This school was initially built in 1926 as part of the Rosenwald Program, an initiative by Julius Rosenwald (then president of Sears, Roebuck and Company) at the request of Booker T. Washington, that supplied funding to help build schools for black children in the American south. The Julius Rosenwald Fund contributed to the construction of 4,997 schools with an estimated 354 built in Tennessee.
The South Fulton school closed its doors in 1963 due to the integration of Obion County Schools. While only the gymnasium is left standing, the Ken-Tenn Homecoming Committee worked diligently to prevent this structure from being demolished by purchasing it from the city, to act as a community center. In recent years, the building reached a point where it can no longer serve as a meeting place until repairs can be made to the structure. Until then, Discovery Park is assisting in the preservation of the school artifacts that were removed from the school for safekeeping in our artifact storage. Artifacts were temporarily displayed at Discovery Park for the school alumni to see during the Ken-Tenn Homecoming and Reunion Association visit on Saturday, July 20.
