{"id":419823,"date":"2026-10-06T03:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T03:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419823\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T03:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T03:06:12","slug":"historic-rosenwald-school-site-closer-to-4m-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/419823\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Rosenwald School site closer to $4M transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wesh.com\/news-team\/d64991c0-57a6-4a97-9fce-a416cb389aaa\" aria-label=\"Kennedy Mason profile page\" class=\"css-15eikfp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791255972_970_d64991c0-57a6-4a97-9fce-a416cb389aaa_1773345650.file.png\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" alt=\"Kennedy Mason\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"0\">The historic Rosenwald School site in East Altamonte is being transformed into a community park and center, and construction is underway.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"1\">The Rosenwald School, built in 1931, was part of a national effort to expand educational access for Black children during segregation. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"2\">&#8220;There are many, many Rosenwald schools. I want to say in the early 1900s,&#8221; said Rick Durr, director of Seminole County Parks and Recreation. &#8220;The school itself on that site burned down.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"3\">After the school closed in 2011, the community pushed for the property to serve a new purpose. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"4\">Seminole County acquired the 12-acre site in 2019 and has since opened a park with walkways and pavilions.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"5\">&#8220;It will be something that the community is looking forward to,&#8221; said East Altamonte resident Malesah Thornton.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"6\">An extension to Lake Mobile is currently under construction. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"7\">&#8220;That includes a fishing pier that&#8217;s going in, the walkways that are being extended, and some stormwater improvements, and a canoe-kayak launch right on the lake,&#8221; Durr said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"8\">The next major addition will be a community center designed to honor the site\u2019s history. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"9\">&#8220;We were able to use a lot of&#8230; the imagery of the original Rosenwald Schools \u2013 brick facades, tall windows, high ceilings, very airy, and it looks very symmetrical or classic-looking design,&#8221; Durr said.   <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"10\">&#8220;It will be a great thing, great idea. Something good for the community,&#8221; Thornton said. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"11\">The county is now seeking input from the community to name the park. <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"12\">&#8220;We want to be able to take that to the Board of County Commissioners and officially give this park a name, but we want it to really come from the community,&#8221; Durr said.  <\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"13\">The groundbreaking for the new community center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 29.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"14\">The entire project, estimated to cost $4 million, is expected to be completed by 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The historic Rosenwald School site in East Altamonte is being transformed into a community&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[48882,165850,37887,165857,165848,6304,22499,1127,165843,92085,28,165853,133537,143031,8393,165845,165856,165852,165860,165859,139,141,140,165847,165851,165844,82383,1014,165854,13982,165849,165858,165855,165846],"class_list":["post-419823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-groundbreaking","tag-black-children","tag-board-of-county-commissioners","tag-brick-facade","tag-canoe-launch","tag-community-center","tag-community-park","tag-construction","tag-east-altamonte","tag-fishing-pier","tag-florida","tag-historic-rosenwald-school-site","tag-historic-site","tag-kayak-launch","tag-kmce","tag-lake-mobile","tag-m-transformation","tag-malesah-thornton","tag-new-purpose","tag-original-rosenwald-schools","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-pavilions","tag-rick-durr","tag-rosenwald-school","tag-segregation","tag-seminole-county","tag-seminole-county-parks","tag-site","tag-stormwater-improvements","tag-tall-window","tag-walkway","tag-walkways"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}