The first of more than 5,300 Rosenwald schools for black children stood on this site, built between 1913 and 1932 through a collaboration between Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, and Booker T. Washington, principal of Tuskegee Institute. Dedicated on May 18, 1913, the Loachapoka school reflected Rosenwald’s belief in self-help, so he funded only part of construction while the rest was raised through money and labor from local black and white community members. The schools were built from a selection of plans designed by an architect at Tuskegee Institute. The first teacher at the Loachapoka school was L. Pearl Rouseau, and with no principal at first, the school was overseen by the state. Its first school year lasted only three months, and the second expanded to nine months. In the one-room building, which had no power or plumbing, students were taught basic reading and arithmetic. Rosenwald contributed $300 toward the school, and local residents, black and white, provided the remainder of the total cost of $942.46 along with the labor. The school was the only source of education for black citizens in the area until it closed in the late 1950s.