Easley Progress Spotlights Liberty's Rosewood Center During Black History Month

* Picture of Rosewood Center in Liberty SC / National Historical Register

Black History Month Spotlight: The Rosewood Center In Liberty

From the article:

The Rosewood Center, best known to Liberty residents as the community building where meetings, parties, receptions and other events are held, has a far deeper history than many people may know.

In 1937, the building was erected by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an organization President Franklin D. Roosevelt established to give men work after the depression.

The building was called Liberty Colored Junior High School until 1945 when the name was changed to Liberty Colored High School. It became a full-fledged high school, but high schools then only went to eleventh grade. The school remained a high school until 1955 when the consolidation program did away with smaller community schools.

The school was one of the two high schools for African-American students in Pickens County serving students in Liberty, Norris, Central, Clemson and other areas. In 1955, Liberty Colored High and Simpson High were consolidated into Clearview Colored High School in Easley and remained that way until integration was put into force ...

When the high school moved to Easley, the building was renamed Rosewood Elementary because it was on Rosewood Street. The building remained Rosewood Elementary, which held first through eighth grade, until integration took off, which was around 1970.

The building was renamed the Rosewood Center and was used by Pickens County Schools as overflow for some of the schools in the area.

Since that time, the Rosewood Center has no longer been used as a school. Johnson said the building stood vacant for several years until Liberty First Baptist Church leased it as a youth activity center.

The City of Liberty bought the building and has since used it for town meetings, conferences, and other community events.

Read the story for an interview with a Liberty resident that attended the school and recounts its various transformations over the years.

Black History Month Spotlight: The Rosewood Center In Liberty

Here is a link to more information about The Rosewood Center at The National Historical Register:

The Rosewood Center

* I'm fairly certain that this is an older piece that has been recycled from a previous year.