2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 205
Commemorating the legacy of Laurel Grove School.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 9, 2026
WHEREAS, 2026 marks the 145th anniversary of the Laurel Grove School, a one-room schoolhouse that served Black students in the Franconia area of Fairfax County since the land was deeded in 1881 through 1932; and
WHEREAS, in the early 1880s, a congregation of freed Black farmers who held church services near a grove of laurel off Beulah Road in Fairfax County endeavored to build an institution for educating area children; and
WHEREAS, with a half-acre of land donated by formerly enslaved farmers William and Georgiana Jasper and lumber and materials provided by area residents, the trustees of the congregation built a single-room schoolhouse to serve as the Laurel Grove School, one of only 11 schools for Black students in the Fairfax County school system at the time; and
WHEREAS, since Fairfax County did not provide funding for teachers at Laurel Grove School until 1886, the Laurel Grove School community banded together to hire teachers and gather resources to ensure that students in grades one through seven received a quality education; and
WHEREAS, through the dedication of its teachers and the support of the community, the Laurel Grove School transformed countless students' lives by imparting valuable knowledge and skills at a time when an education was not readily available; and
WHEREAS, the Laurel Grove School taught students for nearly a half-century before it was closed and absorbed into Fairfax County's segregated dual public school system in 1932; and