WINNSBORO – The Fairfield High School Alumni Association just gave out the most scholarships it ever has – 14 of them, $500 each, all awarded to students graduating from Fairfield Central High School.
But that’s just one of the good community works carried out by the group. They also restored the 1924 school building where many of them attended, turning it into a site for meetings and events in the community.
The group also plans to restore their school’s gymnasium, which they recently purchased, and are involved in a variety of other activities. This fall, the alumni association will hold a big party to celebrate 100 years since the school opened.
“I’m proud to be a part of the organization. We want to continue to do great things in the community and serve the community to the best of our ability,” says Jean McCrory, a 1964 graduate who chairs the organization’s scholarship committee.
She says two additional scholarships – $500 given by one of the alumni classes and $1,000 in memory of a woman who taught at the Fairfield school – were also awarded at Fairfield Central’s recent class night.
When the historic Fairfield High School first opened in 1924, McCrory says, it was called the Fairfield County Training School. Located on Fairfield Street in Winnsboro, it was an all-black school. The name was changed to Fairfield County High School in the early 1960s.
When integration came to Fairfield County in the early 1970s, McCrory says, the students began attending Winnsboro High School. The building continued to house vocational programs for a couple of years before completely closing its doors in 1975.
The last class to graduate from Fairfield High School was in 1972. Seventeen years later, in 1989, the alumni got together for their first big reunion – an event that drew 825 attendees.
The reunions have continued every two years, drawing as many as 940 attendees at the largest and as few as 109 for the smallest, which was a vacation cruise.
It was at that first event in 1989, McCrory says, when about 10 alumni got together and started talking about the idea of renovating and restoring the old school – and the alumni association grew from there. In 2010, they had the opportunity to buy the building from the county for $5.
“In 2010, when we first purchased the building, you couldn’t do anything in it. Everything really needed to be redone,” McCrory says. “The walls were still standing, and the floors, but it was going to be a lot of work to revitalize that building.”
But alumni of the school, many of whom had once taken the vocational training programs offered at the school, had the skills to get it done.
“It was mostly the men that were part of the alumni… a lot of them were electricians, builders, carpenters, brick masons… they did all of the work and donated their time and money to revitalize and renovate the building,” McCrory says.
“It was finally finished in 2017, and of course we had a big celebration then,” McCrory says.
Now, she says, the building serves as a meeting place for the association and serves as a location for a variety of things, from private events to Fairfield County’s recent Juneteenth celebration.
In just the past year, she says, the association has purchased the old gymnasium that was once part of the school – and has since served as a county maintenance facility – from the county for a similarly nominal sum.
They plan to renovate that, too, but this time the local nonprofit is seeking grant funding. Many of the alumni, she says, are now in their elder years and no longer physically able to work like they used to.
She says the vision for this building, once it’s renovated, are to expand the association’s impact on the community by providing a space for things like tutoring, recreation, life skills classes, and a safe place for kids to go after school – plus a venue for weddings and other special events.
Passing the Torch
The alumni association is also in the process of passing the torch of its community mission to the next generation.
This year, they’ve begun meeting with children of alumni – and, so far, three classes of Winnsboro High School graduates, all represented by descendants of Fairfield County High School alumni, have committed to join.
“What I’m hoping is that, by them being affiliated with us and seeing the passion that we have for where we came from, they will take the torch – that was our symbol, the torch – and carry it on in the name of their parents and their ancestors.”
As the historic school’s 100th anniversary approaches, McCrory says she wants her own descendants – three children, 11 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren – to recognize and celebrate their roots in the community.
“In everyone’s life there is a beginning, and I think we should never ever forget from whence we have come,” McCrory says.
“I think a lot of what I accomplished in life, of course, I owe to God and my parents, but a lot of it I owe to my teachers,” she says. “They took me under their wing and instilled in me the courage to try things…. For me, it [Fairfield County High School] was a great school, and the teachers really cared.”
She says the celebration will be held on Thanksgiving weekend, and will kick off with a banquet in Columbia on Nov. 29, followed by a parade at 12 noon on Saturday, Nov. 30, down Congress Street in Winnsboro.
“After the parade we will have tailgate activities and then a block party on the street in front of the school,” she says, “and then on Sunday morning, Dec. 1, we will have a worship service [at a church in the community].”
McCrory says advertising space is being sold in a souvenir booklet that will be available at the event, and each graduating class – plus others who may be interested – are invited to buy space to showcase their life and times. The booklet will be a keepsake for the alumni and their families and a fundraiser for the association.
Anyone who’s interested in this or any other information about the association, she says, can reach out in a style common to her generation: by writing a letter. The address is Fairfield High School Alumni Association, Inc., PO Box 1182, Winnsboro, SC 29180.
“Send the correspondence,” she says, “and we will write back.”
