Lemon Street School
Located on the site of the first public school for Black students in Marietta, the Lemon Street School was built in 1951 as an equalization school. It closed in 1971 and over the next 40 years, the school served as a community center, a small public library, and most recently as a storage facility. At the urging of the Lemon Street Heritage Group, which included former educators, alumni, and community leaders, the school system recognized the site’s irreplaceable cultural and historic value and began rehabilitation in 2020. The goal of the project was to return the property to its original use as an active educational facility. The historic character of the school was retained, including its distinctive brick, roofline, and porch ironwork. The building reopened in February 2021 as the Woods-Wilkins Campus—the new home of Marietta High School’s three nontraditional academic programs, serving almost 200 students and staff, day and night, six days a week.
Excellence in Rehabilitation Awards recognize projects that make compatible use of a building through repair, alterations or additions while preserving features of the property that convey its historic value.
