Historic Preservation

Welcome to Lucasville School Historic Site. We appreciate you coming to visit us today! A few notes as your tour begins: there is no food or drink, except water, inside the buildings. Please feel free to interact with the spaces and take pictures. If you have any questions or would like any additional information, please let a guide know. 

Historical Background of the Lucasville Community

Lucasville came to be settled as a town following the end of the Civil War. Several plantations in the surrounding area (Clover Hill, Bloom Hill, Fostern, Bradley, Moor Green) had large numbers of enslaved people who had previously worked the farms which provided a steady income for the Johnson, Foster, Hooe, Cockrell and Marstellar families.  After the slave system was dismantled, many of the freedmen from these farms located to Lucasville, as it was close enough to tenant farms for their former owners, yet distant enough to avoid their daily interference.  The town included a church, school, slaughterhouse, several cemeteries, orchards and 50 acres of corn for livestock which were raised nearby.  Approximately 100 people lived in Lucasville at its height n the early 20th century.  Despite its relatively large population, Lucasville was never incorporated as a town or enjoyed a post office as other settlements of its size often did.  Little remains from the settlement today apart from the school (moved twice) and a cemetery.  The town, although shrinking in size by the late 20th century, was completely razed by development in the early 2000’s.  The center of the village was located approximately at the intersection of Lucasville and Godwin Drive. 

The History of Lucasville School 

In the decade following the American Civil War, a system of free schools was established in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Lucasville School was opened in 1886 for African American children living in the near community of Lucasville, Virginia. Prior to the school’s opening, students were educated at the home of a local resident. One acre of land was purchased from Edward Francis, and African American resident of Lucasville and former slaved of the nearby Cockrell family (Bloom Hill Plantation) for 20 dollars.  Total cost of construction paid by the Prince William County School Board for the new building totaled $267.13. School was held here for most years from 1886-1926.  It was temporarily closed on at least one occasion for low enrollment and held the distinction of being the most expensive of the African-American schools in Prince William County per student. After closing in 1926, the school was sold to a local farmer who moved the building and used it as a small barn. Many children former educated here traveled to the Brown School in the City of Manassas (now a private residence adjacent to the current rail station). 

In 2005, Prince William County moved Lucasville School from its 1930 located to a small park offered as a proffer by Pulte Homes. Together, Pulte homes and the Historic Preservation Division reconstructed the school using some original materials remaining from the historic structure. 

Attending an African American School in the Late 19th/early 20th Century

During the time that Lucasville was open, schools in the United States were largely segregated by race. White elementary aged children were taught at 26 schools throughout the county while non-white children were sent to 13 additional schools.  Children typically walked to school from the surrounding neighborhood.  Most of the school materials were second-hand from white schools in the area. When first opening, local parents provided the needed furniture for the students by building benches.  As the seasons passed, the school board obtained proper desks which were then used in the school. Both are shown.  A large woodstove was provided by the school board for heat in the winter and wood was also purchased by the board.

The basics of elementary education were taught at Lucasville.  Lessons in arithmetic, spelling, reading, and grammar were taught to all students there through sixth grade.  African-American teachers were hired by the Prince William County School Board to teach in the black schools. Many of these educators who taught at Lucasville received degrees or taught at the Jennie Dean Industrial School located in nearby Manassas.  During the early years of Lucasville School, teachers there enjoyed similarity of salaries with white teachers in Prince William County. Later, after 1900, with the establishment of Jim Crow policies in Virginia, black teachers were paid substantially less than their white counterparts. 

One of the greatest challenges of operating Lucasville was keeping children attending class there. On at least one occasion, the school was temporarily closed due to its inability to register a minimum of ten students. Enrollment was a continual problem during its later years of operation and resulted in the schools closing in 1926. Prince William County Schools were finally desegregated in 1966. 

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