Before the Bus Route: Croom’s One-Room School Days

Croom has had a school near St. Thomas’ Church since 1866, when land at Page’s Rest was deeded for a school serving white children in the Nottingham District. By 1907, the older building needed repair, and Croom residents petitioned the county for a new one. Work began in the fall of 1907; the replacement was completed and approved in 1908.

The finished frame building measured 28 by 32 feet. Its wood exterior was stuccoed—a less usual treatment for schools of the period—and its foundations enclosed a full basement. The Maryland Historical Trust identifies it as one of the larger early-twentieth-century schoolhouses built by the county school board, and as a surviving example of Croom’s rural educational history.

A teacher’s report filed in October 1919 describes one large classroom considered capable of holding as many as 70 pupils. At that moment, however, the room had 22 desks, enough for 44 pupils. The report also records two privies, water carried from a well about 150 feet away, and a stove burning coal or wood. It noted that the building needed repair.

These details make the schoolhouse more than a date on a map. They show the everyday infrastructure behind rural education: one shared room, a distant water source, outdoor privies, and heat supplied by a stove. They also remind us that a stated capacity was not the same as the number of desks available to students.

The schoolhouse stopped serving students in spring 1934, when pupils were transferred to the elementary school in Upper Marlboro. The county then sold the building, and it was converted into a residence. The Maryland Historical Trust’s inventory says the exterior retained much of its original appearance while the interior was divided into living spaces.

For neighbors passing through Croom today, the story is a useful way to read the village landscape: education happened in a modest building beside a community’s church and homes, shaped by county policy, local petitions, and the practical realities of rural life. The schoolhouse’s history is also part of a larger story of segregated schooling in Prince George’s County, including the separately documented Croom Industrial and Agricultural School’s work providing practical education for African-American children.