The Hubbard Legacy

Y’all, if you know me, you know I don’t use a word like “legacy” lightly. “Legacy” is a powerful word, it holds weight, significance, it speaks of the past but in light of the future. A legacy is a story that doesn’t end, but continues to grow and shape those it impacts. Today, I have the honor of sharin’ a true legacy with y’all, that of William M. Hubbard. 

Let me explain. 

Who is William Hubbard?

In 1900, William Merida Hubbard opened the first school in Forsyth for African American students. From humble beginnings, the school started in Kynette Methodist Church with just seven students. These were the days of the Jim Crow South, and like many schools of the time, churches presented the only option for educating black children. In those days, there was very little interest, and minimal financial support, for African American public education in Georgia. 

But Mr. Hubbard was undaunted.

Cultivating partnerships with Forsyth’s white community, by 1902 Mr. Hubbard and five white partners had successfully petitioned the Superior Court of Monroe County to incorporate the Forsyth Normal and Industrial School with one small building on ten acres of land. In less than 15 years, he had developed a curriculum that extended classes to the 9th grade and by 1916, through to the 11th. The Forsyth Normal and Industrial School became one of a handful of senior high schools that existed in the whole state of Georgia for African Americans!

Historic Marker in front of the Hubbard Dormitory for State Teachers and Agricultural College/Hubbard Training School

This alone would’ve been an incredible legacy for Mr. Hubbard, achievin’ the unimaginable and pavin’ the way for better futures, lives full of opportunity, for his students. But Mr. Hubbard was a man with a mission. From the beginning he had aimed to cultivate teachers, so there would always be someone to educate the next generation of African American youth. He continued his quest for partnerships to ensure the school would become a county training school. It was accredited in 1917 and by the following year the Georgia Assembly passed the Smith-Hughes Act, making the Forsyth Normal and Industrial School the state’s first vocational school for African Americans. Another milestone was achieved in 1922 when the Georgia legislature passed an act that made it the “School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts for the Training of Negroes.” A few years later, the school became a junior college, and when a fire destroyed the main school building, Mr. Hubbard sought additional land and buildings for his institution that by this time had educated over 2,000 students and operated a farm on 300 acres of land! 

School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Class of 1923

By 1936, the school’s campus included an auditorium, president’s house, administration building, gymnasium, and home economics building. Never losin’ sight of his original mission to educate teachers, Mr. Hubbard had dormitories added so that students would have a place to stay while they received training. In 1939, the campus became the property of the Monroe County Board of Education and was renamed for William Hubbard, honoring his legacy. Mr. Hubbard’s son Samuel took the reigns as principal until Monroe County’s schools were desegregated in 1970. 

Founders Day, 1935 at School of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 

Saving Hubbard’s Legacy 

“Please don’t tear our school down. This is part of us!”

Aerial Image of Hubbard Campus

In the years followin’ the 1970 desegregation of Monroe County schools, two schools on the Hubbard campus had remained in operation: the Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School (a new building added after 1970 and still in operation today) and the William M. Hubbard Middle School. The middle school building had been a part of the campus since 1955, and thus had been a part of the segregated education system offered by Monroe County Schools for African American students. Between the 1955 building and the historic women’s dormitory, Monroe County offered African American students the opportunity to attend school from first through twelfth grades on the Hubbard campus. After 1970, there was no longer a high school, but the Hubbard elementary and middle schools now welcomed students of all races.

Of the other historic buildings, most had disappeared from the campus’ landscape by 1970. Only the women’s dormitory, president’s home and teachers’ cottage remained. After the new building was constructed for the Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School, the women’s dormitory fell vacant for many years. All three historic buildings were endangered until several alumni from across all Hubbard schools formed the Hubbard Alumni Association. Chartered in 1989 as a nonprofit continuing the legacy of William and Samuel Hubbard, the association includes 62 alumni as life members, of which one is Larry Evans, whose plea I quoted earlier. 

In the tradition of the school’s founder, the Hubbard Alumni Association cultivated partnerships with the Monroe County Board of Education to preserve the women’s dormitory and revitalize it for use as a museum, training and cultural center. This building, along with the teachers’ cottage, was subsequently listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The teachers’ cottage now houses the Monroe County Workforce Development Center. Run by the Hubbard Alumni Association, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, and several other partners, the center has helped over 300 people improve their quality of life.

With the vacant buildings re-energized and the two schools in active operation continuing Hubbard’s mission to educate the next generations, all seemed well for the Hubbard Alumni. They turned their focus to scholarships, and had awarded 95 such grants by the time the next disaster struck: the middle school became flooded. 

“Please don’t tear our school down. This is part of us!”

Larry Evans, member of the Hubbard Alumni Association, was Monroe County’s District 1 Commissioner when the William M. Hubbard Middle School building was struck with irreversible water and mold damage in 2018, making it uninhabitable for students and causin’ the school to close. His pleas were echoed by other alumni and members of the community. 

According to Dr. Hickman, Monroe County School Superintendent (now retired), even though the county got the school remediated and dried up the flooding, the water continued to come in from the bottom and the sides of the foundation. There was no fixin’ it, the school had to close and since it couldn’t be salvaged, demolished.

Larry and other alumni were devastated, and launched discussions to try and resolve the situation with a solution that wouldn’t end in the demolishment of their beloved school. 

“We love this place. I can still remember my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Clements, right here in this section,” Larry explained while touring the school with local media. “We grew up here and we lived right across the street, so we walked to school every day and the playground was right here.” He also recalled memories of his first play on the school stage, and of meeting and dating his wife of 51 years, Annie Ree.  

But the cost to repair or rebuild would be millions, not a truly viable option. What could be done? After much deliberation and collaboration, the school system and Alumni Association found their answer.

Some parts of the middle school were undamaged by the floods; these would be preserved and transformed into a museum for the Hubbard campus’ history as well as used for after-school programs, like a Boys & Girls Club. The damaged parts of the building, however, would still need to be demolished. But they would transform the land left behind into a community park with a walking track and playground. 

According to Dr. Hickman, “We wanted to make sure that we provided a way to connect with the community and serve the purpose of what William Hubbard stood for, and that was actually bringing people together.” 

Hubbard Today

Entrance to the new William M. Hubbard Complex Campus

In 2021, the Hubbard Alumni Association in partnership with the Monroe County Board of Education and County Commissioners cut the ribbon on the new William M. Hubbard Complex, aka the revitalized campus featuring two museums, a park, Boys and Girls Club, workforce development center, and a music room in honor of Ms. Hubbard, who was a music teacher. The old cafeteria and stage were also saved, and are available for rent to be used for event space. There was only one goal in developin’ these spaces: to keep the educational spirit of the Hubbard campus alive!  

Presentation in Hubbard Cafeteria

The first museum, the Hubbard Museum & Cultural Center, was founded in 2018 and is split between the historic women’s dormitory and other buildings in the Hubbard Complex. A testament to Hubbard’s small, original seven-student school, the museum honors former students by showcasing books, trophies and other memorabilia of the Hubbard School’s past graduates while storing precious memories of the campus’ past. The Monroe County Board of Education and the Hubbard Alumni Association, who co-manage the museum, envisioned a space to continue educating future generations of African American youth while honoring William Hubbard’s legacy. 

The second museum at the William M. Hubbard Complex is located in the former media center of William Hubbard Middle School, one of the areas that had remained undamaged by the 2018 flood and was able to be saved. Named the Telling Our Story: Black History Museum, this museum was actually begun over 13 years ago by self-dedicated and passionate historian Rosemary Walker as a tribute to Forsyth’s African American heritage. With deep roots in Forsyth and a well-established network of friends and family, Ms. Rosemary amassed quite a collection of over 300 relics commemorating African American achievements in Forsyth and Monroe County. In need of a permanent place for her growing collection, the renovated space in the Hubbard Middle School media center was the perfect, mutually beneficial solution, helpin’ to preserve the space in a way Mr. Hubbard would be proud of and protecting Ms. Rosemary from havin’ to haul around her extensive collection. In addition to showcasing the achievements of African American scholars, athletes and leaders here in Forsyth and Monroe County, Ms. Rosemary’s collection includes her own personal artifacts, like her grandmother’s medical bag. Ms. Rosemary’s grandmother, Lizzie Brantley, served as a midwife in Monroe County for over 50 years.

A True Legacy

As I said from the beginning, I don’t use a word like “legacy” lightly, but William M. Hubbard suits every meanin’ of the word. He opened the doors of education for African Americans living in Forsyth at a time when there was little to no support for such in Georgia. And in so doin’, he paved the way for others in Georgia to do the same. He ensured there would be trained teachers available to educate future generations of African American youth, and always strived for the next milestone in support of his mission. His influence left a lastin’ impact on not only his son and students, both of whom took up the mantle of his mission, but also the entire community and the state of Georgia. And through the William Hubbard Complex, his legacy will continue to impact others for generations to come. 

’Til Next Time,
Your Storyteller