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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 18
Yancy Horton Sr. donated the land for the school. His granddaughter, Pearl, Yancy Jr.'s daughter, says it was built in 1919, the year she was born. Building the school came about because the people of Pond Beat take advantage of opportunities that will help them get ahead in the world. They heard about Julius Rosenwald. Julius Rosenwald, the son of a German-Jewish immigrant who had reached the peak of his business career as president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, had begun what could be called his second career as a philanthropist. He knew that only 20 percent of the black children were enrolled in school in Alabama (as compared to 60 percent of the white children), and “in all the South there was not a single standard 8th grade rural Negro public school” nor any formal high school” (Dalin 1998:38). Rosenwald was invited to the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama by Booker T. Washington. They developed a plan to make matching grants available to rural communities for education (Rohr 2001). Yancy Horton gave his land for the school, and he and other members of the community cleared the land and gave their labor to build it. This was the match for the Rosenwald grant. Going to clear the land for Horton School. In Mullins Flat, Adolphus Love gave the land for a school, and the people of the community gave their labor, thus, a grant was obtained and a Rosenwald School was built in Mullins Flat. It is called Silver Hill School. Altogether, six Rosenwald schools were built for rural black children in Madison County. The Silverhill School in Mullins Flat. Horton School has a baseball club. Most people can't afford baseball uniforms for their children; the players wear whatever they have. Sometimes the children play a team from Talucah, across the river (near where Somerville is). They take the ferry across the river. The ferry is a rowboat, so only three or four people can come across at a time. It costs 25 cents to ride across. Zera's son Alva likes the picnics that are held at the Horton School. The school is like a community center. Programs are held at the school as well as at Cedar Grove Church. There are box suppers and little carnivals. Alva always enjoys those. There is always singing and programs at Christmas time. Of course, Alva likes Christmas time for a number of reasons. He smiles when he thinks of the peppermint sticks that he gets at Christmas, because they are big around, and he takes a hammer and cracks a bit off at a time. He doesn't get numerous gifts, but there is always 18 - (4051)