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LOUDON, Tenn. — wbir.com-On Steekee Road in Loudon, there's an old schoolhouse that was once something people would pass by without noticing. That is, until a few years ago.

It was falling apart, losing its bones to time, its memories dying with the elder former students. But not anymore, as people like Joyce Fields are more than ready to go back to school.

They aren't returning to the classroom to learn, but want to help others learn by saving the building that shaped them as young students.

"We're doing our best to preserve the school so that they can come and know what it was like back then," she said.

The Dunbar Rosenwald School was built in Loudon in 1923. It was one of the thousands of schools built by a partnership between former slave Booker T. Washington and Sears and Roebuck CEO Julius Rosenwald.

Their goal was to build schools in rural areas to advance early education in Black communities. More than 5,300 Rosenwald schools were built across the South, with 354 schools in Tennessee

Of those Tennessee schools, only 39 remain standing including the one in Loudon.

"We decided we would do what we could do to restore the school," said Fields.

The Dunbar Rosenwald School Foundation formed in 2017 with the goal of renovation and preservation. Fields served as president since the group's inception.

After schools integrated, the school closed down and was bought by a group who made it the Dunbar Community Center. Since that time in the 1960s, the old two-room schoolhouse has sat unused for decades.

"There are so many people that went to school in Loudon. Some of them may be deceased but their families are here, their children are there, they don't know the history," said Fields.

Now the building has new life and from the outside, it looks good as new.

"Four years ago it was an easy place to miss, and today it really pops," said Loudon City Manager Ty Ross.

The foundation, received help from alumni, support from the county and city, and even got a historic preservation grant. With all the support behind them, they replaced windows, siding, the roof, and added a wheelchair ramp as well as a flagpole.

The foundation received a Certificate of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission and an East Tennessee Preservation Award from Knox Heritage this year for their work.

They were formally presented with the awards at an outdoor ceremony Wednesday. Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw even read a proclamation in their honor.

"I declare this day the Dunbar Rosenwald School Foundation Day and this resolution be recorded in the annals of Loudon County history," said Bradshaw.

The group continues to make history, working next to restore the inside of the old schoolhouse.

They said they would love to get the bathrooms working again and have tour guides there to explain the history of the schoolhouse.

It's all possible, thanks to alumni and a community who care and don't want their history forgotten.