Croft Schoolhouse
(ca. 1890, 1910)
After some four decades as an educational facility for the Croft community, the Croft Schoolhouse once again welcomes local students.
9200 Bob Beatty Rd, Charlotte, NC 28269
Located next door to the Silas Winslow Davis House, the Croft Schoolhouse was originally built in 1890 as a two-room, two-story schoolhouse. For several years thereafter, Davis (1873-1925) lobbied the county school board for an expansion to the neighboring school, but the board was either unable or unwilling to accommodate his wishes. Finally, Davis had the two-story addition built at his own expense, enlarging the schoolhouse to four rooms to accommodate four teachers instead of only two. Completed in 1910, the addition was built by local carpenter Neil Barnett, who also built Davis’ house. Upon completion, Davis billed the school board for the construction costs, for which he was promptly reimbursed.
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In its early years, the Croft School served as a combined elementary and middle school, teaching grades one through nine. By the 1920s, the expanded four-room Croft Schoolhouse taught grades one through seven. Although students were grouped according to grade, teachers had more than one grade per classroom. Students who finished at the Croft school were then sent to Huntersville High School.
The Croft Schoolhouse was without electricity and running water until at least the 1920s. Each day, different children were chosen to go next door to the Davis House to pump buckets of drinking water for the school. Students were required to bring their own lunches and drinking glasses from home. Two outhouses were located behind the school, one for boys, the other for girls. In the winter, the school was heated by a wood stove.
The Croft Schoolhouse served the community until the 1930s when Charles Spencer Davis (1868-1945), Silas’ brother and business partner in the Davis brothers’ general store, led a movement to build a new schoolhouse across the road from the original Croft Schoolhouse. Replaced by the newer school building, the original schoolhouse sat empty for many years before being incorporated – along with the Davis House – into the campus of the Pioneer Springs Community School, thereby returning the Croft Schoolhouse to its original use as an educational facility for the Croft community.