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Barcroft Community House

About

Date: Built 1907

Historic Designation:

Local Historic District: Jan. 7, 1984
National Register of Historic Places: July 28, 1995

Current Use of Property: The building serves as a community meeting space, and is owned by the Barcroft School and Civic League.

Barcroft Community House is believed to be the only remaining one-room wooden frame schoolhouse in Arlington. The building has served as a church, school and community meeting place for over 100 years. It was originally constructed to serve as a community building for the Methodist Episcopal Church of Barcroft. Instead, the School Board leased the building for $10 per month. In November 1908, the Barcroft School opened with 10 first and second grade students and its first teacher, Miss Beulah Adams.

The school gradually grew to include seven grades. A second room was added to the rear of the modest one-room Barcroft School House in 1913 to accommodate a growing number of students. It also served as headquarters for the Barcroft School and Civic League, incorporated in June 1914. In 1925, a new brick school building with four rooms opened at 625 S. Wakefield St.

After the school was relocated, the Barcroft Community House continued to serve as a focal point of the community. It has been used as a meeting space for organizations like the Boys Club, Kiwanis Boys Band, Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts, Rod and Reel Club, South Arlington A.A.’s and the American Legion. Over the years, it has been used by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Barcroft Union Church, Wolverton Bible Class, New Apostolic Church and St. Paul’s Anglican Episcopal Church.

Architectural Features

The structure is of late 19th-early 20th-century Craftsman design. The foundation is stone, the walls are weatherboard and the roof is asphalt shingles.

Significant People

Beulah Adams was the first teacher of Barcroft School House.

Sidney Marye led fund-raising efforts to build the schoolhouse. The Citizens Association of Barcroft petitioned the Alexandria County School Board in 1907 to establish a school for their community. The Board’s slow action prompted Marye to locate space in a local home to teach the neighborhood children.

Walter K. Handy led efforts in 1912 to extend electrical lines from Columbia to Barcroft. In 1913, Handy wired the Barcroft School House and 14 local homes for electricity.