CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — What was once a one-room school will soon have a new home.
With help from St. Louis County Parks Foundation, Chesterfield African American School is relocating to the Historic Village at Faust Park.
The school, formerly known as African School No. 4 in the Chesterfield School District, currently sits on private land on Wild Horse Creek Road.
The historic schoolhouse was built in 1894 and was exclusively for African American children in the Chesterfield area for nearly four decades.
“This is the oldest African American schoolhouse in Missouri, and it is important to keep its legacy of students and teachers alive for current and future generations to see and experience in person,” said Mark Ohlendorf, President of the St. Louis County Parks Foundation in a news release.
"You can still see the remnants of the black paint for the chalkboards you can also see the piece of woodwork that held the chalk and the erasers. Also part of the original bookshelves are hanging. We have a decomposing book that was left on the floor," said Jesse Francis, Site Manager of Faust Park.
The County Parks Department has been in touch with 90-year-old Doris Frazier. She was a substitute teacher at the school in 1950.
The building is in poor condition and is being donated to Faust Park to preserve the history of the area.
Ohlendorf hopes former students or their family members have pictures or documents that show what the inside looked like.
"We want to make the inside of the building here to look exactly like it did back when the kids were back here using it all the time," Ohlendorf said.
The St. Louis County Parks Foundation works to maintain all St. Louis County Parks with public and private funding. The Foundation partnered with the St. Louis County Parks Department that will be leading the relocation and renovation project.
So far, the Foundation has raised about $15,000 of the estimated $35,000 needed to complete relocation and preservation.
If you'd like to donate, you can visit their website.