MEDIA
Springfield School
Original Author: Valentine Souvenir Co., New York
Created: ca. 1913–1915
Medium: Photographic postcard

Springfield School, 26th and Leigh Streets, Richmond, Va.

An American flag flies over the entrance to the Springfield School, an all-white elementary school in Richmond that was completed in 1913. Constructed of Virginia granite at the cost of $100,000, the school was considered a state-of-the-art facility at that time. A printed caption on the back of the postcard describes the school as "one of the most modern and complete Elementary Schools in the South … It contains twenty-five class rooms, a large assembly hall and is splendidly equipped for instruction in Manual Training and Domestic Science. Besides Kindergarten and Retarded Classes, there are two Open-Air Schools in operation on the roof." In 1948 the school was converted to an all-black elementary school and renamed the J. Andrew Bowler School.