The Martha Schofield School | A History

Allen Riddick

May 13, 2021

Of all the schools in Aiken County, none has had such a long and interesting history of growth and evolution as Schofield School.

Martha Schofield, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, came to Aiken from the coast of South Carolina, where she had been teaching the children of newly freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. She chose to come to Aiken because of her fragile health — at the time Aiken had a reputation as a healthy place to live. After a couple of years in Aiken working for the Freedmen’s Bureau, Schofield opened her own school in 1868. Her first school was a small wood-frame building.

Miss Schofield was a tireless worker and fundraiser — the school soon outgrew the small building thanks to funds she solicited from the people of her native Pennsylvania and from the local Winter Colonists, mostly wealthy Northerners. She expanded the campus to include boys’ and girls’ dorms, a larger two-story classroom building, a shop/industrial education building, and more. Even her house was on the campus. There was also a farm associated with the school about three miles away.

Schofield Normal and Industrial School, as it was now called, was a private school whose purpose was to educate students to become teachers so that they could teach at other schools for African Americans. It did not receive funds from the local school board until 1950, when Martha Schofield’s school became part of the Aiken County School District and its name changed to Martha Schofield High School.

Once under the Aiken County School District, Martha Schofield High School underwent a modernization and transformation. The new campus included 18 new classrooms and other upgrades. By 1955 the campus had expanded again with the addition of more classrooms, a library, a new industrial arts building, and a new gym. The old gym was transformed into the cafeteria. In 1959 the historic old buildings from the first campus were razed. Martha Schofield’s house was moved to a vacant lot behind the school — it has been greatly altered from its original form.

In 1964 the Bradby Wing was added as a junior high school.

The last Martha Schofield High School class graduated in June of 1970. In the fall of that year the Aiken County School District was integrated, and the school became known as Aiken High School – Schofield Campus. All 9th and 10th grade students attended the Schofield Campus; 11th and 12th grade students attended Aiken High School on Rutland Drive. The 1950s Martha Schofield High School campus has been significantly altered and is now an ultramodern school called Schofield Middle School.

Besides Martha Schofield’s house, all that remains from the historic Schofield campus is an old wood-frame building that was an early dormitory. It was used as a lodge building and is still standing on Fairfield Street. Today the cupola from Carter Hall sits at the entrance to the grounds of Schofield Middle School, along with an official State of South Carolina historical marker.

Schofield School was founded in this small building by Martha Schofield, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, in 1868.

The Schofield staff in the 1880s. Martha Schofield is on the far right.

Carter Hall, built in 1882 facing Kershaw Street, was the main classroom building on the Schofield Normal and Industrial School campus. It was razed in 1959, but the cupola can still be seen today.

Martha Schofield High School, formerly private, was constructed in 1951 and became part of the Aiken County School District. This school, facing Sumter Street, was built directly behind the old campus.

The Bradby Wing was constructed in 1964 as the junior high school building on the Martha Schofield High School campus. It was named for Sanford Bradby, the long-time principal of Martha Schofield Normal and Industrial School and Martha Schofield High School. The building was razed in 2003 as part of Schofield Middle School’s reconstruction project.

This early girls’ dorm on the Schofield campus was later moved to Fairfield Street and used as a lodge hall. It is still standing today.

The Schofield House, on the main campus for many years, is now located behind Schofield Middle School.

The cupola is all that remains of Carter Hall. It sits on the grounds of Schofield Middle School today.

Allen Riddick

Allen Riddick is a 1974 graduate of Aiken High School and a 1978 graduate of Clemson University. He has been the president of the Aiken County Historical Society since 1999. During that time he has taken tens of thousands of photographs of Aiken --- people, places, and events --- to document its history, change, and growth. He is an avid collector of old Aiken memorabilia, especially photographs. He has written three Aiken-themed books: Aiken County Schools, a Pictorial History and More, Memories of Growing Up and Living in Aiken, SC, and The Life of Bob Harrington and His Memories of Aiken Preparatory School.

Allen Riddick

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