Iconic piece of Charlotte’s Black history to be preserved forever. First, it has to move.

Several years ago, a group of citizens put their heads together on how to save an iconic piece of Charlotte’s Black history — The Siloam School.

Now that hard work is paying off with the school being relocated to the Charlotte Museum of History to preserve its legacy.

The aging wooden structure, among thousands of Rosenwald-era schools in the early 20th century for Black students, was built in 1924 and stood on a 1-acre plot in northeast Charlotte. Named for the Siloam Presbyterian Church, the one-room schoolhouse was constructed by local tradesmen and served several dozen children living in the rural areas of Charlotte’s Mallard Creek neighborhood.

The Rosenwald Fund, conceived by educators from the Tuskegee Institute and a partnership with philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, was a vehicle to build free primary schools and provide high-quality education to thousands of African American children living across a segregated rural South.

A leap for Siloam

Fast forward to about 2016. The group of citizens coalesced under the guidance of the Charlotte Museum of History and the Save Siloam School Project was born. The plan was to raise money to move the school to the 8-acre museum campus, restore it and create a history center. Along with forging partnerships with Matthew-based Sliver Star Community Inc., the group ultimately tapped Fannie Flono, a former Charlotte Observer editor and columnist, to oversee these efforts.

“This school building will be a visible and tangible reminder of what the past was like for so many in our community,” Flono said in an email. “It helps to tell an important story of the resilience and determination of Black residents of Charlotte-Mecklenburg to provide a better education for their children.”

After years of fundraising, a tremendous leap forward to tell that story happened last week, when crews began moving the historic school, taking off the roof first. The school building will move on a Sunday night in the next few weeks. The plan is to restore the structure and create a center for education that features exhibits focused on 20th century Black history.

The Siloam School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only school that operated in Mecklenburg County during the Rosenwald-era that is devoted to historic programming, the Charlotte Observer previously reported.

The Observer has previously written about this restoration effort, including the project exceeding a $1 million fundraising goal, aided by the Gambrell Foundation. This week I caught up with Flono to learn how the project came together and what it meant to her. Her answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Q. Why did you decide to take on this project and what is its background?

In 2019, I was asked to chair a community effort to save the school by Mary Newsom, who at the time chaired the board of The Charlotte Museum of History, where I am a board member as well. Additionally, Mary and I are friends and had worked together at the Charlotte Observer. She knew of my long-standing interest in Charlotte history, particularly its African American History. I had written a book, “Thriving in the Shadows: The Black Experience in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County” in 2005. The museum became aware of the school’s deteriorating condition and risk of demolition through the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission that worked to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, and the Silver Star group, an African American organization involved in restoring Rosenwald schools for a number of years.

Q. What is the first order of business with taking on a project like this? What was the genesis of it all and how long did it take before you or anyone working with you saw progress?

The first order of business in this project was to make the community aware of this historical gem and the dangers it faced.

The building sits behind an apartment complex, obscured from the public view. One of the first things the museum did was to have a program in 2017 to spotlight Rosenwald Schools, with two incredible speakers. They included the great grandson of Booker T. Washington, Marshall Washington-Cabiness Abuwi, and an in-law of Julius Rosenwald, Stephanie Deutsch. The latter wrote a book about Rosenwald and the schools he and Washington set out to build for African American children living in the South during the 1920s and 1930s.

An online fundraising effort was launched but it was clear a more focused plan was needed with a committee of community volunteers dedicated to saving the school. Thus, the Save the Siloam School Project was born. The committee is composed of everyday citizens and others who are better known. Some, such as Mecklenburg County commissioner Chairman George Dunlap, former mayors Harvey Gantt and Anthony Foxx, and the late community activist Thereasea Clark Elder, as well as former City Council members Gregg Phipps and Larken Egleston and former county commissioner Susan Harden, signed on as champions to help spread the word about the school.

When the city of Charlotte gave $50,000 to save the school in 2019, and the county followedwith a $25,000 donation (and a later pledge of $125,000), we knew we were on the way to rescuing the building. A $75,000 donation from a single donor — education advocate Sandra Conway — boosted our confidence even more. The $500,000 donation from The Gambrell Foundation put us over our $1 million goal. We have now raised $1.25 million in cash and in-kind gifts to move, restore and provide programming for the school.

Q. What about this project is so crucial to preserving Charlotte’s Black history?

This school building will be a visible and tangible reminder of what the past was like for so many in our community. It helps to tell an important story of the resilience and determination of Black residents of Charlotte-Mecklenburg to provide a better education for their children. In the Rosenwald tradition, it also highlights the good that can come out of people seeing past differences to work toward something that can benefit the entire community.

Q. What have been the rewards and challenges you have faced since taking on this project? Has it changed who you are?

The rewards are many for me. I have connected with people throughout this community who see the value in preserving history and learning the important lessons it offers for our present and future. So many of the more than 5,000 Rosenwald era school houses no longer exist. It is a great feeling to be involved in saving one and to be able to use it as a teaching tool.

The challenges for me as an introvert and a former journalist were daunting. Having never been a fundraiser, I had to get comfortable with that role. And being accustomed to being a behind-the-scenes worker, I had to get comfortable being the face of this effort, talking to anybody or group I could to get the message out. It helped enormously that I believed in this cause so much. I can’t say it changed me but heading the project gave me much more respect for people who commit themselves to such work for good causes.