West Gaines Colored School

From 1937-1965 West Gains Colored School was the segregated school for African American children in Lawrenceburg. In 1931 the Lawarence County Board of Education purchased four acres, planning to use additional funding from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation to build the school. Later in 1931, H. D. Derrick and other citizens sued the Board of Education to stop construction. The case eventually went to the Tennessee Supreme Court where the justices ruled against the plaintiffs in 1932. Continued - By that time, the Rosenwald School program had closed. The school board finally built a concrete block school, in the Rosenwald School style, in 1938. Its wood stoves, five flush toilets, 65 single desks, six tables and 40 chairs were valued at $9,000. Mrs. Evilena Rhodes and Mrs. Vera Lou Rhodes served, respectively, as principal and Assistant Principal for the 1937-38 term. In 1965 desegregation led to the school's closing and African American children were transferred to other county schools.