The historic Concord School building has received $3.6 million in funding from the Community Development Block Grant for restoration purposes.

The building is currently home to the Boys and Girls Club in Leon County’s Miccosukee Park.

The Concord Schoolhouse, originally in the hamlet of Miccosukee, in eastern Leon County, Florida located at 14035 Godbold Road, which was also on-site in this area, was relocated to the Tallahassee Museum as part of its “Old Florida” exhibit.

Two Concord School students, Martha Ford and Gloria Dean Hall put their heads together to study for the upcoming Leon County Spelling Bee; Ford and Hall were both the 1966 winners of the Concord School's spelling bee.

The sign still exists just across from the school building.

In 1893, two Miccosukee women, Fayette and Jennie Burned sold a half-acre of their land for $1.00 with the intent of a schoolhouse being built on it.

By 1897 during the Reconstruction Era, the schoolhouse was completed for African-American children in the area.

It grew to be one of the five biggest African-American rural schools in the county, and by the 1960s, was combined with the Miccosukee School.

Eventually, the school closed down in 1985.

Two Concord School students, Shirley McCloud (left) and Tommy Johnson (right) are in festive pageantry wear during a 1960 celebration at their school.

Per the City of Tallahassee’s placemaking documents for the Miccosukee Community, “The Miccosukee community was designated a Florida Heritage Site in 2004 by the Leon County Board of Commissioners and the Florida Department of State.”

If you drive by the intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive and Moccasin Gap Road, you’ll see a commemorative sign in the area depicting this.

In June of this year, as announced by United States Congressman Al Lawson, the County received $1 million in funding as part of Congress' Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bill, and Leon County matched $850,000, as required by the bill, in addition to this new grant.

The Community Development Block Grant “supports community development activities to build stronger and more resilient communities,” and the functionality of this building is to be improved so much so that the county plans to have it serve as a comfort station during natural disasters.

This 1960-era photo shows several students of the Concord School in Miccosukee, prior to its closing in the 1980s. The students are in the midst of a graduation ceremony, held outdoors under the school yard's majestic oaks.

In a press release, Leon County Administrator Vincent S. Long  said, “This game-changing $5.4 million investment represents the county’s long-term work on the Miccosukee Sense of Place initiative to shape the community for generations to come.”

He added, “I am proud of all the work of our county teams since 2016, from the significant citizen engagement to the tireless legislative work.”

Restorations will begin during this calendar year and will last through the end of 2023.