On August 7, 1871, Confederate veteran S.S. Hughes sold this lot for a church and school to recent freedmen Barry Tate, Thomas Cummins, and Robert Mayberry for fifteen dollars. Hughes requested that it be a Union Church, available to Methodists on the first Sunday, Presbyterians on the second Sunday, Baptists on the third Sunday, and Church of Christ on the fourth Sunday. By 1900, members of the Church of Christ had become the primary congregation and held services every Sunday. The building served as a public school for local African American students from 1871 until 1955. Notable teachers included Top Mayberry, T.A. Williams, and Mrs. Eddie Campbell Dotson. Arsonists burned the building on Halloween night in 1963, destroying the last African American landmark in the community. The U.S. 1870 census recorded 723 whites and 515 colored living in the area. The adjacent house was built in 1937 by Otice and Leola Lehew.