Cedar Grove Baptist Church

Front: According to tradition, this 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. The congregation, with a membership of about 250, built a second frame sanctuary in 1938 at a cost of $3,000. It was covered in brick veneer in 1962. The present brick church was dedicated in 1986. Reverse: The Reedy River Baptist Association built a school for the African-American children of Simpsonville and other area communities here in 1891-92, on the present site of the church. In 1923-24 the Simpsonville Rosenwald School, an eight-room elementary and high school, was built nearby. One of about 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation 1917-1932, it closed after the 1953-54 school year.