Colored School B

Completed in 1865, the Colored School B  has been referred to as the Goose Creek School for Negroes, the Lincoln Colored School, the Lincoln School C (locals imply this stood for “colored”), and the Lincoln School for African Americans over the years. The school was built on land donated by Edward and Eliza Rawson on land they donated to build both the school and the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church. The school taught schoolchildren in grades one through seven, divided into two classrooms.

Eliza originally came from Boston to teach at Samuel Janney's Springdale School for Girls in Lincoln prior to the Civil War. She married the son of Samuel Janney and presumably gained much of her staunch abolitionist sentiment from the Janney’s, as Samuel was well known for his activity as an Underground Railroad conductor. When her husband died, Eliza married Edward Rawson and they acquired property from the Birdsall family, which included much of Lincoln on the West side of Lincoln Road. Mrs. (Susan) Holmes Gregg, a later owner of the school, reported that the school was built by the Rawson's and Quakers  under the care of the Quaker Meeting and that the Quakers provided teachers. It is documented that Eliza Janney  Rawson taught there for a time, but later teachers were African American. The building is two stories- one room over one room. An interview with former student Macklay Lucas indicates that half the grades met downstairs, and half met upstairs. The school served local African American schoolchildren until the late 1940’s. In the early 1950’s, Holmes and Susan Gregg purchased the building and restored it into a private residence in 1980. It is currently in private ownership.

In 1980, the Lincoln Elementary School published a cookbook which included historical facts and photos provided by Lincoln residents. The following is an excerpt about the Lincoln School B: