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Millwood Colored School

A Black school listed as Millwood Colored in the Clarke Courier's teacher appointments for the 1925-26 session, with J. P. Rier as principal and Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton as teachers.

What the sources support

The Clarke Courier's list of teacher appointments for the 1925-26 school session, printed July 9, 1925, names Millwood Colored school with J. P. Rier as principal, followed by Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton.

✓ Supported by a source
See the source and its limits
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account exists

The Clarke Courier's list of teacher appointments for the 1925-26 school session, printed July 9, 1925, names Millwood Colored school with J. P. Rier as principal, followed by Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton.

What the source supports

That the School Board's announced appointments for the 1925-26 session staffed a Millwood Colored school with three teachers, and that its entry is the only one of the seven colored schools on the list to name a principal.

Uncertainty

Read from uncorrected OCR, not from the page image. The list records appointments announced in July, not who taught during the session, and it gives no location, building, grades or enrollment for the school; none is inferred. The same paper's schedule for the colored schools, printed October 15, 1925, again pairs Millwood with J. P. Rier. Nothing is recorded here about the three teachers beyond their names in these notices.

Source

Reporting

Evidence role: supports. The Millwood Colored entry in the colored-schools portion of the July 9, 1925 list.

Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 9 July 1925

Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)

Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, colored schools

Relevant passage
Stone Bridge colored -- Ella F. Carter. Boyce Colored -- Alma Layton and Matilda Herbert. Millwood Colored -- J. P Rier, Prin., Louise Bannister and Clarissa Layton. White Post Colored -- Estelle Mitchell and Margaretta Richarson. Josephine colored school -- E T. Johnson, Fannie Jenkins, Florine Johnson. Louisville colored -- Emma E. Alexander. Bristol colored -- George W. Carter.

Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.

Open source

Source family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.

Reporting

Evidence role: contextualizes. The headline and opening of the same list: the School Board's appointments for the 1925-26 session.

Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 9 July 1925

Clarke Courier · 1925-07-09 (publication)

Locator: Printed page 1, teacher assignment list, headline and opening

Relevant passage
FILL POSITIONS COUNTY SCHOOLS. Teachers Named for All Schools and Grades -- New Boyce Principal. Appointments of teachers for the various schols [schools] of the County for the session of 1925-26 have been announced by Dr. C. O. Dearmont, chairman of the School Board, as listed by the Division Superintendent, Mr. Leslie D. Kline. The places are to be filled as follows:

Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.

Open source

Source family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.

Reporting

Evidence role: contextualizes. The October 15, 1925 schedule, which again names J. P. Rier for Millwood.

Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., October 15, 1925

Clarke Courier · 1925-10-15 (publication)

Locator: Printed page 1, item headed Schools See Health Movies, schedule for the colored schools

Relevant passage
It has also been learned that the local arrangement at each place will be under the direction of the principal of each school at that place. ... Schedule for colored Schools in Clarke Cqunty [County] will be as follows: November 2 -- Berryville, E. T. Johnson. November 3 -- Millwood, J. P. Rier. November 4 -- Boyce, Irene Layton. November 5 -- White Post, Emma E. Alexander. November 6 -- Louisville, Estelle Mitchell.

Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.

Open source

Source family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.

AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-14. How this project checks its sources

The 2000 National Register nomination for the Millwood Colored School describes it as a relatively unaltered frame schoolhouse constructed around 1910 to serve the local African-American community, and files it as Virginia Department of Historic Resources number 021-0192-0008.

✓ Supported by a source
See the source and its limits
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account exists

The 2000 National Register nomination for the Millwood Colored School describes it as a relatively unaltered frame schoolhouse constructed around 1910 to serve the local African-American community, and files it as Virginia Department of Historic Resources number 021-0192-0008.

What the source supports

That the Millwood school the Clarke Courier's 1925 teacher list names had a building of about 1910 that was still standing, and largely unaltered, in 2000.

Uncertainty

'Around 1910' is the nomination's hedge and is kept. The nomination's account of the school's closure and later use is not taken up in this record. The corpus entity this attaches to was built from a 1925 newspaper notice; the two agree on the school's existence and say nothing about each other.

Source

Later historical account

Evidence role: supports. The nomination's description of the building.

Millwood Colored School, National Register of Historic Places registration form (DHR 021-0192-0008)

Virginia Department of Historic Resources · 2000 (publication)

Locator: Section 7, narrative description

Relevant passage
It is a relatively unaltered frame schoolhouse constructed around 1910 to serve the local African-American community.

Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.

Open source

Source family: dhr-nominations. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.

AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-21. How this project checks its sources

See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association

Also indexed as: Millwood Colored.

Know something about this place or record? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.

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Related stories

Civic life & gathering✓ Supported

Before the Training School

A single 2000 National Register nomination, the Millwood Colored School form, is the source for nearly everything here: a Black teacher named in an 1868 report, a free school at Millwood in 1869, a teacher appointed in 1873 and the Courier's own comment on it, county school counts for 1871 to 1888, and an 1888 school lot. Each reaches us through the nomination, not the papers, reports and deed it describes.

What the evidence says One 2000 nomination, read for what it quotes and paraphrases from sources this account has not seen.

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