Brookwood co-founders Shepherd and Laura Heery attended E. Rivers Elementary School in the 1960s. The building at that time was actually the second incarnation of the E. Rivers Elementary School.

The original structure was built in 1917 and was destroyed by fire in 1948.

Due to increasing student enrollment, the second incarnation of the school was demolished and replaced in 2014 with a third school building. Brookwood Johnson served as Program Manager, with Danillo Gutlay serving as the lead executive managing the overall design and construction process on behalf of Atlanta Public Schools.

The new building is 112,000 square feet in three stories, occupying the same site that has served the community for more than a century.