[1] On May 22, 1913, Louis H. Hackney and his wife Lara purchased a piece of land just south of the Quaker School from the Bane family,[4] and west of Merritt Mill Road.

[5][disputed – discuss] Despite widespread racial discrimination at the time, Hackney amassed enough wealth to acquire and own land from 1878 until he died in 1937.

[11] On June 12, 1922, tragedy struck when a fire in an adjacent building spread to the training school, reducing it to rubble.

[12] For two years after the fire, concerned individuals from the community made various efforts to help maintain consistent, quality education for African American children.

[10] In 1924, a man named Henry Stroud donated land to begin the construction of the new Orange County Training School.

In an interview with Bob Gilgor, she recalled her time there from 1st grade to when Orange County Training School burned down.

[17] In the same interview, she recalled her time attending Carey (Carrie) Jones' home school before her transfer to Hackney.

Similarly, folk and blues musician Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was born in 1893 and attended the nearby Quaker school until she was forced to quit at the age of 12 due to work.