a History of Lakewood Elementary

The Original Lakewood School

Originally an independent school called the Proctor School, it was incorporated to Durham County Schools when a new school building was constructed in the fall of 1908 on the current site of the Lakewood YMCA. This would have been a traditional 12 grade school. That building was later replaced by a more modern brick structure around 1920, which eventually succumbed to a roof cave-in during a blizzard on March 2nd, 1960. The school was then relocated away from the increasingly busy Chapel Hill Road to the current site on Vesson Ave, where construction was completed in 1962. At that point it was finally renamed to Lakewood Elementary School.

School Building Photos

Historical Newspaper Articles