Mound Bayou -- Churches and Schools
Location: Mound Bayou, Bolivar, Mississippi, United States
Surnames/tags: Mound Bayou Mound Bayou One Place Study
Free Space Page to collect notes on Mound Bayou Churches and Schools from various sources UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Churches
- The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants "Teach & Learn" Black History Curriculum, Unit 7: Post-Reconstruction (1877 – 1935), Class 1: Mound Bayou: One of the First All-Black Towns Founded by Formerly Enslaved Blacks PART 1, Inspiration Behind Mound Bayou cont.
Source: https://www.educationforlifeacademy.com/mound-bayou-5
The early settlers of Mound Bayou expressed an abiding faith in religion, and quite early organized by the Green Grove Baptist Church in the home of one of the settlers. By 1891 Montgomery and a small band of colonists had organized the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and within the next ten years the number of churches multiplied rapidly, there being three Baptist, one A.M.E., one Christian, and one Methodist Church as well as several smaller Baptist churches in the surrounding vicinity. Green Grove Baptist, which eventually became the First Baptist Church, and the A.M.E. church were the first to erect permanent structures, in 1904 and 1905 respectively, and they were the town leaders in organizing youth groups for religious instruction and civic betterment. The strong moral sentiment evident in these early churches may have been responsible for Mound Bayou's reputation as an orderly community due to its remarkably low crime rate.
- National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (NRHP)
https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/235.pdf, page 24-25
As in many African American communities, religion has played a central role in Mound Bayou. As early as 1888, the community met for worship in a brush arbor. Green Grove Baptist Church built its first sanctuary in 1891. When the congregation completed a new building located about a block north of the historic district in 1964, the congregation became the First Baptist Church. Bethel AME Church was organized in 1895. The congregation completed a new building in 1919, described as “the most elaborate church in the community with a modern pipe organ and central heating plant.”20 By 1971, the congregation determined that the building had served its useful life and a new building (Inv. 23), dedicated in October 1973, was built on the site. Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church was organized in 1915. Their building burned in 1939 and they were able to construct their current building (Inv. 38, Photo 5) in December 1950. Wesley United Baptist Church, organized in 1887 and purchased its site in 1903. A small frame church served the community for many years, but after it burned, the current church (Inv. 35, Photo 7) was built in 1972.
Green Grove Baptist Church / First Baptist Church
First church organized in Mound Bayou
National Historic Register:
As early as 1888, the community met for worship in a brush arbor. Green Grove Baptist Church built its first sanctuary in 1891. Erected a permanent structure in 1904. When the congregation completed a new building located about a block north of the historic district in 1964, the congregation became the First Baptist Church.
History of The Churches of Mound Bayou, Miss. (page 54) Among the early settlers responsible for the founding of the Green Grove Baptist Church are Mrs. Sallie Ramsay and Mrs. Matilda Davis, mothers of the Church; Mrs. Patsey Seals, Mrs. L. T. M. Brooks, Mrs. Mack Slate, church workers; George Kinkaid, Calvin Ramsay, Mathew Slate, Ridley Walker, Jackson Washington, and Marcus Anderson, trustees. Rev. Charlie Blackston was the first pastor.
The Green Grove Baptist Church is now known as the First Baptist Church, later erected on its property purchased from Montgomery and Green one of the first brick churches in the county and a parsonage. The First Baptist Church has at present a membership of 175. Rev. A. D. Purnell is pastor. [1]
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church
Name: Bethel AME Church
Address: Northwest corner of Edwards Avenue and Montgomery Street
Construction Date: c.1973
Element No.: 24
Brief Description One-story brick church building with gable roof and tall spire. The west elevation is primarily plain brick with a centered multi-pane vertical window. The entrance is offset to the south under a porch. There is a single-leaf wood door with sidelights.
Bethel AME Church was organized in 1895. The congregation completed a new building in 1919, described as “the most elaborate church in the community with a modern pipe organ and central heating plant.” By 1971, the congregation determined that the building had served its useful life and a new building, dedicated in October 1973, was built on the site. (NRHP)
http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1999/religion/denominations.htm
Profile of Mound Bayou A.M.E. Church
The Mound Bayou A.M.E. Church, founded by thirteen ex-slaves in 1895, owes its life to the vision of the first settlers who wanted to create a legacy in the midst of a swampy terrain (now Highway 61 South). Since the beginning of the century, the town of Mound Bayou has fostered the first Wonderbread factory, a Coca-Cola factory, banks, stores, oil mills, gins and restaurants. Mrs. Mamie Myers remembers a time when Mound Bayou had an ice cream shop and picture shows. Recently, however, the town of Mound Bayou has been emptying out since people are moving north for opportunity. With shops closing, a lack of resources, school funds and employment, the land is haunted by its past problems. Except for teaching, preaching or government employment, most people work the fields or mills. Driving into Mound Bayou, the land is barren and flat, apparently unpopulated. However, inside the church is another story. The children's rhyme, "Here's the church/ Here's the steeple/ Open it up/ And see all the people," immediately comes to mind. In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, everyone and their grandmother (literally) goes to church. People seem to appear from out of the woodwork; such is the transformation from a barren landscape to a warm, spiritual, family and social atmosphere found within the church.
During our visit to Mound Bayou A.M.E. Church, we met and talked with Reverend Fred D. Raggs and members of the congregation, including Mr. C. Preston Holmes, Mrs. Pauline Holmes and Mamie Myers. Without their stories, our study of the black Methodist church in the Delta would be incomplete. Mrs. Pauline Holmes, whose father organized the first meeting of NAACP in their area, explained the functions of the church as a community center and "reaching out" organization. The church has been involved in such projects as building a local hospital, serving as voting registration centers, community fund-raising, and hosting various organizations from the NAACP to the American Legion Organization and even the Boy Scouts. Recent projects within the church have included educational programs for children and young adults, such as Bible Bees, Bingo and Quizzes. Also, the church serves as a place for social gathering with events like the African Heritage Luncheon, fashion shows, square-dancing and gospel concerts.
Lakeview Missionary Baptist Church
https://www.facebook.com/LakeviewMBC/
Newspapers.com article: https://www.newspapers.com/image/907492072
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church was organized in 1915. Their building burned in 1939 and they were able to construct their current building (Inv. 38, Photo 5) in December 1950.
Location Information
(for the Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church)
Name: Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church
Address: 102 Martin Luther King Drive, East
City/County: Mound Bayou, Bolivar County
Architectural Information
Construction Date: c.1950
Registration Information
NR District Name: Mound Bayou (2013)
NR Status: Contributing
Element No.: 39
Brief Description
One-story brick church building with intersecting gable roof clad in asbestos shingles. The primary elevation is north and presents as a gable and wing. The gable section is topped by a wood steeple. The gable apex is wood clapboards with a louvered vent. The lower walls composed of red bricks. A centered double-leaf glazed door is covered by a metal canopy supported by metal posts. The entry is flanked by 2/2 metal frame windows with metal awnings. The wing front extends to the west. A single-leaf glazed door with a metal canopy is flanked by 2/2 metal frame windows. The gable front of a south-projecting wing is seen above the roof line of this win
Wesley United Baptist Church
Wesley United Baptist Church, organized in 1887 and purchased its site in 1903. A small frame church served the community for many years, but after it burned, the current church (Inv. 35, Photo 7) was built in 1972.
Location Information
(for the Wesley United Methodist Church)
Name: Wesley United Methodist Church
Address: Southwest corner of Green Street, East and Montgomery Street
City/County: Mound Bayou, Bolivar County
Architectural Information
Construction Date: c.1972
No. of Stories: 1
Registration Information
NR District Name: Mound Bayou (2013)
NR Status: Non-Contributing
Element No.: 36
Brief Description
One-story T-shaped brick church building with intersecting asphalt shingle roof. The leg of the T extends to the north. The north face has a large applied cross. The west face has a single-leaf metal door and two 2/2 metal windows. The east elevation has two similar windows. The entrance is at the intersection of the cross wing and consists of double-leaf wood doors. A steeple rises above the entrance.
Jerusalem M B Church
First Christian Church
Lampton Street Church of Christ
Walk of Faith Ministry
Schools
- The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants "Teach & Learn" Black History Curriculum, Unit 7: Post-Reconstruction (1877 – 1935), Class 1: Mound Bayou: One of the First All-Black Towns Founded by Formerly Enslaved Blacks PART 1, Inspiration Behind Mound Bayou cont.
Source: https://www.educationforlifeacademy.com/mound-bayou-5
Mound Bayou Public School
The first school, headed by M.V. Montgomery, became the Mound Bayou public school. Though having an enrollment of 200 by 1910, this school was at the mercy of the county board of education, which was less than willing to appropriate money for its operation.
- National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/235.pdf, page 24
Education played an important role in the development and growth of Mound Bayou. When the first children came to Mound Bayou in 1888, Virginia Montgomery, Isaiah T. Montgomery’s sister, began classes in the Montgomery home. This became the first public school in Mound Bayou. In the early years classes were held in the Green Grove Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church). By 1910 a public school with a local board of trustees enrolled 200 students.[2]
Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute
Therefore, Montgomery and Green in 1892, donated several acres of land for the establishment of a school "designed to supplement the inadequate curriculum of the public schools.” This school, named the Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute, was built via financial assistance from the American Missionary Association, and remained under the control of a local board of trustees.
Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin Green donated land for the formation of the Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute in 1892. Montgomery secured financial assistance from the American Missionary Association. The school offered a high school course and vocational instruction."[2]
Mound Bayou Industrial College
To these non-denominational schools was added a Baptist school in 1904. Organized under the Baptist State Convention, and founded by Mrs. A.A. Harris, the Mound Bayou Industrial College, commonly known as the "Baptist College," sported a school population of 200 by 1910, and with the other two schools, offered to Mound Bayou caliber of education unparalleled in most sections of the state.
The General Baptist Convention assisted in founding the Baptist College, also a secondary and vocational school, in 1904.[2]
Bolivar County Training School
The public school and the Mound Bayou Institute consolidated in 1920 to form a public school known as the Bolivar County Training School, a public school administered by a local board of trustees responsible to the County Superintendent of Education. The three-story brick school building was partially funded by the Rosenwald Fund and opened in 1921, serving African American students from an area of thirty square miles, with an average enrollment of 850. The building had sixteen classrooms and a 700 seat auditorium.
I. T. Montgomery Elementary School
By the late 1950s this building (the Bolivar County Training School) was in disrepair, and it was replaced in 1959 by the I.T. Montgomery Elementary School (Inv. 39a, Photo 6).The school continues to serve the Mound Bayou County community. The John F. Kennedy High School, located just to the north of the historic district, was completed in 1964.
Campbell College
Montgomery may well have wanted to make Mound Bayou a "college town," for in 1887 he had helped found Campbell College. Affiliated with the A.M.E. Church, the college began holding classes in Vicksburg and Friar's Point in 1890. However, Montgomery induced the president of the L.N.O.T. Railroad to donate over 1,000 acres of land about 1 1/2 miles southeast of Mound Bayou to the college, in hopes of moving the college to the town. In 1892 Montgomery was elected president of Campbell College, and he revealed that he had plans for the land as a site of an agricultural education school. Unfortunately the plans never materialized, the school was moved to Jackson in 1898, and Montgomery resigned as president. Nevertheless, the college retained the lands for several years, and in fact began to build on the site some years later. A short drive beyond the co-op farm will reveal these buildings to an interested reader.
- Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 26, 2016) , Extensions of Remarks, Pages E584-E585
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2016-04-26/html/CREC-2016-04-26-pt1-PgE584-3.htm
HONORING MOUND BAYOU PUBLIC SCHOOLS
______
HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
of Mississippi
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a
remarkable educational institution, the Mound Bayou Public School
District in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
The early settlers in Mound Bayou recognized the value of education
in building a community. Early in 1888, I.T. Montgomery and his sister,
Virginia Montgomery, began holding classes for children in his home.
This school developed into the Mound Bayou Public School. Ms.
Montgomery, the first principal, served until 1896. During the early
years school was held in the first church, Green Grove, now First
Baptist. Rev. J.L. Brandfort succeeded Virginia Montgomery as
principal. As joint principals Professor R.J. Jarrett continued the
school in Green Grove, while Professor James Wilson held classes in
Bethel A.M.E. Church. Mrs. Gertrude Jones Bryant became the principal
in 1904 and served until 1915. A local Board of Trustees ran the
school, but it was responsible to a county board that was not so
willing to appropriate money for the school, even though this school
had an enrollment of 200 by 1910.
In 1892, Montgomery and Green donated a tract of land for educational
purposes, ``designed to supplement the inadequate curriculum of the
public schools. The Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute was
built on this tract of land, with the assistance of the American
Missionary Association. The school was largely supported by tuition but
continued to receive some financial assistance from the American
Missionary Association, which was responsible for providing the first
principal and teacher, Mrs. Annie Randolph. The second principal was
Miss Mary E. Crump, who was succeeded by Miss Minnie S. Washington. A
complete high school course was added under the leadership of Professor
B.F. Ousley. Vocational instruction in music and domestic arts and
science was offered. Professor Ousley served as principal for a period
of 16 years. Upon his resignation, Professor F.M. Roberts became
principal and was assisted by Professor Robert Ross.
In 1912, while working with Booker T. Washington, Montgomery and
Charles Bank secured a $1000 donation from Julius Rosenwald to build a
school. Andrew Carnegie was persuaded to donate $4000 for the
construction of a library. Booker T. Washington said that Mound Bayou
was ``not merely a town, but at the same time and in a very real sense
of the word, a school. It is not only a place where a Negro may get
inspiration . . . but a place, also, where he has the opportunity to
learn some of the fundamental duties and responsibilities of social and
civic life.'
In 1920 all of the public schools in the vicinity of Mound Bayou and
the Mound Bayou Normal and Industrial Institute consolidated to form
the Mound Bayou Consolidated Public School and County Training School.
A local Board of Trustees administered the school with responsibility
to the County Superintendent of Education. The members of the first
Board were I.T. Montgomery, Chairman, B.W. Bryan and John W. Francis.
The second Board included B.A. Green, Chairman, D.J. Hill, T.S. Morris,
John Tharpe, Sr., Rev. Jim Jones, and P.M. Smith
The three-story brick structure was completed and the first classes
started in 1921. It was located in Mound Bayou on about four acres of
land. It served an area of thirty square miles with 16 classrooms and
an auditorium with a seating capacity of 700. The average annual
enrollment was 850. Classes were held nine months a year. This building
served all the students of Mound Bayou and the surrounding vicinities
until 1960, when I.T. Montgomery Elementary School was erected. The
three-story brick building, Mound Bayou High School, was closed in the
fall of 1964, when a new building, John F. Kennedy Memorial High
School, was opened.
Principals who served the Bolivar County Training School were J.H.
Moseley, J.H. Powell, A.R. Taylor, C.M. Green, Mrs. Olevia Holmes-
Ryles, Richard Williams, Mrs. Richard Williams, Rev. Hardin, and B.T.
Johnson. B.T. Johnson was the last administrator designated as a
principal for the Bolivar County Training School. Mr. Calvin J. Jones
was selected as the first superintendent of Bolivar County School
District Number Six, following a county reorganization, after the 1954
Supreme Court decision overruling the practice of segregation in public
schools. Others who have served as district superintendent are Arthur
Holmes, Jimmy Langdon, Shelton Wilder, Linder Howze-Campbell, Linda
Perry Robinson, and William Crockett. Principals who have served
Page E585
the elementary school since the county reorganization include Ruth
Scott, O.W. Howard, Samuel McGee, Arthur Jackson, Arthur Holmes, Jr.,
Legora M. Norwood, Joe Jennings, Sammy Armstrong, Linda Perry Robinson,
Willie E. Norwood, Sr., and Johnnie Vick. Montresia Cain is the current
elementary school principal. Principals who have served the High School
are A.L. Moore, Sr., Willie Gates, Eltea Lambert, Robert Latham,
Shelton Wilder, Jackie Campbell, Dr. I.D. Thompson, and Dr. Wanda C.
Stringer. Shaneequa Beal is the current high school principal. Mound
Bayou Public School District was merged with North Bolivar School
District in July, 2014, forming the new North Bolivar Consolidated
School District. Mr. Johnnie Vick is the current Superintendent.
Mound Bayou has a rich and strong educational history. It has had and
continues to have dedicated administrators and teachers. The students
demonstrate the ability to achieve at all levels, and graduates
compete, globally, in a wide cadre of professional fields. The Mound
Bayou Public School System was definitely a successful educational
organization. It is anticipated to have a continued high level of
achievement for the students at I.T. Montgomery Elementary School and
John F. Kennedy Memorial High School.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing an
extraordinary educational institution the Mound Bayou Public School
District.
- See also: Souvenir program of the 50th anniversary of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, July 11-17, 1937, History of Schools, page 50. Has photos (https://ia802206.us.archive.org/30/items/moundbayousouv/moundbayousouv.pdf, page 105)
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