The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) on Thursday, March 21, approved an application for the St. Clare Walker (SCW) Historic District at Cooks Corner to be a part of the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR), along with nine other sites in the state.
The SCW School Historic District comprises the campuses of two historic schools that served Black students during Jim Crow segregation in Middlesex County’s Public School System (MCPSS).
A DHR news release stated that a “local Black community’s grassroots movement to create better educational opportunities for their children — an initiative shepherded by prominent local Black educator John Henry St. Clare Walker — led to the establishment of St. Clare Walker High School, which operated from 1939-1969, and (across the street) Rappahannock Central Elementary School (RCE), active from 1962 through 2002.
The RCE campus was used as an all-Black elementary school from 1962 to 1969. After that, county schools were federally forced to integrate to serve white and Black students together.
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