city’s most historic schools is located near the corner of E. 11th Street and Dublin Drive.
Opened in 1910 as Woodland Avenue Colored School, it was one of the first schools in Winston-Salem for Black students and served the community until 1977. In 1941 the school was renamed Brown Elementary in honor of Robert W. Brown, who was a cofounder of Mutual Life Insurance Company and served as principal at the school for 30 years.
Several students who attended Brown Elementary were at the marker unveiling last week. Siblings Dan Jenkins and Gail Couthern had fond memories of their days walking from Cleveland Projects to Brown in the late 1960s. They both described a loving and caring environment filled with teachers that pushed students to strive for greatness. “We loved making that walk from Cleveland every day and we loved coming to school … it was just something about it,” said Jenkins while reflecting on his time spent at Brown Elementary.
Couthern, who attended Brown from 1966-1970, recalled the riots that broke out throughout the city when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. During the riots several businesses in the area were destroyed or burned down, but the school went untouched. Couthern said she was proud to be there to represent her classmates.“I am so proud to still be here because a lot of my classmates have gone on,” she said.
Winston-Salem City Councilmember Annette Scippio said for those who know what Woodland Avenue and Brown Elementary meant to the community, the marker means a great deal.
“To recognize this school is very special in the hearts of those who know what was here, in the space on this soil,” Scippio said. “To recognize the people who gave so much, during times when we had so little is very special … Brown was so special for so many.”
After the school closed in 1977, it was purchased by Shiloh Baptist Church and it operated as a daycare for over a decade. In the early 2010s the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem (HAWS) purchased the site from the church and in 2016 a fire destroyed the building.
When HAWS decided to put housing on the site, they decided to commemorate the legacy of the school by naming it Brown School Lofts at Legacy Heights. The 81-unit apartment complex was funded by a $30 million federal grant to create affordable housing. HAWS plans to use the grant, which is known as the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, to redevelop the Cleveland Avenue Homes and much of the surrounding area. Brown School Lofts at Legacy Heights is Phase I of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative and much of the Cleveland Avenue development has already been torn down to prepare for future redevelopment.
Kevin Cheshire, HAWS executive director, said while oftentimes public housing developments are stigmatized, he’s proud of the Brown School Lofts at Legacy Heights and the other new developments in the area, Camden Station and The Oaks at Tenth. He said HAWS is committed to investing in our community and Brown School Lofts, and the Choice Neighborhood Initiative are examples of that.
“It’s unfortunate that sometimes our housing is stigmatized and the residence … but this is housing. We call it a lot of different things – workforce, affordable, low income, public – but it’s housing and it’s housing for people and that’s what we want to continue to build,” Cheshire said.
