According to tradition, Cedar Grove Baptist Church, an African-American church, was organized by Rev. Tom Jones shortly after the Civil War. It held its first services in a brush arbor, then built its first permanent church here. With a membership of about 250, the congregation built a second frame sanctuary in 1938 at a cost of $3,000, covered it in brick veneer in 1962, and dedicated the present brick church in 1986. On the present site of the church, the Ready River Baptist Association built a school for the African-American children of Simpsonville and other area communities in 1891-92. Nearby, in 1923-24, the Simpsonville Rosenwald School, an eight-room elementary and high school, was built. It was one of about 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation from 1917 to 1932, and it closed after the 1953-54 school year.