About Us

Our History

The Court Street School is one of the principal structures associated  with the segregated history of early twentieth century education for  African Americans in Freehold, New Jersey.   The original school was organized in 1915, exclusively for the education  of African American children by the Freehold Board of Education. It was  a one-room wooden building located just west of the present site. 

The  existing school was constructed in two phases in 1920 and 1926. All  African-American children in Freehold were educated at Court Street  School from kindergarten through eighth grade until World War II, when  the school was used as an air raid shelter and a ration station. Under  pressure from war veterans, a court order integrated the school. 

In 1990, the Court Street School Education Community Center, Inc. was  formed as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization to restore the school  for use as an Education Community Center and to preserve it as a historic landmark. The group received more than  $800,000 from the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Monmouth County  Board of Freeholders to restore the facility.