Hooper Renick School, once the only school for Blacks in Gwinnett County, is now a library and living archive, thanks to an intergovernmental agreement between Gwinnett County and the city of Lawrenceville. The ribbon-cutting ceremony today was full of energy and history for those familiar with segregation in the second most populous city in the state of Georgia.
“While there was give and take in reaching the Agreement between the city and county, the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee is excited that the Hooper-Renwick School building will be preserved for future generations and will re-emerge as the Hooper-Renwick Library,” said Theresa Bailey, chair of the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee. “This historically significant structure will stand as a tribute to the African American community, past, present and future, and their experience in Gwinnett County.”
The agreement, which was approved at the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and Lawrenceville City Council meeting(s) in December 2020, was a vision in the making since 2017 when the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee (HRLPC) was formed to explore the possibility of preserving the historic site of Gwinnett County’s only school for black students for decades.
“The preservation of the Hooper-Renwick School is the capstone of the SouthLawn development,” said Mayor David Still in 2020 with the agreement. “We are delighted to see this important piece of our community’s history preserved. This is local government at its very best – a creative partnership between city and county sparked by a dedicated committee of community volunteers.”
Rocky Knob School in Lawrenceville served black students from 1885 until destroyed by a tornado in 1924. In 1944, Mack Renwick donated three acres on Neal Boulevard for a school for black students. A three-room building was constructed on the property, and in 1951, the 12-classroom brick structure currently on the site was built, serving Gwinnett’s black students until desegregation in 1968.
The City agreed to donate artifacts from the former Hooper-Renwick School, including wood flooring from the gym, a scoreboard, a cafeteria window, and lettering from the existing building. The City and County also worked closely with the HRLPC to gather additional artifacts and memorabilia to display in the Library.
“The new Lawrenceville branch of the Gwinnett Public Library will be the first themed library in the Southeast,” said then Gwinnett District 4 Commissioner Marlene Fosque. “As a themed library, it will incorporate cultural and historic objects and artifacts with the library’s resources and information to benefit the patrons it serves. The new library will encourage people of today to learn about the history of segregation and desegregation in Gwinnett County through the stories, accomplishments and personal items from people who attended the Hooper-Renwick School in years past. I am truly excited about the creative and educational opportunities this presents and am grateful for the collaboration between the County, the city, and residents to make this happen.”
Gwinnett County utilized the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) to fund construction costs, and the City of Lawrenceville provided the land, 3.8 acres, at no cost. The approximately 25,000 square-foot themed library preserves and honors the legacy of the former Hooper-Renwick School through architectural design elements, exhibits about the school’s history, as well as segregation and desegregation in Gwinnett County. The City and County will fund the construction and operation of the exhibits, while the City will provide streetscapes, sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, landscaping, and on-street parking.
“We are very pleased that the creation of the Hooper-Renwick Library has passed one of its last major hurdles with the signing of this agreement,” said Joyce Moore, vice chair of the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee. “Our committee is delighted and poised to continue the essential work of designing education programs and acquiring artifacts to make the vision we’ve nurtured for the last four years a reality.”
Gwinnett County plans to designate a liaison to serve as the “Interpretive Resources Project Coordinator,” assisting the HRLPC with artifact collection, coordinating educational messages, associated programming, and interpretive displays to showcase artifacts, and developing and implementing strategic initiatives.
Additional details of the build include:
- The library was constructed by renovating 11,400 square feet of the existing facility and building a new approximately 13,600 square foot addition, which will include a second-floor entrance facing Neal Boulevard.
- Twenty original windows on the front façade of the original building were restored to their original appearance.
- Architectural design elements of the Hooper-Renwick School were incorporated into the Library design.
- The building meets the minimum LEED standard of “certified” as defined by the U.S. Green Building Council.
- The new Library includes approximately 1,500 square feet of community space, accommodating approximately 100 people and equipped with a sink and counter space for food preparation.
The members of the Hooper-Renwick Legacy Preservation Committee are: Theresa Bailey, Chair; Constance Brown; Marlene Taylor-Crawford; Ronald Dunnigan; Gary Glenn; Rory Johnson; Greg Lott; John Maxey; Joyce Moore, Vice-Chair; Rubye Neal; Gwendolyn Brown Taylor; Vivian Summerour-Daniel.