Carpenter Schools

Built after the turn of the 20th century, Carpenter School No. 1 in Natchez, Mississippi, was one of three buildings built and donated to the city by the city's philanthropic Carpenter family (see below) for public schools in Natchez. Besides the three schools, the family built and then donated many other structures to the city, and the Natchez-Adams School District and George W. Armstrong Public Library still benefit from a Carpenter trust fund, she said. A $2.1 million restoration of Carpenter No. 1 in 2000 was financed through a partnership with the city, the county, United Mississippi Bank, the Natchez Council on Aging, local investors and out-of-town investors and developers. Carpenter No. 1 had been left largely unused since the 1980s and had become a storage site for the school district. Associated Charities also used the building for a time. It took crews several weeks to clean and "gut" the building's interior, a tedious process that cost almost $250,000. Because the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the exterior of the building was not altered by the restoration. The restoration of Carpenter No. 1 rounded out the city's initiative begun by a former mayor to restore and adapt large, unused municipal properties. Source: Natchez Democrat Staff: "Carpenter School apartments on track for fall completion", published Thursday, December 7, 2000.[1] A postcard in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History's Cooper Postcard Collection showing the school, "Carpenter Memorial School, No. 2 and Agnes Z. Carpenter Library, Natchez, Miss., Natchez, Mississippi, Adams County, 19--", is online at the department's website.[2]

The Carpenter family in Natchez descends from Nathaniel L. Carpenter, who was born 18 Nov 1805 at Randolph, Vermont, a descendant of the Rehoboth Carpenter family. Nathaniel L. Carpenter was raised and educated in Lancaster, New York, and went into the stage and hotel business there. In 1833 he journeyed to Natchez, Mississippi, and began a career as a builder. He left Natchez in 1834 and went first to St. Louis, Missouri, then to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1835. He returned to Natchez about 1838 and settled permanently, becoming owner of a line of steamboats and successful in the cotton trade and many other private and public interests. He married in 1837 at Buffalo, New York, to Miss Julia Ann Luce. He led a very full life, traveling throughout the United States, Europe, and the South Pacific islands. He owned the Myrtle Terrace [3] town home in Natchez, and Dunleith plantation near Natchez, both of which are on the annual Natchez historical pilgrimage tours. During the Civil War, he counseled neutrality, but both of his sons joined the Confederacy -- Allen D. Carpenter served in the Natchez Rifles and Joseph N. Carpenter in the Breckinridge Guards. Julia Ann (Luce) Carpenter died on 1 May 1871, and Nathaniel L. Carpenter died on 23 Dec 1892. Descendants have continued to live in Natchez.