The Rebirth of the Franklin Street School – Part II

When the Franklin Street School was built, it was surrounded by Cape May’s municipal center: the firehouse, Lafayette Street School, Cape May High School – now City Hall – and several churches. Now, it stands as the new location of the Cape May City Library, still sharing space with those civic institutions and other buildings significant to this city’s history.

Across the street is Allen AME Church, built in 1888, and soon to become East Lynne Theater Company’s new home and a community center. The church was founded by a group that included Black abolitionist Stephen Smith, whose summer house stands around the corner on Lafayette Street. Across from his house are condo apartments in a building still known by locals as “the yellow church” which until about 20 years ago held a congregation of African American Methodists. Also on Lafayette Street is Macedonia Baptist Church, which has a primarily Black congregation, and which owned the land on which the school was built. 

The former Franklin Street School building opened as the new Cape May City library on June 13, 2024, marking the first official day of its new life. 

Book Brigade and Cape May Library Opening Ceremony

Forty-two years ago, the community gathered for a ceremonial transition into a new library location at 110 Ocean Street, which had formerly operated as a Bell Telephone switching station. To pay homage to this 1982 Cape May “Book Brigade,” on June 13th a similar event took place to welcome the new library. Hand by hand, about 100 books were passed down the line of a human chain from the 110 Ocean Street Library to 720 Franklin Street, stocking the freshly built shelves of the new Franklin Street Library. 

Following the ritualistic book passing, an opening ceremony and ribbon cutting celebrated a multitude of accomplishments; the library opening just scratching the surface of this building’s significance. There was a protracted fight to save this building that had previously served as a segregated elementary school. And there is no better way to commemorate its daunting and consequential history than to restore its bones and purpose to serve all members of the community.

A striking number of players throughout the process of saving and restoring this cherished structure proudly gathered at this ceremony to relish their hard work and commitment. Over a thousand people came out for the ceremony.

Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock spoke powerfully, articulating the project’s process and encapsulating its significance. “So today here we stand on Franklin Street. We celebrate not only the preservation of this beautiful and historic building, the power of community and action, and the remembrance of the importance of our Civil Rights, but together, with the opening of this library, we buttress the very foundation of our democracy—extolling our greatest virtues: a nation born of ideas, freedoms fashioned out of knowledge, and opportunity molded from the clay of wisdom.”

A Founding Mother of the Center for Community Arts, Caroline Peterson, said “[This day of dedication was] truly significant in the long history towards restoration of this historic school building which survived disregard for so long, and now will illuminate the island along with the essential brilliance of the African American community experience which has and continues to be revealed.”

Architect Michael Calafati reflected on the day: “It was a very happy day. A part of me was poured into this building. And it wasn’t just me; the county, the city, all the participants put a lot into it.”

Once speeches concluded and the ribbon was cut, officially opening the doors of the library to the public, the crowd entered the building to explore. The building’s interior widened the collective eyes of the community. A particularly meaningful design element is the wall that once separated the Franklin Street School from the gymnasium, preventing access by the African American school children.

Mayor Zack Mullock stated: “On December 15, 2022, former Franklin Street School student Emily Dempsey ceremoniously swung the first hammer strike to break down the wall between the segregated school and the gymnasium. With that powerful blow, the reclamation project began, and when you’re inside, please see the rough edges of that wall now enclosed in glass. It is a prevailing and important relic framed forever in time, an artifact that mourns the unforgivable places we’ve been as a country and, more powerfully, the heights to which we can still chart as a people, a nation, a community, a city.” 

Plenty to Offer

The increased space and modern amenities make this new library a valuable hub for knowledge and opportunity. Public access to a plethora of resources allows children, youth, students, and adults alike to thrive in a place conducive to learning and growing. 

Nena Wise, Cape May library branch manager of seven years, has worked with the county library system for 18 years, and discussed the abundance of programs and services with us. The library has incorporated new technology via the large wall-mounted flat screens that run advertisements about all library hosted events. There are smaller touch screens on stands that act as computerized card catalogs with all the library items listed, from books to audio books, DVDs, video games, and more. There is Wi-Fi available and the ability to print, scan, fax, and copy. 

Because this new location has expanded, the building’s layout allows for many rooms designated for different functions and groups of people. “There is a computer room with a charging station, a study room on a first-come first-serve basis for up to three people, whether school or family related,” Nena explained. “Then a whole other room that acts just as a space for teens; a reading room with magazines, newspapers, and plenty of outlets and computers; and there is of course a children’s area.”

The breakout rooms create an environment that promotes peaceful productivity, where people of all ages can feel safe and fully focused. The weekly library-funded events include an exercise program, kids’ story hour with Miss Anita (DeSatnik, who continues a four-generation legacy), and craft workshops. To garner more involvement with teens, they are developing new programs targeted at positive exposure for local youth. They also work with the Manhattan Short Film Festival to screen short films, with voting on personal favorites. In the works is a kitchen in the basement for interactive and demonstration cooking classes. Stay tuned as library staff continue to enhance and broaden services for what appears to be an operation with limitless potential. 

The Center for Community Arts, which began because a few women wanted a safe place for children, now occupies what was the kindergarten classroom of the Franklin Street School. It is furnished with brand new desks and cabinets for the first time in the organization’s history. CCA functioned with donated hand-me-downs and borrowed space since its beginning.

Rachel Dolhanczyk, CCA’s Director of Community History Programs, spoke of this transition. “For nearly 30 years, CCA’s History Committee has been collecting and documenting Cape May’s African American history. In the early years, committee members and other volunteers conducted interviews in private homes, recording stories on cassette tapes. We gratefully accepted donations of photographs and treasured objects from the people we talked to. Most of them are no longer with us, which makes those oral history interviews extremely valuable. While the committee has always worked to share this history through exhibits, tours, and a book, we now have a home for the archives with proper storage and climate control to ensure its preservation. Plus, it’s a beautiful place to do research. The school reminds us of segregation, but today this history and the archives are accessible to all.”

A New Beginning

As he grew up in Cape May, Mayor Zack Mullock saw Franklin Street School as a building that was boarded up in front, but open in the rear gymnasium for exercise classes. “I always wondered, is this gonna fall apart and eventually be demolished?” 

Now he looks at it and sees shiny windows, steam-cleaned bricks, and a bright interior. “I have three kids, all of whom love to go to the library,” Mayor Mullock says. “It’s a full-circle moment for me. I remember going to Reading with Miss Anita when I was a kid, and then our kids went. When I go in there it reminds me of a community center. It’s now a gathering place where people really want to be.”

He continued. “There’s a lot of towns that have great beaches. There’s a lot of towns that have good shopping. There’s a lot of towns with good lodging, and a lot of towns with wonderful food and dining. Add all that together and add our arts and culture and history, and that’s Cape May. The arts, culture, and preservation are the most important. The wonderful thing about the project: it will preserve that building for so many years to come. But in other ways it’s kind of a start of something that Cape May lacked, which is to celebrate intellectualism.”

When the building’s interior renovations began, workers left the lights on all night. Even in those early days, the building seemed to expand, to begin to breathe again. 

Nearly 30 years after its significance was acknowledged, Franklin Street School lives with the breaths of its occupants. It also breathes with the souls and memories of the children who came through here to learn in segregated classes, and of their teachers who gave them more than simple academics.

Their work and the promise of a better future continues.