Facing Tomorrow, Understanding Yesterday, A History of Orange ...

FACING TOMORROW, UNDERSTANDING YESTERDAY 17
1885, for instance, Orange County elected its first board of education,
whichsupervised thirty-eight public schools in the county, one of which
wasnamed Orange Church School. This one-room school was located
nearthe creek northeast of Orange Church, behind the present ball field.
Thelandthat the school occupied was not church property at the time and
therewas no formal connection between the two, but the school, nevertheless,identified
with the nearby church through its name. Some of the
facultymembers were LizzieWeaver Blackwood (later Freeland), Maude
Faucette,Margaret Claytor, and EarI Freeland.
By 1915,a Community Club of Orange Church was organized at the
schoolhouse.Committee structure for this organization was a bit different
fromthat of today. One committee, for instance, was assigned to pickling,
canning,and preserving chores, and another was responsible for keeping
upthe school and church grounds. The Community Club was closely tied
toOrange Church despite the lack of official ties to the church. Many of
itsmembers belonged to the church, and the school building served as
thesite of many church activities because fund-raising and other recreationalprograms
were not allowed in the sanctuary. At that time, of
course,the church had no extra buildings in which to hold such activities.
Clubmembers were active fund raisers for both the church and the
school.
Surviving minutes for the years 1915-1918show that the club under- Earl Freeland, teacher of Orange Church
tooka variety of activities to benefit the church, school, and community. School- 1904
ForHomecoming Day in May 1915,for instance, the club sponsored a love
feastatwhich money was received to purchase hymn books. The club also
setaside $8-$10for the purchase of an organ for the church, only to find
outthat they had to appropriate $15 instead. Members also worked hard
tokeepthe schoolyard clean. They held work days, just as later members
ofOrange Church would do. During these sessions, Community Club
membersdivided the school land into subplots and assigned parents and
theirchildren particular areas to spruce up. The women planted flowers
andinvolved the schoolchildren in preparing the schoolyard for grass
seed.Inaddition, club members bought window shades at 35 cents apiece
forthe school. The women had thought that the shades would cost 50
centsapiece, which would have put a bigger dent in their treasury. The
lowerprice was much appreciated.
To finance their various activities for the church and the school, the
womenlevied annual dues of20 cents apiece. In addition, they sponsored
fund-raisingactivities such as a benefit concert by the Carolina Glee Club
in 1917 and a box party in 1916, in which single women prepared
attractivelydecorated boxes of food for two that were then auctioned off
tosinglemen. The men bought both the food and the cook with their bids.
In mid-1915, the club's married women joined the Orange County
SanitationLeague in an effort to help keep "Orange County clean and
healthy."And in mid-1918, the club decided to buy a testament for "each
boyinthe district that had to go to [military] camp]une 25."As with some
women'sgroups today, the church women of this era spent some time in
sewingcircles, passing the time by socializing and making a quilt that
wouldbe sold to benefit the school. After the United States entered WorId
WarI, much of the sewing was done for the Red Cross.
The school and the club likely still were in existence after WorId War
I,butrecords cannot be found to substantiate the club's activities after that
time.The University's North Carolina Room has a 1922 map of Orange
Countyschools that shows that the school was still in existence at that
time.At some later undetermined time, the building was torn down. The
propertyon which the school stood at one time is now owned by the
church.