Description
The Historic McConchie One-Room School was originally located at the intersection of Blossom Point Road and Old Port Tobacco Road (now called Route 6) in the McConchie-Welcome area of central Charles County.
The school opened in 1912 exclusively to serve African American children in that neighborhood. This was the era of segregation and “Jim Crow” laws. The Charles County Board of Education closed the school in the early 1950s, along with other one-room schools in the county. This action consolidated and created sequential grades (one through twelve) in new, larger, more well-equipped school buildings; however, all schools in Charles County remained segregated until the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s.
The McConchie One-Room School was sold to a private citizen in the early 1950s. The new owner turned the school into a rental property. By the mid-eighties, the building had fallen into extreme disrepair. The owner intended to demolish the building, but a group of community residents, who were also Charles County Fair Board members, rescued the school. Mr. Mitchell Digges and Mr. George Dyson were instrumental in the relocation of the school. They moved the school to the Charles County Fairgrounds in 1992, where it still stands. The institution that now owns the McConchie One-Room School is The Charles County Fair, Inc.
The Historic McConchie One-Room School has historical and cultural significance. The school is one of only three one-room schools in Charles County that is currently open to the public. It is the only Charles County African American one-room school still standing and open to the public as a living museum that was originally constructed exclusively for the education of African American students.
The Historic McConchie One-Room School is typical of the great majority of public schools constructed after the Civil War. Public education as it is known today in Southern Maryland began in the late 1860s. One-room schools were the norm and continued to be built throughout Maryland for both African American and Caucasian children through the 1920s. Some of these one-room schools were still in use through the early 1950s.
The Historic McConchie One-Room School served as both an educational and a community center for the families in the McConchie-Welcome area. The Charles County Board of Education provided oversight and essential needs such as paid, qualified teachers and school supplies. However, the day-to-day operations of the school depended on the ingenuity and generosity of the teachers and the students’ parents. The school had a functioning Parent-Teachers’ Association (PTA).
One outstanding teacher was Mrs. Edna Warren Simmons. She began as a short-term substitute in 1922 and remained as the school’s only teacher until a few years before the school closed in the early 1950s. (Learn more about Edna Warren Simmons in Notable People in this website).
The Historic McConchie One-Room School was typical of many one-room schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Wood-burning, and, later, kerosene stoves, heated the building during cold weather. Oil lamps provided light during the winter. There was an outside well and a privy. Despite the difficult physical environment, students were well-behaved and conscientious. Lunches were supplied by the students’ families and by the teacher. Children brought food from home to share. Everyone received a substantial lunch daily.
When the school was moved to the Charles County Fairgrounds in the early 1990’s a dedication ceremony took place. Ms. Edna Simmons was the guest of honor. She lived to see the McConchie School preserved for posterity forty years after it closed.
Additional Information
McConchie One Room School – Charles County Fairgrounds
Interview with Edna Simmsons https://smsc.library.csmd.edu/repositories/3/resources/138
