Mount Sinai School
1820 Cty. Rd. 57, Prattville, ALThe Mount Sinai School was built in 1919 with funds provided by the Julius Rosenwald School Building Fund program and public and private monies.
The Mount Sinai School was constructed in 1919 utilizing funds provided by the Julius Rosenwald School Building Fund program in combination with public and private monies. According to the records in the Rosenwald School Building Fund papers at Fisk University, the school cost $1325.00 to build. The Rosenwald Fund provided $500, while the state contributed $300.00. African Americans raised the remaining $525.00. The school traces its origins to circa 1891, when a one teacher program was instituted in the nearby Mount Sinai church. According to local tradition, a one room frame building was eventually constructed in another location and utilized by students until it was destroyed in a storm, after which time the classes moved back into the church. When the new Mount Sinai building opened in 1919, the teaching staff increased to three. In 1949 a fourth teacher was added, and the following year the Parent-Teachers Association raised $500.00 to match county funds to complete the construction of the north classroom. With the school consolidation of the late 1960s, Mount Sinai was shut down in 1967 when the students were transferred to the Autauga County Training School at Autaugaville. That same year the Mount Sinai Community Association purchased the building for $800.00. Incorporated in 1973, the Mount Sinai Community Center continues to maintain ownership of the building.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.