John Groom Elementary School, South Hill Virginia

John Groom Elementary School, South Hill Virginia

This was the Only K-6 School for African Americans in the Area until Desegregation

The John Groom Elementary School served as the only public elementary school for the municipality's African American youth from 1950 until 1969. Initially referred to as South Hill Negro Elementary School, the Mecklenburg County School Board (MCSB) in June 1950 named the campus in memory of John Groom, whose $10,000 bequest had subsidized a portion of the auditorium/cafeteria's construction. In addition to its primary function, the facility served as a community meeting place. Upon the Mecklenburg County school system's fall 1969 integration, John Groom Elementary School became South Hill Primary School and housed first- through third-grade pupils. Fourth- through seventh-grade students attended South Hill Elementary School. John Groom Elementary School is the product of both legally required Jim Crow segregation and

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Greenwood School, Hot Springs Arkansas

Greenwood School, Hot Springs Arkansas

This School Building was Abandoned in 2009 and Demolished in 2020

History of Greenwood School The purchase of a five acre square plot of land along Greenwood Avenue for a new school building was authorized by the local school Board of Directors on April 22nd, 1929. This school would be one of two new schools built in the growing residential areas of southwest Hot Springs, Arkansas. Greenwood School and its sister school Rix School which was named after prominent local banker and business leader Charles N. Rix, were both designed to house elementary grades in neighborhood schools. In July of 1929, the purchase of the land along Greenwood Avenue was finalized for $5,000.00. Irven D. McDaniel, who had recently relocated to Hot Springs from Memphis, Tennessee, was selected as the architect and

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Grasmere Estate, Rhinebeck New York

Grasmere Estate, Rhinebeck New York

This is one of the Early Estates of the Hudson River Valley

History of Grasmere Grasmere is a distinguished example of estate architecture in the town of Rhinebeck and associated with several of the area's most prominent families including the Montgomerys and Livingstons during the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries, the Crosbys during the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries and the Timpsons during the mid-twentieth century. Originating as a Federal period country seat, the original section of the present manor house was built by Peter R. Livingston on the ruins of Janet Livingston and General Richard Montgomery's country seat, a Georgian-inspired mansion erected ca. 1775 and destroyed by fire in 1823. Livingston's 1824 mansion, a formal and elegant two-story, five-bay center-hall Federal style brick building with restrained, classically inspired

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Heer's Department Store, Springfield Missouri

Heer's Department Store, Springfield Missouri

Once the Largest Store in the Area, this Building is now Luxury Apartments

History of Heer's Department Store The Heer's Department Store, at 138 Park Central West (originally College Street) in Springfield, Missouri, housed one of Springfield's largest and most prominent department stores for 80 years. The Heer's Company, which was founded by Charles H. Heer in 1869, operated in Springfield for more than a century. The current Heer's Department Store building was built for Charles Heer's son, F. X. Heer, who headed the company from 1886 to 1940. The Heer's Store played a dominant role in retail activity on the square well into modern times; the building was expanded in 1951 and continued to house the Heer's Store until 1995. The Heer's Department Store, which was often described as the largest department store

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Gratiot School, St. Louis Missouri

Gratiot School, St. Louis Missouri

Serving as a School for over 100 Years, This Building Has Been Converted to Apartments

History of Gratiot School Gratiot School, located at 1615 Hampton Avenue, St. Louis City, Missouri, was constructed in 1882 to replace the older Cheltenham School, which was originally located approximately ¼ mile to the northwest on what is today the 1300 block of Graham Street. The building is an example of early school house design in St. Louis and illustrates the manner in which the St. Louis Public School Board constructed small, but easily expandable schools in areas of the city that were still developing and poised for growth. These smaller schools that were constructed in rural contexts were usually replaced, or in some cases completely absorbed into larger buildings as surrounding neighborhoods matured and population grew. The early schools that

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Seabrook-Wilson House, Middletown New Jersey

Seabrook-Wilson House, Middletown New Jersey

Also Known as Spy House, this old Tavern is Home to as Many as 22 Ghosts

History of the Seabrook-Wilson House On June 10th, 1696, Thomas Whitlock, an original patentee of Monmouth County, sold to Daniel Seabrook, his wife's son, his property at Shoal Harbor consisting of 202 acres. In 1717 the farm Daniel Seabrook had purchased was in the possession of James Seabrook, his son. In 1730, James sold his property to Daniel Seabrook for 800 pounds. This Daniel was James' son. Records show that when Daniel died in 175Q he left his plantation at Shoal Harbor to his two sons. This is the first definite record of the house being there. The land and home remained in the Seabrook family through the nineteenth century. Various members of the family, including Thomas, were involved in the

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Bowers Mansion, Washoe Valley Nevada

Bowers Mansion, Washoe Valley Nevada

1863 Home Built by Wealthy Silver Miner Is Said to Be Haunted by His Ghost

History of Bowers Mansion The builders of Bowers Mansion, Lemuel S. Sandy Bowers and his wife, Eilley, were two of the first to become wealthy from their mining interests in Nevada, and the mansion was the fulfillment of Eilley's dreams of prestige and respectability. The mansion was built upon a piece of property some 56 acres in size, located north of Franktown in Washoe Valley. The land had originally belonged to Eilley and a previous husband, Alex Cowan, who purchased it in 1856, and farmed there for about a year before he returned to Utah with other Mormon settlers in the area. Eilley secured a divorce and moved to Gold Canyon where she ran a boarding house and later acquired the

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Bellevue - The Longfellow House, Pascagoula Mississippi

Bellevue - The Longfellow House, Pascagoula Mississippi

Antebellum Gulf Coast Home with a History of Hauntings

History of The Longfellow House Bellevue, also known as The Longfellow House, was built by local carpenters and craftsmen about 1850. It is one of the most prominent surviving Greek Revival houses of the antebellum period on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the most significant Greek Revival building in Jackson County. The house is an example of a traditional form called a raised cottage that was widely adopted for substantial houses in coastal areas of the Deep South during the antebellum period. This form is characterized by a lower story of brick construction, above which is an upper story of wood frame construction containing the main living area of the house. These raised cottages characteristically had wide central hallways with one

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Hager House, Hagerstown Maryland

Hager House, Hagerstown Maryland

13 Ghosts Haunt this Nearly 300 Year Old Stone House

History of Hager House Hager House has been well-restored and retains much of its original woodwork and hardware. This is one of the earliest stone houses in Washington County. Built circa 1740 by Jonathan Hager, one of the first settlers in Washington County, Maryland. A native of Westphalia in Germany, he came to Philadelphia in 1736. He stayed in Pennsylvania for a short time and then pushed on to western Maryland. In December 1739, he received his first patent from Lord Baltimore for two hundred acres which he called Hager's Fancy or Hager's Choice. Before building his house, Hager lived in one of two log houses which stood on the property when he acquired it. These houses are thought to be

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Loudoun House, Lexington Kentucky

Loudoun House, Lexington Kentucky

Now an Art Gallery, this Gothic Revival Mansion is Haunted by a Women in White

History of Loudoun House Loudoun House is one of the largest and finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in Kentucky, if not in the South Loudoun House was probably the first use of hollow bricks to provide insulation space in Kentucky. The house displays the architectural facet of the entire Romantic Movement which bloomed in the 1850's. The house represents the design work of a nationally famous architect of the period. Alexander Jackson Davis' designs were circulated in a portfolio of 1837 called Rural Residences, Cottages, Farmhouses, Villas, and Village Churches. Published with a View to the improvement of American Country Architecture. Davis also conceived many of the illustrations used in books written by A.J. Downing, the Hudson River author whose

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Mount Lookout - McPike House, Alton Illinois

Mount Lookout - McPike House, Alton Illinois

Known as the McPike House, it is Known as the Most Haunted in IL

History of the McPike House The McPike House is a fine example of the Second Empire Italianate style. It was designed for Henry Guest McPike, who played a very important role in the early beginnings of the City of Alton, by architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger. Pfeiffenberger also played an important role, not only as a prominent regional architect, but also as another of Alton's Leading citizens. In Alton, the highest ground was commonly sought out first by industrial and commercial magnates for building their splendid baronial palaces of the post-Civil War days. In 1871, after three years of construction, the McPike House was completed in Mount Lookout Park, a 15-acre estate of trees and rare shrubs, vineyards, orchards, fruits and flowers. Situated

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Standrod House, Pocatello Idaho

Standrod House, Pocatello Idaho

12 Room French Renaissance Haunted Home Restored

History of Standrod House The Standrod house is one of the finest examples of the French Renaissance Revival in the state, and one of the most impressive private mansions built here in the nineteenth century. Drew W. Standrod came to Idaho from Kentucky, and was elected district attorney as an Independent Anti-Mormon in 1886. While serving his second term, he became a member of the Idaho Constitutional Convention in 1889. Then he was elected district judge in 1890, a post he held until 1889. Later he served on Idaho's state public utilities commission in 1913-1914. He had extensive interests in eleven banks, and had become a bank president two years before his mansion was built. Restoring landmark: New owner bringing historic

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Johnston-Hay House, Macon Georgia

Johnston-Hay House, Macon Georgia

18,000 Square Foot Mansion is Reported Haunted and Offers Ghost Tours

History of Hay House This magnificent Italian Renaissance Villa was built for William B. Johnston, 1855-60, after he and his wife, Ann Tracy, returned from their honeymoon in Italy. With them they brought plans, artisans, landscape gardeners, and furnishings for their future home which would include nineteen Cararra marble mantels, and a five-hundred pound front door with solid silver hinges. When the house had been under construction for one year, William Makepace Thackeray visited Macon, commented on Macon's pretty houses, and wrote a letter to his daughters in London describing his friends, Mr. and Mrs. William B. Johnston. Several years before, Mr. Johnston had begun his business career by being elected a Director of the Ocmulgee Bank in 1837 and of

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Seaside Sanatorium, Waterford Connecticut

Seaside Sanatorium, Waterford Connecticut

Haunted Former Children's TB Hospital, Vacant since 1996

History of Seaside Sanatorium The Seaside Sanatorium, especially designed for the heliotropic treatment of children infected with tuberculosis, was the first institution of its kind in the United States. It was designed by Cass Gilbert (1858-1934), a nationally renowned architect. An infectious disease that has existed in world populations since the Neolithic period, tuberculosis did not reach epidemic proportions until the Industrial Revolution produced the crowded living conditions that were favorable to its spread. By the mid-nineteenth century, the disease accounted for one-quarter of the adult deaths in Europe, and by the last decades of the century, it had become epidemic in many American cities and was the leading cause of death. The contagious nature of the disease was well understood

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Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York City New York

Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York City New York

Now a Museum, Both Visitors and Employees Report this Home Haunted

History of the Morris-Jumel Mansion In addition to its distinction as the only important pre-Revolutionary house still standing in Manhattan, the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the major surviving landmark of the Battle of Harlem Heights. Although a small-scale affair, the important effects of the battle were immediately evident. One major result was the restoration of the offensive spirit of the American Army, after the recent succession of defeats and retreats. The Jumel house served as the headquarters of Washington from September 14th to October 18th, 1776. Following their victory on Long Island, the British had easily occupied New York City on September 15th, routing a portion of the American Army at Kip's Bay that same day. The Americans retreated to their fortified

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Jesse Lee Home for Children, Seward Alaska

Jesse Lee Home for Children, Seward Alaska

This Abandoned Orphanage Had a Haunted Reputation

History of the Jesse Lee Home for Children The Jesse Lee Home for Children at Seward opened in 1926. Many Alaska Native children orphaned by epidemics, particularly devastating in western Alaska where medical care was extremely limited, lived at the home. The home was one of the largest and most stable institutions to care for and educate the hundreds of orphaned children. A number of Alaska's outstanding Native leaders were raised and educated at the Jesse Lee Home during its Seward years. John Ben Benny Benson, Jr., from Chignik, was one of the children who lived at the Jesse Lee Home. In 1927, his design was selected for Alaska's territorial, and later state, flag. While the Methodist Women's Home Missionary Society

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D'Evereux Hall House, Natchez Mississippi

D'Evereux Hall House, Natchez Mississippi

Built in 1840, this Private Mansion is among the finest Greek Revival houses in America

History of D'Evereux Hall House D'Evereux is, by virtue of its Doric portico and superb plaster ornament, among the finest Greek Revival houses in America. The builder of D'Evereux was William St. John Elliot, a planter born in Maryland in 1800. Elliot was president of the Natchez Protection Insurance Company, chartered in 1829 to insure Mississippi cotton crops from the time of ginning to sale at New Orleans or elsewhere. Mrs. Elliot was Anna Frances Conner, daughter of William Conner of Berkley Plantation, in the Second Creek settlement near Natchez. Twice widowed by the time she was twenty-three, Mrs. Elliot brought to her third marriage substantial estates inherited from her previous husbands, a Mr. Bell and Dr. William H. Ruffin. In

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Frogmore Plantation, St. Helena Island South Carolina

Frogmore Plantation, St. Helena Island South Carolina

This SC Plantation Dates Back to the Early 1700s

History of Frogmore Plantation The Frogmore Plantation Complex on St. Helena Island is associated with Laura Towne and Ellen Murray, the founders of Penn School, and with prominent St. Helena businessman James Ross Macdonald. The plantation was originally owned by Lieutenant Governor William Bull, who willed it to his son in 1750. The property passed into the hands of John and Elizabeth Stapleton in 1790; the house and barn were built circa 1810, probably during their ownership. In the antebellum era, the boat that carried mail to St. Helena Island from Beaufort landed here, and mail addressed to Frogmore was sure to reach the island. The present-day name of Frogmore, for the crossroads at the Corner, derives from this usage. When

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Lincoln School, Owosso Michigan

Lincoln School, Owosso Michigan

Elementary School Building in MI Converted into Apartments

History of Lincoln Elementary School The Lincoln School is the oldest existing public school building in the city of Owosso and an early surviving example of the work of Lansing architect Samuel Dana Butterworth. The building served as an elementary school from 1916 to 1980 and as an alternative high school from 2005 to 2011. Founded in the mid-1830s around a site on the Shiawassee River with abundant water power potential for mills, Owosso grew slowly until the late 1850s, when a first railroad connection spurred more rapid development. In 1859, the settlement was incorporated as the city of Owosso. Saw and planing mills and other wood products manufacturing formed the city's early industrial base, but in the late nineteenth and

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St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Parish House, Akron Ohio

St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Parish House, Akron Ohio

This Akron Church was Extensively Damaged by Fire in 2018 and Facing Demolition

History of St. Paul's Episcopal Church This is an early building designed specifically as a Sunday school and parish house, and secondarily as a sanctuary. It is located in the city where the Akron plan, of which it is an excellent example, was evolved. St. Paul's Episcopal Parish was formed in 1835. Meeting at first in private homes and rooms, the congregation built a small frame building in 1844, and that building was subsequently enlarged in 1870. In 1884 the church purchased the triangular lot at East Market, Forge, and Fir Streets and built the existing Sunday School and Parish House for $35,000. It was dedicated on January 6th, 1885. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, religious organizations became

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