The Bel Alton H.S. Alumni Association Community Development Corporation is a project dear to the hearts of many people who worked tirelessly over the past 15 years to restore a beloved alma mater, Bel Alton High School.
Now their dream has come true as they have completed the renovation on the building. The group held the Grand Opening on the beautiful newly renovated building on July 27.
For several years, former graduates, students, faculty members, parents, and friends watched the steady decline of the school as it languished in a state of increasing deterioration. Then a miracle happened! A grant provided the opportunity to reclaim the school and restore it as near as possible to its former grandeur, albeit with a different purpose and mission.
The school has returned to use as a Community Development Center, serving a target population
of disadvantaged residents in the southern end of Charles County, Maryland. It has taken over 15 years to raise the funds to restore this building. The Center, will house small businesses and programs including, a Day Care Center, Head Start Program, Adult Education, information technology training, youth mentoring, and a Cafe. The project will give significant stimulus to an underserved target population in need of programs that promote jobs, self-help and self-sufficiency. The Community Development Center is expected to create 60 jobs, 51 of which will be for disadvantaged individuals.
The school used to be an all black school, and was in existence from 1938 until the integration of Charles County’s schools in 1965. There were five high schools in Charles County, Maryland prior to
integration: three white schools and two black schools. The other black school was partially destroyed by fire. This is the only high school in Charles County, Maryland that has been mostly idle since integration, except for a few years it was used a middle school for a few years. It was scheduled to be
burned down, due to its deteriorated condition, but the Alumni Association intervened and proposed to preserve its heritage and put the building to use to benefit the entire community. The property fronts on Highway US 301, a major interstate route, on 12.67 acres of land, and consists of 35,200 square feet
of space. The school consists of two structures: the main school building of 18,800 square feet, and an adjacent gymnasium and industrial arts shop consisting of 16,400 square feet.
