Peabody School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane tells it back to you. In 1885, the people of Hillsboro issued a bond to build a school for the African American community. They built it, and they named it for a man called George Peabody, a banker who had distributed funds to the southern states following the Civil War.

The school served students in the neighborhood known as Freetown, right there in Hillsboro, and it did that work steadily, year after year. By 1919, the original frame structure had given way to a proper brick building, which is the kind of upgrade that tells you a community is serious about what it's built. That brick building carried students through their lessons until 1950, when Peabody School moved to this very site.

The school kept on educating. It kept on graduating. The last graduating class walked across that stage in 1966, and even after that, primary level classes continued on this campus until full integration finally came.

Now, here's the part that sits heavy. In 2005, the building burned down. Gone.

And yet, when you talk to Hillsboro residents, they'll tell you Peabody School is still a source of pride. Because what that school did, the students it shaped, the community it anchored in Freetown for generation after generation, that doesn't burn. That's the story the marker wants you to carry down the road.

What the marker says

In 1885, a bond was issued for the construction of an African American School, which was built soon afterwards. The school, named for George Peabody, a banker who distributed funds to the southern states following the Civil War, educated students in the African-American neighborhood in Hillsboro known as Freetown. A brick building replaced the original frame structure in 1919, and was used until the school moved to here in 1950. Peabody School's last graduating class was in 1966, with primary level classes held on the campus for several more years until full integration occurred. Although the building burned down in 2005, Peabody School remains a source of pride for Hillsboro residents. (2008)