John R. Hawkins High School

W. Franklin St.
Warrenton, NC

Mascot: Bulldog
Colors: Blue & White

John R. Hawkins High School was opened in 1924 for grades eight thru eleven. The first graduating class was in 1929 and the last graduating class was in 1969. When the school closed, all of the students moved to John Graham High School.

A 1935 report on educational opportunities for African-Americans in North Carolina contained the following note for Warren County:
“Two schools offer secondary work — the County Training School and the JR Hawkins High School at Warrenton. Each school serves, roughly, half of the county.”

Brief notes extracted from meeting minutes of the Warren County Board of Education:
- The gymnasium burned in 2003.
- The Warrenton Fire Department volunteered to burn down the rest of the school in 2005, but when they found asbestos in the glue under some floor tiles, that plan was scrapped.
- Bids were receivd for the demolition of the Hawkins High School building in January, 2006.
- At the same meeting, conditional approval was granted to donate bricks from the building to Hawkins Alumni and Friends, Inc.

In September, 2009, a commemorative sign was erected at the site of the former school. Here is a news article written about the unveiling.
And here is the Google Street View of the site taken sometime before the sign was erected. The site is now the home of the Warren County Senior Center and Warren New Tech High School.

———Links———

Here is a link to the John R. Hawkins High School alumni group on Facebook.

Hawkins High School has an active alumni association, the John R. Hawkins Alumni and Friends Inc.

The Hawkins High School Class of 1960 has a very nice website.

This link points to a page containing a newspaper article about Principal J. Estes Byers leaving Hawkins to take over West Cary High School.

Here’s our blog post about John Graham High School.

If you can add any information about John R. Hawkins High School, PLEASE leave a comment below. Thanks.

(click for Google Street View)

Littleton High School, Littleton, NC

Littleton High School

411 Mosby Avenue
Littleton, North Carolina
“The Little Town with the Big Heart”

Year opened: ????
Year closed: ????

nickname: Blue Jays
colors: Navy & White
 
 
Partial History of Schools in Littleton, NC

In 1849, Rev. Dr. William Hooper and his son-in-law, Prof. J. DeBerniere Hooper, opened a short-lived Family School for boys near Littleton.

In 1882, Littleton High School and Business Institute was opened. It lasted for quite a few years. In 1892, it had 5 instructors, 3 male and 2 female teaching 120 male students.

The Central Institute for Young Ladies in Littleton was incorporated in Warren Co. in 1883. In 1884 it had 6 teachers and 125 students.

Branson’s North Carolina Agricultural Almanac for 1890 lists Littleton High School (for boys) under Halifax Co. Schools. (The population of Littleton is listed as 350.)

Littleton High School was listed in the 1893 edition of the American College and Public School Directory.

The 1898 NC Biennial School Report lists Littleton Supplemental School, a one-room school in Halifax Co., but doesn’t list Littleton High School.

In 1907, an act was introduced in the NC Senate to authorize establishing a graded school in Littleton.

The 1909 Dept. of Agriculture list of agricultural schools lists the Central Academy in Littleton. (Is this the Central Institute for Young Ladies chartered in 1883?)

In 1922, Littleton High School in Warren Co. was listed as a “Group 2, Class A” school in the NC “accredited schools” report.

Alumni

There are about 200 Littleton High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Here are some Littleton High School 2008 Reunion photos from LittletonObserver.com.

Alumni Input
[This info was submitted by Taylor Hawkins, whose mother attended Littleton High School. Thanks, Taylor!]

The Littleton High School colors were Navy Blue & White and the mascot was the Blue Jay.

The school song was “Littleton Forever”:
Littleton forever,
Thy name we love;
Pride of our fathers
In this land of ours.
Come and join the chorus,
Proudly we’ll sing
Praises for Littleton,
Now let them begin to ring!…rah, rah, rah!

At one time the county line ran down the middle of the campus. The school building was in Warren County and the gym was in Halifax County. The historic Person’s Ordinary (on NC Historic Register) is on the campus grounds. George Washington spent the night in Person’s Ordinary.

The school building and auditorium are now home to the Lakeland Cultural Arts Center and the Mark E. Taylor Theater (community theater).

Please Help

If you have any photos, yearbook scans, corrections, memories, or additional info about Littleton High School, please leave a comment below. Your input will make this a much more useful and interesting page.

(click for Google Street View)

Warrenton High School, Warrenton, NC

Warrenton High School

N. Main St. at Ridgeway St.
Warrenton, NC
Warren County

nickname: Yellow Jackets
colors: Blue & Gold
 
 
History

Warrenton High School could trace its roots back to 1786, when Warrenton Academy was founded. The school operated continuously from that time, making WHS not only one of the oldest schools in North Carolina, but one of the oldest in the United States. As was common at that time, Warrenton Academy was probably operated in a house, church or one-room schoolhouse. In 1800, the school trustees raised funds to build a larger structure. (I couldn’t find a record of where this new building was located, but it is likely it was near Plummer Street.)

At some point between 1800 and 1818, the name was changed to Warrenton Male Academy, possibly to distinguish it from the Warrenton Female Academy. The girl’s academy was opened in 1808 by Jacob Mordecai, a former teacher at Warrenton Academy. The few records I could find indicate Warrenton Male Academy flourished all through the 1800′s. The Female Academy seems to have been extremely successful through the 1820′s, but a shortage of qualified teachers and increased competition from other academies seem to point to its demise in the 1830′s.

In 1885, the Fitts-Mordecai-Plummer house at 210 Plummer Street housed the first school named Warrenton High School. It was an African-American school devoted to training teachers and ministers. The name was changed to Shiloh Institute within a very few years.

Meanwhile, Professor John Graham had been operating a successful boy’s school in Ridgeway. In 1897 his school was destroyed by a fire. He then took over the Warrenton Male Academy, moving most of his old students to Warrenton. He renamed the academy Warrenton High School, but it was most frequently referred to as John Graham High School. He purchased the Somerville home to serve as a dormitory and dining hall.

Sometime around 1905, Prof. Graham opened Warrenton High School to girls and purchased the Fitts-Mordecai-Plummer house to serve as the girl’s dormitory. (The Shiloh Institute, who owned the house, moved its school to Norlina.) On the 1915-1916 list of schools recognized by the Commission on Accredited Schools of the Southern States, Warrenton High School is listed under “Private Schools”, with Prof. John Graham as the principal. A similar report in 1920 still listed Prof. Graham as the principal.

In the fall of 1969, the John R. Hawkins High School was closed and all Hawkins students were transferred to Graham High School. (See our blog post about John R. Hawkins High School.)

Oddly enough, I could find very few references to Warrenton High School (or John Graham High School) after 1920. The Warrenton High School building at the corner of Main & Ridgeway was designed by noted architect Christopher Sayre in 1922. The last graduating class at Warrenton High School was in 1981. I’m just assuming that in the fall of 1981, all students moved into the new Warren County High School. I didn’t find any information about what happened to the school building after 1981.

Athletics

I’m sure Warrenton had a long and successful athletics program. Hopefully an alumni will share some memories with us. The North Carolina High School Athletics Association keeps records for some sports back a hundred years, others just ten or fifteen years. According to their statistics, Warrenton High School made it into the State Finals three times. They lost all three games, but there are many NC high schools who wish they could say they were three-time State Runners-up.

Football
1961 – Lost to Windsor in the Class A State Finals, 15-14
1962 – Lost to Warsaw James Kenan in the Class A State Finals, 38-23

Basketball
1962 – Lost to Colfax in the Class A State Finals, 53-47

Alumni (plus one)

A Few Notable Graduates…
– Dr. Frank Porter Graham graduated around 1904. He became a US Senator and president of UNC.
– NC Rep. Philip Franklin Hanes graduated in 1907.
– US Sen. Herbert C. Bonner graduated in 1909.
– Robert B. House, the first Chancellor of UNC, graduated around 1910.

Good things must have been in the air in 1912 at Warrenton High School.
– NC State Senator Archibald Cree Gay graduated from Warrenton High School in 1912.
– NC State Representative Robert H. Rouse graduated from Warrenton High School in 1912.
– Franklin Wills Hancock, Jr., graduated from Warrenton High School 1912. He became a NC State Senator, State Representative, US Representative and US Senator.

Simon Terrell graduated around 1942. In 2006, he was inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame. Here’s part of his induction biography:
Terrell, born in Warrenton in 1924, was a three-sport star at John Graham High school. After a 3-year stint in the Merchant Marine, he was hired as an emergency teacher/coach at Warrenton. He guided the football team to the only undefeated season in school history; coached the girls and boys basketball teams to county championships and won the league title in baseball.
You can read the rest of Simon’s bio here.

Do you remember Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice? In the late 1940′s and early 1950′s he was a pretty good football player at UNC and for the Washington Redskins. He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. There’s a statue of him outside the Charlie Justice wing of the UNC athletic center. Anyway, he received his high school diploma from Warrenton High School even though he never attended a day of classes there. Charlie left Lee Edwards High School early to enlist during World War II. He finished his high school coursework in the Navy. When he was finishing up his All-American stint at UNC, it was discovered he didn’t have a high school diploma. Warrenton recognized free publicity when it saw it, so in 1950, Charlie walked down the aisle of Warrenton High School and received a high school diploma with the other graduates.

There were 43 graduates in the Class of 1940.
There were 199 graduates in the Class of 1976. All their names are listed in this 1976 Commencement Program from John Graham High School.

Links

The Sept. 3, 1951 issue of Life Magazine featured a pictorial on Warrenton’s Hospitality Weekend, a 3-day party for high school and college students on summer break.

Here’s a website about reunions, cruises and doings of the Class of ’76.

There are over 300 Graham High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Warrenton, NC has its own Facebook group.

Photos

Warrenton High School Class of 1911
Warrenton High School 1931 Women’s Basketball team
Warrenton, NC Courthouse & Confederate Monument
Recent photos of the Warrenton High School building

Groveling

I believe all the above is accurate, but some of it was assumptions on my part based on logic and darts. For example, the class of ’76 website is decorated with images of a stinging bug and they had gold(ish) and black table settings in their 30th reunion photos. And one guy had on a yellow shirt with black trim. Therefore WHS/JGHS became the Yellow and Black Yellowjackets according to me. (But some alert alumni have since corrected me. The colors were Blue & Gold. Was I right about Yellowjackets?)

If you have any corrections, memories, or additional info about WHS/JGHS, please leave a comment below.

Afterthoughts

Not being from the area, I knew nothing about Warrenton/John Graham when I researched the original post. Based on comments & emails I’ve received, it’s clear that everyone agrees the name of the school was John Graham High School. However, the original name was Warrenton High School. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association always refers to it as Warrenton High School in its record books. But, they do occasionally call it John Graham in Hall of Fame narratives and other correspondence. So, I have a theory; I’m hoping someone will do some research to confirm this.

My Theory of the Day: At some point, the name of the school was officially changed in honor of its founder, John Graham. Since there was already another Graham High School (in Graham, North Carolina), the NCHSAA continued to call it WHS to prevent confusion. Everywhere else I’ve seen it referred to as Warrenton High School (news articles, etc.), simply means “the high school in Warrenton.”

And all that probably means nothing to anybody but me. It just drives me crazy that I can’t figure out how one school can have two names. Then again, I’m still baffled about how a June bug can be fluorescent green in the South and brown in the North.

(click for Google Street View)

Rankin Elementary School, Greensboro, NC

Rankin High School

1511 Spry Street
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County

nickname: Rockets
colors: Garnet & Gold
 
 
 
Opened in 1924, Rankin School was built on land donated by J. “Al” Rankin. It housed grades 1-12 until the late 1950′s. The last graduating class from Rankin High School was in 1962. The site is now the home of Rankin Elementary School. Only the gym remains from the original Rankin High School.

In the 1950′s, Rankin played 6-player women’s basketball. 1960 Rankin alumni Ann Johnson still holds the NC State Records for most points in a season by a Freshman and by a Sophomore and is second on the list for her Junior year. She is second among the all-time career scoring leaders. She holds two of the top five records for single season scoring. In 1959, in two games against Ledford, she scored 72 points and 76 points. That same year, she scored 82 points against Nathaniel Green. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, she scored 82 again against Sumner.

Country singer Billy “Crash” Craddock got his nickname while playing on the football team at Rankin High School.

Herbert G. Waters (1895-1982) was the principal of Rankin for 36 years.

There are over 100 Rankin alumni on Classmates.com.

We would like to know more about Rankin High School.
When and how did it change from grades 1-12 to a high school?
Why was it closed in 1962?
What happened to the existing student body when it closed?
Who are some of its prominent alumni?
What happened to the building?

Please leave a comment below with any additional information you know about Rankin High School. Your fellow alumni will appreciate it.

(click for Google Street View)

Hallsboro School, Hallsboro, NC

Hallsboro and Columbus County From the 1948 Columbus County directory Hallsboro is one of the smaller wide-awake towns in the county. Site of a plywood plant, veneer mill and three lumber manufacturing plants, it boasts the largest industrial payroll in Columbus. Not an incorporated town. Near Lake Waccamaw, in prosperous farming area, with fine groves of pecans. Home of the oldest business establishment in the county. Served by the Columbus Telephone Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company. Situated on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company and U. S. Highway 74. Population about 500. Modern theatre recently completed. The same book reports that the white Hallsboro school had 627 students and 22 teachers, while the black Hallsboro school had 119 students and 4 teachers. Columbus County Schools cafeteria prices (1983-84) Lunch (K-8) $.75 Lunch (9-12) .90 Breakfast (full price) .50 Breakfast (reduced price) .30 Milk .20 ——————————————- Hallsboro High School 89 School Road Hallsboro, North Carolina 28442 mascot: Tigers colors: Blue & Gold I don’t know when Hallsboro High School opened. The oldest graduating class I could find referenced was in an obituary of a lady who graduated in 1926 (one of six graduates from Hallsboro School). T. Elbert Clemmons was born in Dec., 1905 and was in the first graduating class at Hallsboro High School. That would have him graduating between 1922 and 1924. (In 1963, Mr. Clemmons funded a library at HHS.) The last graduating class from Hallsboro High School was in 1992. That Fall, Hallsboro High School merged with Acme-Delco High School to form East Columbus High School. The facilities now house Hallsboro Middle School (grades 6-8). They maintained the Blue & Gold Tigers. Tidbits from the Wilmington News-Reporter index – Six classrooms were added at Hallsboro High in 1950. – In 1972, a fire destroyed the gymnasium. A new gym was completed in Dec, 1975. – There were 123 graduates in the Class of 1976. Extracts from the Columbus County Board of Commissioners meeting minutes – In a 1935 meeting, the commissioners filed a federal loan application for “Hallsboro School, located in Bogue Township, Columbus County, North Carolina, on present site and adjacent to present school building. This building to be of brick and frame construction containing three classrooms, library, two sanitary toilet rooms and septic tank, steam heat, electric lights, furniture and equipment. Total complete cost – $12,000.00″. – In a 1945 meeting, the commissioners approved selling bonds to build a new gym at Hallsboro, a new gym at Evergreen and “a new high school building or annex at the Old Dock-Nakina School”.

Hallsboro, NC photos on Flickr.com ——————————————- Downtown Hallsboro Looks like my kind of place. In Pierce’s window they’re selling hammocks and “Fresh Home Made Sausage”. ——————————————- There’s a bunch of old Columbus County photos in the Columbus County Schools archives

Athletics

There have been five Hallsboro High School athletes who have won of the Jiggs Powers Memorial Award as Columbus County’s Most Outstanding Athlete:
1960 – Norwood Long
1961 – Willis Council
1975 – Ronald Hobbs
1981 – Kay Baldwin-Pfeiffer
1993 – Toni Thurman

(Most of the following info came from the NC High School Athletics Association website. Some sports don’t carry stats back to Hallsboro’s beginnings.)

Men’s Basketball
– Hallsboro made two appearances in the Eastern Regional Basketball Tournament.
– In 1975, they were the Class AA State Runner-up (lost to Elm City, 95-68).

Football
– Between 1972 and 1992, Hallsboro made the state tournament 4 times, with their last appearance coming in 1983.
– In 1975 and 1976, the Hallsboro High football team won back-to-back East Waccamaw Conference championships.

Women’s Basketball
– In 1987, Hallsboro made it to the Eastern Regional Basketball Tournament.

Hallsboro basketball player, Toni Thurman, once scored 47 points in a 1989 win over Acme-Delco. A News-Reporter headline on Feb 23, 1989 said “Hallsboro High School’s Toni Thurman Can Break County Record For Most Points”. Does anybody know if she broke the record?
Toni played college ball at East Carolina University. She is still in fourth place in their record books for field goal accuracy, hitting 52.4% of her shots during her 4-year career.

Women’s Softball
– Hallsboro earned a berth to the Class A playoffs in 1987, 1988 and 1992.

Women’s Volleyball
– Between 1975 and 1991, the women made it to the Class A playoffs 5 times.

Baseball
– 1974 class AA baseball runner-up (lost to Sylva-Webster, 2 games to 1)
– 1975 class AA baseball champs coach Linwood Hedgepeth (defeated Sylva-Webster, 2 games to none)
– 1978 class AA baseball champs coach Linwood Hedgepeth (defeated East Davidson, 2 games to none)
– 1987 class A baseball champs coach Charles Sanderson (record 27-1) (defeated Hayesville, 2 games to none)
– 1988 class A baseball runner-up (lost to Hayesville, 2 games to 1)

Between 1980 & 1992, Hallsboro made it to the State Tournament 6 times. They played 22 tournament games, winning 16 of them. Their last appearance in the tournament was 1992.

Ron Williamson holds the state record for most consecutive innings pitched without allowing an earned run. In 1970, he pitched 91 straight scoreless innings.

Former Tiger baseball player, Brett Harwood, is now the head baseball coach at Whiteville High School (as of 2009-2010).

Linwood Hedgpeth was head baseball coach at Hallsboro High School from 1969 through 1979 (where he won 2 State Championships), and at Whiteville High School from 1980 through 1990 (where he won 3 State Championships). In 1989, Hedgpeth won an American Legion State Championship with a team composed of former Hallsboro players LaGrande Russell and Ricky Young, as well as several starters from Whiteville’s 1989 State Championship team.

During Hallsboro’s 27-1 1987 season, 2 pitchers had perfect records. LeGrande Russell was 13-0 and James Jones was 14-0.

LeGrande Russell, who played for Hallsboro from 1986-1988, was an all-around standout athlete.
As a batter:
– During his high school career, LeGrande collected 121 hits, 2nd most in NC state history at the time.
– In 1987, he was the MVP of the State Championship Series.
– In 1987-88, he set a new NC state record by hitting safely in 35 consecutive games.
– In 1988, he compiled a .514 batting average, 5th highest all-time in the state at the time.
As a pitcher:
– In 1988, he finished the season with an ERA of 0.35, and stands 12th in the all-time NC ERA standings.

Hallsboro Baseball Players Drafted by the Pros
Year, Team, Player
1968, Pittsburgh Pirates, Larry Barefoot
1970, Cincinnati Reds, Ronald Williamson
1992, Milwaukee Brewers, Anthony Pridgen
1993, Jacksonville (Seattle Mariners), LeGrande Russell

Miscellaneous Notes

In the UNC Oral History archives, there’s an entertaining 2002 interview with Frank Gault, 79-year old resident of Lake Waccamaw and graduate of “Bogue University”.

Complete sets of Kin’lin, Hallsboro High School’s local history publication, are available at the Whiteville and Lake Waccamaw libraries.

Heres an excerpt from the journal, The American Midland Naturalist
“On 18 February 1977 we learned that a large number of dormant bats were awakened by electrical workers in Hallsboro Elementary School, Hallsboro, Columbus Co. At our request Linwood Hedgepeth, a biology teacher at Hallsboro High School, sent us several specimans (NCSM 2542-2544), all of which were Tadarida. In a later telephone conversation Mr. Hedgepeth said that by conservative estimates there were 400-500 bats in the attic of the school, presumably all Tadarida.”

There’s an active Hallsboro alumni group on Facebook.

There are over 1,000 Hallsboro alumni on Classmates.com.

Other Blog Posts

Mr. Gates and the Marching Tiger band

A visit to the GATHER country store

A weekend at Lake Waccamaw / Hallsboro

A Little Bonus

I thought some alumni might enjoy this 1976 article. Enjoy it before the Star News finds out I stole it and makes me take it down.
(Wilmington, NC) STAR-NEWS June 5, 1976
Hallsboro High Has a Secret
By Jim Wilson
HALLSBORO – After three hours in a sweltering school gym, I am convinced of two things: air conditioning never is a waste of money and the future of America is in good hands

Last January it was my pleasure, as director of the Star News sponsored Golden Star Awards program, to honor Hallsboro High School students who had reached the Finals in the competition which begun with more than 5,000 eligible seniors throughout Coastalina.

Hallsboro, a small school by most standards, had 10 finalists That was more than any other school – large or small – had this year or at any time in the past.

Two of these finalists went on to become winners in their categories.

At the time, I expressed an interest in learning the secret of Hallsboro. So, on Senior Awards Night last week, I was invited to Hallsboro High to meet all of the seniors, the faculty, the staff members, parents and friends. And I went.

The evening was an unusual one. It was not graduation or anything formal – it was a night the students themselves had arranged and were presenting.

There were the usual awards and some very special awards.

In all there were 35 different categories of awards.

The sports trophies received considerable attention and applause.

I did not count after the first four or five, but there must have been at least a dozen standing ovations for students and teachers alike.

There were awards for farm projects and one young man received an award for home economics.

The Kin’Iin staff members took special honors, and well they should for their publication is something special itself.

Citizenship honors were bestowed. So were scholarships. And recognition for encouraging racial and ethnic harmony. Cheerleading trophies were presented and certificates for driving school buses and for perfect attendance.

It was a real gala. The theme was fun and recognition. There were a lot of laughs. A lot of hugs when awards were given and received. A lot of cheers and a lot of things to talk about.

After the ceremony, the youngsters and their guests repaired to the school library for a reception.

The punch was green, unspiked and delicious. So was the food, and the folks stood in line to get in.

All in all, it was like going home again, even though a Tar Heel writer gained a lot of fame saying you could not.

It was the Summer of ‘42 over again for me. I guess I had as good a time as any of the seniors.

When it came time for what was billed as a slide presentation of campus scenes, a lot of people moved to better seats. They should have known better. The slides were beautifully blank – filled in with wonderfully narrative and punchy lines delivered in a grand tongue-in-cheek manner.

Did I learn their secret?

Yes. I mentioned the subject to one teacher and she responded immediately that the secret, if there was one at all, was “That we love them.”

Yes, that is one ingredient. But not all of It. For the students love the teachers in turn, and they love each other as well.

If Hallsboro has a secret – and I think they do – it is that they have managed to encourage, to nourish, to foster a degree of self respect that is not found in many places in the year 1976.

If you respect yourself as an individual, it is the base for a lot of wonderful things. It means that you can see others as individuals, and respect them. Respect opens channels of communication and communication soon leads to understanding, knowledge, affection and love.

There are a lot of problems facing the Hallsboro High School and a lot of things going for it.

On the plus side, they are together for six years, thus building better friendships and school spirit.

Yet when we talk of racial or ethnic problems at schools, we usually refer to blacks and whites, but Hallsboro is tri-level, having blacks, whites and Indians.

What these people have done is a proud thing.

They have encouraged rural youth to be proud of their heritage. It’s not being country – it is being yourself and being proud of it. Reading Kin’lin shows that.

You would have a hard time finding a more rural school setting than Hallsboro, yet you also will find it equally difficult to find a better school climate.

I vote a Well Done Award to each graduating senior, to every faculty member, to all of the parents, and to the community which supports the school.

In fact, I had such a good time, I forgot about the non-airconditioning.

—————————————————————————————-
If you have additional information, corrections or memories about Hallsboro High School, please leave a comment below. Your fellow alumni will thank you for it.

West Edgecombe High School cafeteria circa 1950

West Edgecombe High School

6301 Nobles Mill Pond Road
Rocky Mount, NC

   (click image for Google Street View)

mascot: Wildcats
colors: Blue & White

West Edgecombe School opened in 1923 as a high school. Prior to 1923, any students who wanted to continue past 8th grade had to enroll in another school in the area. From 1928 through 1978, the school housed all 12 grades. SouthWest Edgecombe High School was supposed to open in the Fall of 1978, but construction wasn’t completed in time. West and South students attended the first semester in their old schools (but operated as SouthWest Edgecombe High School), then moved into the new SouthWest building for the second semester.

Much of the information below was gleaned from two sources:
- History of West Edgecombe Middle School on the Edgecombe County Schools website
- The book Edgecombe County: Along the Tar River By Monika S. Fleming

—- Significant Dates in West Edgecombe High School History —
1923 – A one-story West Edgecombe School was constructed to house high school grades
1928 – A two-story building was opened and elementary grades were consolidated into the school (Dixie, Pleasant Hill, Powell, Oakdale, Nobles Mill, Progress, Oak Grove, and Juvenile schools) making West Edgecombe the largest consolidated school in North Carolina.
1949 – A new gymnasium was added
1951 – A new primary building was added
1951 – Class A State Baseball Champions (defeated Madison, 8-5)
1953 – A new agriculture building was added
1962 – A new high school building was constructed
1969 – The gymnasium was remodeled and enlarged
1969 – G. W. Carver High School (Pinetops) was integrated into West Edgecombe High School (the last graduating class from Carver was 1971.)
1970 – Phillips High School (Battleboro) was integrated into West Edgecombe High School (the last graduating class from Phillips was 1972.)
1973 – State Basketball Champions (defeated Orrum, 50-46)
1976 – Advanced to the State Football Playoffs and won the first round before falling in the second round.
1978 – West Edgecombe High School and South Edgecombe High School were merged to create SouthWest Edgecombe High School.

Here’s where you Wildcat alumni can help. I have doubts about some of the info above. I’ve found reputable sources that state SouthWest opened in 1971, 1972, 1978 and 1979. That makes me wonder how accurate some of the other info is. For example, Carver High School was located in Pinetops, only a couple of miles from South Edgecombe High School. Why would they integrate with West? From the scant info I could find, I’m assuming the integration of Carver and Phillips into West in 1969 and 1970 was “freedom of school choice”, where the students could go to West if they wanted to, but it wasn’t required. But now I’m curious about what happened to the Carver and Phillips students when their schools closed in 1971 & 1972? None of the sources I found mentioned where they went. If you can straighten me out on all this, or make any corrections to the dates and info above, please leave a comment below.

West Edgecombe Baseball 1968

There are some old West Edgecombe photos online in the Charles S. Killebrew Collection at Braswell Memorial Library. They are mostly photos of the 1968 baseball and basketball teams, but there are other photos, too. (tip: Just type edgecombe in the search box.) The photo collection seems to only be available for online viewing during library hours.

There’s a West Edgecombe alumni group on Facebook.

There are over 500 West Edgecombe alumni on Classmates.com.

mascot: Whippets
colors: Maroon & Gray
Opened: 1911
Closed: 1963
 
 
A one-room log schoolhouse was opened in Bessemer, NC on Bessemer Ave. in 1900 with Walter Jones as its first principal. That original Bessemer School only housed the elementary grades. In 1911, a larger school was built on the same site and the number of grades were expanded to include all 12 grades. This was the beginning of Bessemer High School. It is likely that some of the dozens of one-room schoolhouses in Guilford County closed when Bessemer High School opened. Grades 1-3 were housed in one building, grades 4-8 in another, while grades 9-12 had their own building. At some point, grades 1-3 were moved into a new building on Huffine Mill Rd. and named Bessemer Primary School.

During the entire 52 year life of Bessemer High School, it only had three Principals. Professor W. E. Younts, a Guilford College graduate, was the first Principal and he served for 36 years until his retirement in 1947. William H. Cude was selected as the next Principal and he served until his death in 1962. (When Bessemer Primary School was opened, Mr. Cude’s wife was selected as its Principal.) Upon Mr. Cude’s death, Assistant Principal Robert L. Clendenin, a 1950 BHS grad, took over and served until the high school closed in 1963. (Here’s an excellent Interview with Bob Clendenin.) After the Bessemer High School students were merged with Page High School in 1963, Mr. Clendenin stayed on as Principal of Bessemer Junior High School, then later became the Principal at Page.

In 1957, the towns of Bessemer and Hamilton Lakes had successfully petitioned to be annexed into Greensboro. Even though Bessemer was then part of Greensboro, Bessemer schools continued to operate under the Guilford County school system. In 1963, the citizenry voted to move the school system from the Guilford County school system to Greensboro City Schools. This led to the merging of Bessemer High School into Page High School. (Greensboro City Schools then merged with Guilford County Schools in 1993.) Apparently, Bessemer continued as a Junior High until 1967 when it was merged into Aycock Junior High School. (If this is wrong, somebody please leave a comment below to correct me.)

Much of the above history came from Mr. Clendenin’s interview and this Bessemer School History.

At some point soon after the closing of Bessemer School, all of the buildings except the Gym were demolished and Erwin Elementary School (now Erwin Montessori) was built on the site. Here’s a Google Street View of what I believe may be the Bessemer High School gym. (Again, somebody please correct me if I’m wrong.)

The Bessemer High School sports teams were known as the Whippets. Whippets are sleek but muscular hunting dogs prized for their speed, power and agility.

Bessemer football players certainly lived up to the image. They were a powerhouse in 6-man football in the 1940′s, then continued the tradition after switching to an 11-player team in 1945. They were the North Carolina State Champions in 6-man football in 1941. In the 1950′s & 60′s, they made four trips to the State Finals game, but a second football State Championship eluded them. Still, being four time State Runners-Up is an accomplishment of which any school can be proud.
   1941 – 6-man State Champions   1953 – State Runner-up (lost to Massey Hill, 20-0)
   1954 – State Runner-up (lost to Edenton, 41-20)
   1958 – State Runner-up (lost to Williamston, 26-20)
   1962 – State Runner-Up (lost to Brevard, 19-13)

The Bessemer baseball team gave the school a going away present in 1963. The Whippets won the State Championship by defeating Chapel Hill, 5-2.

——— Odds and Ends ———–

State Representative Joseph T. Carruthers, Jr. graduated from Bessemer High School in 1925.

Bessemer High School graduated 50 seniors in 1950, 62 in 1953.

Here’s a link to the Bessemer High School Alumni group on Facebook.

There’s a Bessemer Jr. High group on Facebook, but I saw some BHS folks on there, too.

There are over 200 Bessemer High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Until it expires, you can read this interesting article about Bessemer: Humble Bessemer lives on in memories of school’s alumni.

If you grew up in Guilford County, you might find this post interesting: Old School: HS names from Guilford County’s past.

If you have memories of Bessemer High School, or you can add anything to this post, please leave a comment below.

Gibsonville High School was located in Gibsonville, NC. The town of Gibsonville was chartered in 1871 and is almost evenly split between Alamance and Guilford counties.

There are a bunch of Gibsonville photos on Flickr.com (all may not be Gibsonville, N. C.).

Here’s the website for the Town of Gibsonville.

Gibsonville High School

mascot: Yellow Jackets
colors: Gold & Black

————————————————————————
– See the info in the Comments section that sheds light on the questions I had when I wrote this.
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I wasn’t able to find a history of Gibsonville High School. I don’t know when it opened, but I found an obituary of a man who graduated from there in 1918. For most (all?) of its life, Gibsonville School housed all twelve grades. The only thing I could find about the school colors was somebody that described it as “that awful mustard yellow”. Since the other 9,999 schools with Yellow Jackets or Yellowjackets as their mascot have colors of Yellow & Black, I went with that for the colors.

Below is sort of a hodge-podge of information I found about Gibsonville High School. If you have more/better info, please leave us a comment. Better yet, I’m sure there’s an alumnus out there who could write a history of the school. Write it up and we’ll post it here!

A 1915 report of N.C schools shows Gibsonville with a white school-age population of 431 children, but only 275 were enrolled in school and the daily average attendance was only 216. The school had 6 white teachers and 2 black teachers (7 women, 1 man). The black children were apparently counted with the rural Guilford County schools. They showed a school-age population of 2,926 with 2,152 enrolled in school, but only 1,505 attended school on an average day.

A 1924 city map (large pdf) shows “Gibsonville Central School” on Church Street at Joyner and Gibsonville Colored School about 1000 feet northwest of the intersection of S. Railroad Ave. & Cayuga (off the map).

Around 1938, somebody took a movie camera and filmed people working, playing and attending school in Gibsonville. The 10-minute YouTube video shows the entire student body of Gibsonville School filing past for the camera. If you’re from Gibsonville, you should recognize places in the background.

A 1961 report states that Gibsonville School held 835 students in grades K-12 with 30 teachers.

 
The annual yearbook was called the YELL-O-JAK.
(May Memorial Library in Burlington has a collection of Gibsonville High School yearbooks.)

The last class graduated from Gibsonville High School in 1974. I couldn’t determine if the building continued to house elementary or middle school grades. Someone reported that the building was demolished in 2005 or 2006, but this is another place I got confused. This Google Street View of Gibsonville Elementary School looks very similar to the school in the 1938 movie. Am I confusing two different buildings?

There’s an active Gibsonville High School group on Facebook.

Everyone I saw on Facebook who had to change schools in 1974 graduated from Eastern Guilford High School. EGHS opened in 1974. Was it a replacement for Gibsonville? Did other schools consolidate with Gibsonville to form EGHS? (I saw a reference that said Guilford County, Greensboro and High Point schools were consolidated in 1992. How was that related to EGHS? Just curious.)

(This has nothing to do with Gibsonville High School, but Gibsonville alumni might find it interesting. Eastern Guilford High School was destroyed by fire in 2006. The students were split up by grades and attended classes in various locations for the remainder of 2006. From the Fall of 2006 through most of 2009, they attended school in a “pod village” which was a bunch of pre-fab buildings temporarily set up on the school grounds. Their new school building was finally ready in May of 2009 and students moved in when they returned from Spring Break. Here’s some photos taken during and after the fire.)

Gibsonville native Kay Yow (Class of ’60) was an all-state player at GHS, once scoring 52 points in a game. After college, she coached for 4 years at Allen Jay and one year at Gibsonville High School, posting a combined 92-27 record. Between 1975 and 2005, she coached over 1,000 games at NC State. She is enshrined in the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame, the Raleigh Hall of Fame, the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the national Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Kay died in January, 2009 after a long battle with breast cancer. Both of Kay’s parents had played basketball at Gibsonville. Both of her sisters were exceptional players for Gibsonville High School and went on to successful athletic careers. Debbie Yow was inducted into the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. Debbie coached at Kentucky and Florida before becoming the Athletic Director at the University of Maryland. Susan was a 2-time collegiate All-American, coached in the WNBA and has been a successful college head coach at several colleges.
Here’s the audio of an interview with Kay Yow.

Fred Wagoner (Class of ’40) was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame in 2008.

*********** Please share your knowledge of Gibsonville High School
*********** with our visitors by leaving a comment below.

End of a school day at South Edgecombe High School

South Edgecombe High School

Pinetops, NC

colors: Orange & Royal Blue
mascot: Flying Dragons

The South Edgecombe High School building on Pinetops-Crisp Rd. was built in 1926. In that year, the high school grades from ten Edgecombe County graded schools were consolidated into South Edgecombe. A gymnasium was added in 1934 and a major remodeling took place in the 1950′s. South Edgecombe graduated its last class in 1978 before merging with its rival school, West Edgecombe High School to form SouthWest Edgecombe High School, which opened during the 1978-1979 school year. Students attended the first semester at their old schools before moving to the new campus to begin the second semester, but operated as one school, SouthWest. The old South Edgecombe High School building was torn down and replaced by the new South Edgecombe Middle School.

———————————————————

South Edgecombe High School was the
1972 Class A State Basketball Champion,
defeating Broughton High School 54-51.

——————— Links ———————

You know your from Edgecombe County when…. (Facebook Group)

You might be from Ptops//Macc. or went to SWE/SE if… (Facebook Group)

Town of Pinetops website

Pinetops forum (discussions of current events)

There are over 500 South Edgecombe High School alumni on Classmates.com.

South Edgecombe Basketball 1968

There are some old South Edgecombe photos online in the Charles S. Killebrew Collection at Braswell Memorial Library. They are mostly photos of the 1968 baseball and basketball teams, but there are other photos, too. (tip: Just type edgecombe in the search box.) The photo collection seems to only be available for online viewing during library hours.

******** If you have additional info to share about South Edgecombe High School, please leave us a comment below.
(Thanks to Glenn Bass for providing much of this info about South Edgecombe High School.)

Gaston County Courthouse and Confederate Monument

Below are some of the closed high schools from Gaston County, North Carolina. Their histories are so intertwined, it seemed better to include them all in one page than to try to create separate pages for each. The dates were taken from old newspaper accounts, books and personal remembrances. If you find a wrong date or other inaccuracy, PLEASE, use the Comments area below to send us a correction.

We would also appreciate your stories, facts and memories of these schools or about growing up in Gaston County, NC.

Gaston Countians in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame
– Everette L. “Shu” Carlton – AD and football coach at Ashley and Ashbrook 1957-1972
– Chuck Clements – Gastonia High School football coach
– Clarence Moore – Highland High School football coach – won State Championships in three sports during his 40-year coaching career.

————- Links —————-

– Facebook page: Gaston County Tourism (Keep up to date with what’s going on in Gaston County)

– Facebook group: You Know You’re From North Carolina When…

– Facebook group: I Grew Up in Gastonia

– City of Gastonia website

– VintageGastonia.com (lots of old photos)

– Gaston County Historic Preservation Commission

High school reunion announcements are frequently posted in the Gaston Gazette

There are many books about Gastonia, NC at Amazon.com

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(click for Google Street View)

Ashley High School building today

Frank L. Ashley High School
800 South York Street
Gastonia, NC

mascot: Greenwave
colors: Kelly Green & White

Ashley High School alumni apparel

Ashley High School alumni on Facebook.

There are over 1,400 Ashley High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Ashley High School Class of ’57 website.

Ashley High School Class of ’59 website.

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(click for enlarged photo)

Aerial view of newly built Gastonia High School

Gastonia High School
800 South York Street
Gastonia, NC

mascot: Green Wave
colors: Kelly Green & White

Gastonia High School alumni apparel

There are over 600 Gastonia High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Gastonia High School photos at NCSU Digital Library.

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(click for Google Street View)

Central School building today

Central School
119 E. 2nd St.
Gastonia, NC

Central School photos at NCSU Digital Library.

Photo of the original Central School (that burned in 1913) in the book, Gastonia and Gaston County, North Carolina.

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(click for Google Street View)

Holbrook High School building today

Holbrook High School
418 South Church Street
Lowell, NC

mascot: Lions
colors: Red & White (?)

Holbrook High School alumni apparel

Holbrook High School alumni on Facebook.

There are over 300 Holbrook High School alumni on Classmates.com.

City of Lowell, NC website.

(Also see our other blog post about Holbrook High School.)

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(click for Google Street View)

Highland High School building today

Highland High School
1600 N Morris St
Gastonia, NC

mascot: Rams
colors: Royal & Gold (?)

The first PTA in Gaston County was formed at Highland High School.

Highland High School alumni apparel

Highland High School Alumni Assoc. on Facebook.

There are over 160 Highland High School alumni on Classmates.com.

Highland Junior High School alumni on Facebook.

Highland Tech home page.

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Gaston County Schools Timeline

1913	Central Graded School in Gastonia burned to the ground.
1915	The new Central School building was completed to replace the original one that burned. All twelve grades met in the same building.
1922	Construction began on Gastonia High School.
1924	Gastonia High School opened with an initial enrollment of 400 students.
1924	Central High School was closed and the students all transferred to the new Gastonia High School. Central became an elementary-only school.
1925	Gastonia High School defeated Sanford High School, 8-0, to win the North Carolina State Football Championship.
1926	Construction was completed on Gastonia High School. Designed by local architect Hugh White, Gastonia High School was built between 1922 & 1926 at a cost $500,000. It contained 29 classrooms, a swimming pool, pipe organ, 1600-seat auditorium, gymnasium and library and had a telephone in every classroom.
1929	Frank L. Ashley became principal of Gastonia High School.
1931	Highland High School lost to Raleigh Booker T. Washington High School, 6-0, in the State Football Championship game.
1934	Highland High School made it back to the State Football Championship game, this time losing to Henderson Institute, 32-13. Highland’s coach, Clarence Moore, is now in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame, having won State Championships in three sports during his 40-year coaching career.
1937	Lawrence “Crash” Davis led the 1937 Gastonia High School baseball team to the North Carolina State Championship. He went on to play in the majors for the Philadelphia Athletics, then finished his professional career in the minors. Among other teams, he played for the Durham Bulls and was the model for Kevin Costner’s role in the movie “Bull Durham”. Later, as Gastonia High School’s baseball coach, he led them to two more State Championships in 1953 & 1954. Read a tribute to his colorful life here: PhiladelphiaAthletics.org.
1942	Gastonia High School made it back to the State Football tournament, but lost, 12-6, to Greensboro High School in the Finals.
1945	Highland High School lost to Raleigh Booker T. Washington High School, 6-0, in the State Football Championship game.
1946	Gastonia High School won its second State Baseball Championship, defeating Wilmington High School, 3-1.
1946	Highland High School made it to the State Football Championship game in back-to-back years, this time emerging victorious over Raleigh Booker T. Washington High School, 7-6.
1947	Gastonia High School and Wilmington High School met again in the State Baseball Championship game. Gastonia won, 8-7.
1948	Gastonia High School won its fourth State Baseball Championship, demolishing Charles L. Coon High School, 18-0.
1949	Gastonia High School defeated Wilmington High School again to win its fifth State Baseball Championship.
1949	On Nov. 4, 1949, Gastonia High School faced Ashville High School in the very first football game played at Ashville’s brand new Memorial Stadium.
1949	Highland High School made its final appearance in a State Football Championship game, losing a heart-breaker to Raleigh Booker T. Washington High School, 2-0.
1949	The Highland High School Ramettes won the Girl’s Basketball State Championship. After high school, one of the Highland players, Gladys Thompson, married and had a son. Her son, James Worthy, became a legend at UNC and an NBA Hall of Famer. (There’s some good stuff about the Ramettes and the closing of Highland High School in the book “Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina” by Pamela Grundy. Portions of the book can be viewed on Google Books or it can be purchased at Amazon.com.)
1950	Gastonia High School won its sixth State Baseball Championship, defeating Wilson High School, 12-0.
1951	Gastonia High School continued its mastery of Wilmington High School by winning its seventh State Baseball Championship, 6-5.
1951	Highland High School won the NCHSAC Class AA State Baseball Championship. The star of the team was pitcher Milton Pharr. Pharr once won 20 consecutive games, currently 5th most in NC athletics history. He was also the Class of ’52 Valedictorian. (Milton Pharr’s 11/4/2009 obituary) Also on that team was Robert “Al” Montgomery. Al lettered in baseball, basketball & football at Highland and is in the NC Central University Athletic Hall of Fame. As head football coach at Second Ward High School, his team won the NC State Championship in 1964. (Al Montgomery’s 7/21/2008 obituary)
1953	Gastonia High School won its seventh consecutive State Baseball Championship by defeating Wilson High School, 9-7.
1954	Gastonia High School completed an amazing eight-year streak by defeating Wilmington High School to win its ninth State Baseball Championship.
1955	Gastonia High School made it to the Finals of the State Boy’s Basketball tournament, falling to Asheville High School, 61-52.
1955	The last graduating class from Gastonia High School.
1955	Gastonia High School was renamed Frank L. Ashley High School.
1955	Highland High School became the only Gaston County school to obtain membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
1958	The NCHSAA record book shows Gastonia High School as the 1958 State Baseball Champions (defeated Wilmington 5-4).
1967	Ashley Hgh School won the Class 4A State Basketball Championship by defeating Wilmington New Hanover, 51-44.
1968	Ashley High School was the runner-up in the Class 4A State Football Championship (falling to Wilson Fike High School, 21-7).
1968	Holbrook High School defeated Camp Lejuene High School to win the Class AA State Baseball Championship. Holbrook was led by Wilbur Howard, who went on to play Major League Baseball from 1973-1978, mostly with the Houston Astros.
1968	The last graduating class from Highland High School. The school became Highland Junior High School.
1968	Highland High School consolidated into Ashley High School.
1968	Gastonia City Schools, Bessemer City Schools and Cherryville City Schools consolidated, becoming Gaston County Schools.
1969	Holbrook High School fell to Hendersonville High School, 30-13, in the Finals of the Class AA State Football Championship.
1970	The last graduating class from Holbrook High School.
1970	The last graduating class from Frank L. Ashley High School. In the fall, the building became Ashley Junior High School.
1970	Holbrook High School consolidated with Ashley High School forming Ashbrook High School, located on South New Hope Road.
1983	The Gastonia High School building was registered with the National Register of Historic Places.
1987	Ashley Junior High School closed.
1990	The Ashley High School building was converted into Ashley Arms luxury apartments.
1994	The former gym of Ashley High School became the “Gem of Ashley” in 1994, with plans to add shops, dining and entertainment. It has since been renamed “The Loft at 245 West“.
1997	Gastonia Central Elementary School closed.
1999	The Highland High School building was registered with the National Register of Historic Places.
2000	Highland School of Technology opened in the old Highland High School building.
2001	Piedmont Community Charter School moved into the renovated Central Elementary School building.

PLEASE share what you know about Gaston County schools by leaving a comment below. Your fellow alumni and Gaston County residents will appreciate it.