213 Hillyer Place
Decatur, GA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Cora Beck Hampton Schoolhouse and House (Holleyman School)

Statement of Significant:

The Hampton Schoolhouse and House are significant as a very rare example of a one-room school and the school teacher's house together on the same piece of property. The schoolhouse is significant in architecture because it is a good example of a building built to be a one-room schoolhouse, its functional and un-adorned style reflecting the bare necessities: a fireplace for warmth, and windows for light, and one room where all the subjects were taught to all the students by one teacher. Once common, such one-room schoolhouses are now extremely rare in Georgia. The property also includes the teacher's residence: a one and one-half-story, frame cottage of late 19th century vintage that is a typical in-town house of that era. The property is significant in education because it served for a decade (1892-1902) as a one-room schoolhouse operated by a local teacher, Cora Beck Hampton, who taught various ages of white elementary students of both sexes here. Mrs. Hampton, a widow, operated the school until the City of Decatur created a public school system, at which time her school ceased operation. That same year (1902) she remarried Dr. W. F. Holleyman and was active in many other civic affairs until her death in 1935, having sold this property in 1919.