About HCH

What We Do

Hosanna Community House (HCH), doing business as Hosanna School Museum and McComas Village, offers an array of historical and cultural events, including our annual Upper Bay Juneteenth Celebration Festival in partnership with several community organizations. We lead the County in identifying Underground Railroad sites and conducting historic site tours. We also feature book signings, author talks, film screenings, discussions, lectures, genealogy workshops, and youth workshops exploring traditional crafts, life skills, and more.

 

History

The property upon which Hosanna School stands was first owned by a free African American man named Cupid Paca.  In 1822, Paca bought fifty acres of land running from Berkley into Darlington.  Upon his death, his holdings were divided among his surviving children.

 

In the mid-1800s, Cupid Paca’s son, Joseph, sold 1/4 acre of his share of inherited land to be used as “a schoolhouse lot.”

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Miss Edmonia Highgate held the first class in the adjacent Hosanna AME Church in March of 1865, but did not stay long before moving to Louisiana. Miss Mary Watson replaced her several months later and was instrumental in working with the church and community leadership to get funding from benevolent organizations and support from the Freedmen’s Bureau (FB) to build and develop the school between 1867 and 1868. The building of Freedmen’s Bureau schools was mandated by law through the War Department across all of the former slave-holding states for the purpose of educating the recently freed African Americans. The FB provided lumber for Hosanna – a two-story frame building that was used as a schoolhouse, a community meeting place, and a church. In 1879, the operation of the school was assumed by the Harford County School Commissioners.

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In 1907, the school building was actually condemned for use as a school. Still, Hosanna remained active as a schoolhouse for local African American children until 1945.

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In 1948, Hosanna Community House, Incorporated (HCH) was established with corporate and fiduciary oversight of the Hosanna School by African American men in the community, allowing them to continue having a community meeting place. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel sheared off the top floor of the building. The corporation, with its limited funds, preserved what was left of the building by placing a roof on the remaining structure. 

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Restoration of the building took place in stages over a 20-year period (1983-2005). In 1983, the corporation received funding from the State of Maryland to stabilize the building. Actual restoration of the building's remaining floor began in 1993.  A grand opening and dedication of the partially restored Hosanna School took place on September 10, 1994.  Restroom facilities and a handicapped access ramp were also added. In September of 2005, the restoration of the second floor was achieved. It now stands as the original two-story structure.

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In 1988, Hosanna School was added to the National Register of Historic Places; McComas Institute was added in 1980.

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In 2015, the Maryland Historical Trust honored HCH with one of its highest awards, “Excellence in Exhibitions and Programming,” for developing our monumental “Faces of Freedom” initiative. In 2019, the Harford County Historic Preservation Commission recognized HCH with its highest award, “The Preservationist Honor Award,” for our ongoing efforts to preserve several sites of memory that commemorate the history of Harford County through the lens of the African American experience.

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Between 2016 and 2017, HCH purchased the McComas Institute (another Freedmen’s Bureau school built in 1867), adjacent historic church building and cemetery—Mt. Zion United Methodist Church—which was built in 1865. Its leadership along with George March McComas were instrumental in getting funds from local and regional benevolent organizations and support from the Freedmen’s Bureau to build McComas School

 

Hosanna Community House, Inc.’s main goal is to preserve and share these landmarks and the histories and culture associated with them, as unique in the history of Harford County and of the United States of America. They preserve the Country School and early educational history along with the Reconstruction Era and early 20th-century history and culture of America.

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Our Museum Founder, Christine Tolbert

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Christine Tolbert grew up in the Berkley area of Northern Harford County. During this time, Harford County schools were still segregated, so Christine attended Hosanna, the “colored” school in Darlington, where her mother and grandmother studied.

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With a passion for education and history, she returned to the Hosanna School, looking to offer aid however possible. Christine became the first female board member at Hosanna and began working to preserve its history. She created her own Board of Directors by drawing on former Hosanna students and church members. She fought for adequate funding to restore the school as a museum, drawing in other students and community members for support.

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Partners

Hosanna works with several organizations in the community: Harford County Government, Harford Community College, Hays-Heighe House at Harford Community College, Harford County Public Library, Havre de Grace Boys & Girls Club, Hosanna A.M.E. Church, The Liriodendron, The Historical Society of Harford County, Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway, and the Maryland Humanities Council.

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Staff

Executive Director: Dr. Iris Leigh Barnes

Docent: Marcus Jennings

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Board of Directors

OFFICERS

President: Michelle Golding

Vice President: Samuel Boykins

Treasurer and Financial Secretary: James Thornton

Parliamentarian: Agnes Minor

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MEMBERS

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Patricia Cole​

Sharon Jacobs

Marcus Jennings

Donna Lewis

Mecca Lewis-Shakur

Lorri Reid

Dr. Lisa Robinson

Kira Sconion

Jonise Stallings

Dr. Gregory Wilkins

Gregory Wright

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