Brightwood Education Campus 3.57

Brightwood Education Campus is a public school located in the Northwest quadrant of the District of Columbia.HistoryThe original Brightwood School was a two-story brick building built around 1897 at Brightwood Avenue and Peabody Street. Some of the land was acquired from the Emory Chapel, and some of the land was condemned from numerous heirs of Betsy Butler. Only white students were allowed to attend the school. Other children attended the Military Road School nearby.Construction of an extension began in mid-1895 and completed in early 1896. The extension increased the size of the school to eight rooms and cost $11,600. The sidewalk in front of the school was paved in 1902.Two large fires, occurring simultaneously, severely damaged the school building 1912. The fires were discovered at 8 p.m., and it took several hours to extinguish them. Students were temporarily reassigned to nearby West School and Brightwood Park School while Brightwood School was repaired. Upon inspecting the site, the fire marshal suspected arson immediately. One of the fires started under the teacher's desk in Miss H. K. Berne's classroom, and the fire marshal and police detectives interviewed each of the thirty students in Berne's class, but they could not determine who set the fire.In 1923, the Manor Park Citizens Association passed a resolution requesting the building of a new school in the neighborhood, calling Brightwood Elementary School disgraceful and unsanitary in part because some boys had no other place to eat lunch than the lavatory. Three years later, Whittier School opened for children living in Manor Park.