Loading...
Schools 1790's to 1920'sIndian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Schools, 1790s —1920s 1 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cokesbury School The first school of which there is a recorded account was the Cokesbury School, founded in 1793, east of Advance. It was the first Methodist school in North Carolina. 2 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cokesbury School - Drawing This is an artist's conception of the building based on an original written description. No longer a school, it was being used for a church in 1799. Foundation stones remain to mark the site. 3 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/His1oryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Peter Stuart Ney School Book In 1823 a mysterious man, Peter Stuart Ney, came to Davie County to teach school. This is his signature (top left) and his handwriting in an old school book. He claimed to be Napoleon's famous general and Marshall of the French armies, and there is evidence that he was. There is also evidence that he was an imposter, a Scotsman. Much research by well-known scholars has failed to solve the mystery. 4 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/]0 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Mocksville Academy Until free public schools were established by North Carolina law in 1839, only private academies, charging tuition, were available, and only children, whose parents were able to pay, went to school. The Mocksville Academy, chartered in 1826, still stands on Salisbury Street. It is believed that Peter Stuart Ney taught at this academy. Several academies in the county continued to function after free public schools were begun. Some academy terms were as long as ten months. 5 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Hodges Business College In the early 1890s J. D. Hodges built a school across from Concord Methodist Church known as Hodges' Business College. Major emphasis was on business courses for older boys. He conducted the school several years until about 1910. In 1895 the five-month term cost $45.00, including tuition, board, room, and laundry. Pupils boarded at nearby homes. Completely restored, it is now a private residence. A school, Augusta Seminary, financed by local citizens for students' higher education, functioned at the Concord Church site from 1888 to 1897. Bought by the NC yearly Meetings of Friends (Quakers), it functioned as a combination church and school from 1897 to about 1900. *Read the interesting original descriptions and information about the several 6 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads fi1e:///X:/HistoryRoom/l0 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.httn academies reprinted in the History of Davie County and note the contrast with today's schools. 7 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistotyRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm } 1839 School Vote Free tax -supported public schools began in Davie County in 1839. That year Davie County citizens voted 364 to 73 - a five to one majority - in favor of free tax -supported public schools. Free public school terms were two to three months in mid -winter, when children were not needed on the farm. Approximately one half of the eligible white boys and girls, ages 6 to 21 years, attended school in 1860. State law prohibited teaching slave children to read and write, though it was sometimes done privately. Few schools functioned during the Civil War, but by 1870 schools were open again, and there were schools for African-American students also. 8 of 26 1/24/2018,10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cana School The Cana School, built about 1895, was one of the larger and better public schools. Note the roofed but open arbor at the rear used primarily for commencement exercises. Commencement exercises at the end of the year were a very important part of the school term and often lasted as long as three days. 9 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Sixty-two Schools in the County When schoolhouses similar to this one were built about 1900, there were 62 schools in the county, most with one or two teachers. About one-half were still log buildings. Of these 62 schools, 17 were for African-American children. School terms for all children were three to four months. However, students who could pay went to school additional months; this was known as "subscription schooling." 10 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cedar Creek School This was Cedar Creek School near Farmington for African-American children. 11 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm School Parade A parade by school children in the early 1900s. 12 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm School Buses About 1925 Hard seats, no heaters, on rough dirt roads — but it was certainly better than walking. In the early buses the seats were arranged lengthwise. Often, to go to school, children had to walk several miles in all sorts of weather. Creeks and small streams were crossed on partially flattened logs laid over the water. When roads were extremely muddy, overshoes were tied on with a string at the heel. Photo: Davie Country Heritage School Dress — 1920s Note the clothes worn by the students. 13 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads Photo: Davie Country Heritage file:///X:/HistoryRoom/IO - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm 14 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cooleemee Graded School The school built by the Erwin Mills Co. at Cooleemee in 1903 was the first graded school in the county. This means pupils were separated into grades. It was the finest school building in the county at that time. 15 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Mocksville Graded School The Mocksville School on Cherry Street, a "graded school," was built with town bond money in 1911. It was the first brick public school building in the county. This building with a temporary frame building accommodated grades one through eleven until the mid -1920s when the Mocksville High School was built on North Main Street. This building also housed the upper elementary grades. With some added classrooms and a lunchroom, the school on Cherry Street continued to be used for classes until the Mocksville Elementary School opened in 1971. Today it houses the administrative offices for the Davie County Schools. 16 of 26 1/24/2018,10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/IO - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm In the very early 1900s several of the county school "districts" voted special taxes for a six-month school term, but most of the county's schools were open only four months. Statewide compulsory attendance began in 1908. The early 1920s saw a surge of consolidation of small one- and two -teacher schools into larger schools, grades one through eleven, with eight-month terms and some with school bus transportation. Advancements in education in North Carolina between 1939 and 1944 included rental and free textbooks, a nine-month school term, and the twelfth grade. The following 1920s -consolidated high schools (excepting Smith Grove High School which had been merged with Farmington) continued until the Davie County High School opened in 1956. Your grandparents may have attended one of these schools. 17 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Farmington Elementary and High School 18 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Smith Grove Elementary and High School 19 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Cooleemee Elementary and High School 20 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Shady Grove Elementary and High School 21 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Mocksville Elementary and High School 22 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Davie County Training School In 1926 the Davie County Training School for African- American students was built to replace an old frame schoolhouse near the depot. This rear entrance was part of the original building. This old structure, no longer usable, was recently torn down. 23 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Central Davie Elementary and High School Davie County Training School with two additional buildings was later Central Davie Elementary and High School, then Mocksville Middle School, then again Central Davie Elementary, and is now Central Davie. The facilities are now used for offices, meetings, and special student programs. 24 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/HistoryRoom/10 - Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Farmington Gymnasium - 1930s This frame gymnasium at the former Farmington School site and a similar one at Mocksville were built about 1930 to replace the outdoor dirt basketball courts and small make -shift courts on the stages of auditoriums. 25 of 26 1/24/2018,10:08 AM Indian Arrowheads file:///X:/I-IistoryRoom/10 -Schools, 1790s - 1920s Rev.htm Farmington Gym Heating System Four large coal -burning stoves comprised the gym heating system. 26 of 26 1/24/2018, 10:08 AM