Silverstreet School

Silverstreet School was torn down in 2018, and a walking path has been installed on the property.

Silverstreet School opened in the Newberry County community of Silverstreet in 1901 as a private school. The original school was housed in a frame building, and only six students attended. In 1913 a brick building was erected for the school, and by 1924, Silverstreet School, then public, had consolidated with several other local schools.

The school’s structure changed over the years, with new buildings added to support the growing student population. The two photos below show the auditorium, built in 1926, which remains in use as a community center today. Prior to integration, African-American students in Silverstreet attend the nearby Elisha School.

The conditions at Elisha School contrasted sharply with those at Silverstreet School. While the Silverstreet campus eventually included a brick school building (no longer extant), a ball field (seen at the bottom of this page), a gymnasium (seen at the top), and an auditorium (pictured above and below), the Elisha campus was comprised of just three small wooden buildings and sat dangerously close to the road. The Elisha School was replaced with the Reuben School in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Silverstreet School served students in grades one through eight and later became a high school. It continued operating at least into the 1980s. Today students from Silverstreet attend school in neighboring Newberry. Contributor Deborah Long Wix tells us that the school closed in 1988 but was torn down in 2018.

Reflections on the Silverstreet School

Contributor Jim Jenkins, who began his career in education at the Silverstreet School, shares his experience there: “I did my practice teaching at the school in the spring of 1959. It was an active community of farmers and loggers. Very hard working people but very generous as well. I enjoyed my time at the school and with the people I met at the time.”