Louise Archer Elementary School opened in the fall of 1939. Louise Archer is unique because it was the only all-African-American elementary school to remain open as an elementary school after desegregation. When Louise Archer Elementary School was integrated in 1965-66, nearly all of the school’s faculty had been reassigned to other schools in Fairfax County. The one exception was B. Oswald Robinson, who continued serving as the school’s principal. Louise Archer students who lived outside of Vienna were assigned to Churchill Road, Dunn Loring, Franklin Sherman, Herndon, Great Falls, and Spring Hill elementary schools. 

An extensive history of Louise Archer Elementary School can be found on the school’s website.

Location

Land Records

• Fairfax County Liber K, No. 13, Folio 324: Aug. 16, 1938, 2 acres from B. F. Salsbury and Lillian Salsbury, his wife, and Annis Salsbury Spayth and George W. Spayth, her husband.
• Fairfax County Deed Book 952, Page 356: March 5, 1952, 1.01 acres from Clara Ferris Williams.
• Fairfax County Deed Book 954, Page 64: March 5, 1952, 1.002 acres from Ella M. Chives.
• Fairfax County Deed Book 977, Page 83: March 5, 1952, 0.206 acres from Lillie Brown, widow, George Brown and Emma Brown, his wife, Charles R. Brown and Flossie Brown, his wife, Edith Hansborough and Cortelyou Hansborough, her husband.
• Fairfax County Deed Book 1023, Page 24: May 7, 1952, 1.02 acres by condemnation of land of Henry H. Harris and Ella M. Harris, his wife.

Construction Records

• Three-room school designed by an architect employed by the Virginia State Board of Education
• Built by C. E. Nuckols of Richmond, Virginia
• School Board Meeting Contract Award: April 19, 1939 
• Contract Amount: $7,100

Educators

The following persons once taught at Louise Archer Elementary School.

• Louise R. Archer (Principal)
• Ruth S. Branch
• Catherine S. Butler
• Bettie Ingram Cooley
• Deloise M. Corbin
• Mary A. Cox
• Jean Wheeler Felton
• Annie M. Fortune
• Ethel H. Hall
• Channie Catlett Henderson
• Barbara J. Jackson
• Mary T. Jordan
• Ora Robinson Lawson
• Anna E. Lightfoot
• Mabel Thomas Mack
• Mary Laura McPhail
• Edmonia B. Motley
• Gloria Russell Moxley
• Ida W. Murchison
• Margaret Murrell
• Clara H. Peterson
• Addie Greene Pleasants
• Bladen Oswald Robinson (Principal)
• Ruth S. Robinson
• Isaac E. Street