Forsyth County to open renovated Matt Schoolhouse Community Building May 12

Forsyth County will open the rebuilt Matt Schoolhouse Community Building with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. May 12, unveiling a $2.6 million public investment meant to serve northwest Forsyth County as a voting site, county office space and community center at 5710 Namon Wallace Road.

The renovated 8,100-square-foot building will house Forsyth County Parks & Recreation’s Therapeutic Recreation programming, offices for the Department of Recycling & Solid Waste, space for future elections and rooms for community meetings and events. County leaders say the project is designed to make the site useful every day, not just on special occasions.

The county bought the building in 2021 and completed safety work, including asbestos and mold abatement, before beginning the main renovation in 2025. The project added a new roof, modern bathrooms, a new kitchen, new office space and updated community areas that can support voting, meetings and private gatherings.

District 4 Commissioner Mendy Moore said the schoolhouse remains a recognizable landmark in the Matt community and will stay active for generations. County Manager David McKee said the project fills a long-running need in the area for both a polling place and a community center, while also creating daily value by putting county staff on site.

The ribbon cutting will also draw attention to how the old school shaped the area around it. Forsyth County says the original Matt Schoolhouse was built in the 1940s and once served 75 local students. Matt Elementary says the Matt community was named after Matison Martin, and the original school carried that local history forward for decades.

That earlier school was far more modest than the restored building now standing on Namon Wallace Road. Matt Elementary describes classrooms with multiple grades, slab benches around an open fireplace and drinking water drawn from a nearby spring. The county’s renovation keeps the structure in public use while preserving its place in the Matt area’s memory.

The project also follows earlier procurement work tied to Phase 1 renovation, including a county bid posted in 2021 for selective demolition, exterior metal doors, structural work and mechanical and electrical upgrades. Forsyth County later proposed the Matt Schoolhouse Community Building as the polling place for the new Matt precinct, part of broader precinct and polling place changes tied to 2026 voting.

When the doors open, the building will function as both a restored landmark and a working piece of county infrastructure, linking a 1940s schoolhouse to the practical needs of northwest Forsyth today.