Constructed in an unexpected Italian Renaissance style for a Southern mill town, Lando School was built for the children of mill workers in 1904-5.
Architecturally, the school is a blend of history and craftsmanship. The first floor of the school held three classrooms with 12′ high ceilings, a five foot wide stairwell, and a coal room under the stairs. The floors are tongue and groove hardwoods throughout with plaster walls.
The second floor held the auditorium with a sliding divider used to partition two classrooms, when needed. That space measured 32′ x 32′ with 20′ high ceilings, extending to incorporate the six level balcony seating on the shortened third floor.
The building featured double-hung, eight-over-eight windows on the first two floors, and eight-pane round and eight-pane single-hung windows on the attic story. There were no bathrooms and it was heated with coal and wood burning stoves.
Once a thriving hub, Manetta Mill employed 2,000 workers and reigned as the world’s largest blanket producer until its closure in 1991. The school, however, closed its doors in 1955, leaving behind a legacy etched in stucco, pressed metal shingles, belt coursing, and corbelling.
Today, Lando is a crumbling and vandalized hint of its former self, with the school now the most prominent remnant of the village’s economic prosperity. The mill may be gone, but the school’s enduring presence keeps the community’s story alive. Lando’s population has dwindled to a handful, and the remaining mill houses stand as weathered relics of the past.
It is listed on the South Carolina National Historic Registry. The dates of the black and white photos of the school are unknown.
