Bethune High School

Front: Bethune High School opened in 1953. It was housed in a brick facility built at this site and funded by the S.C. equalization program, an effort to preserve segregation by upgrading African American schools. Bethune replaced several older Black schools in northwestern Spartanburg County. It served grades 1-12 and included elementary and high school wings, a cafeteria, and a gymnatorium. Reverse: Bethune High School was named in honor of Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), a pioneering Black educator and activist born near Mayesville, S.C. She attended the school’s formal dedication in Dec. 1953 and toured the campus. Bethune High School closed in 1969 during the integration of Spartanburg Co. School District 1. The property was later sold and used as a private business.