South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Goodwill Parochial School, Sumter County (295 N. Brick Church Rd., Mayesville vicinity)
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(Goodwill Day School) Goodwill Parochial School, a late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century parochial school for African Americans in Sumter County, was sponsored and supported by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. until 1933 and then by Goodwill Presbyterian Church, which stands nearby, until 1960. At this time it was consolidated with Eastern School, a black public school. The school building, built ca. 1890, is significant as a scarce and relatively intact example of late nineteenth-century vernacular architecture associated with the African American community and with the development of African American education in South Carolina. The school was established during Reconstruction. By 1872, the Committee on Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. reported that Goodwill, with over 350 students, was one of the three “most active” parochial schools supported by the church in South Carolina. The building itself is a two-story, lateral gable building sheathed in weatherboard and set upon a brick pier foundation. Its main block contains a central open boxed gabled pavilion with beaded board arranged in a chevron pattern within the gable. Within each end gable is a large lozenge shaped louvered vent. Its roof is V-crimp metal clad, pierced by two interior chimneys. Listed in the National Register May 30, 1997.

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