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Ellerbe High School — Ellerbe, North Carolina

Posted by DaveSanders | North Carolina | Posted on December 17th, 2009

Ellerbe, North Carolina
Population: 1,000+
Richmond County

Ellerbe went through several name changes, from Scottish Fairgrounds, to Hurricane, to Fairgrounds. It was incorporated as Ellerbe in 1911 when the railroad came to town. W. T. Ellerbe had built a resort town around natural springs which were said to have healing powers.

Here are some great Ellerbe, NC photos from flickr user matt.wagers.

This website has a good History of Ellerbe, NC. It’s the Ellerbe, NC website, so look around. It contains a lot of interesting stuff about Ellerbe.

These two interviews with Chief Justice Henry Frye contain a glimpse of Ellerbe, NC in the 1940′s.
- Oral Histories of the American South
- Interview with Henry Frye, Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court

Ellerbe, NC Facebook group: I Grew Up in Ellerbe, NC

Ellerbe, NC area links:
- Ellerbe Springs Inn & Restaurant
- The Rankin Museum of American and Natural History

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Ellerbe High School

128 W Ballard Street
Ellerbe, NC 28338

mascot: Wildcats
colors: Burgundy & Gold

There are about 200 Ellerbe High School alumni signed up at Classmates.com.

Here’s a Google satellite view of Ellerbe Junior High School on Ballard Street.

Dates in Ellerbe High School history:
- 1925 – Norman consolidated into Ellerbe
- 1928 – Gibson Mill consolidated into Ellerbe
- 1967 – (According to the History of Ellerbe, NC cited above) Hamlet City Schools, Rockingham City Schools, and Richmond County Schools (including Ellerbe) were consolidated.
- 1972 – Ellerbe High School was closed. The students moved into the new Richmond Senior High School. The Ellerbe High School building became Ellerbe Junior High School.

Richmond Senior High School was formed by merging Ellerbe, Hamlet, Rockingham, and Rohanen High Schools.

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Miscellaneous notes about Ellerbe High School

An old newspaper article about Ruth Merritt says “In the 1930′s she taught at Ellerbe High School, then famed as a model progressive school under Principal Richard F. Little.”

Here’s a great web page about the first year of the Richmond Marching Raider Band.

We found a 1951 article about Ellerbe High School playing in a 6-man football league. A later mention says they played as an 8-man team.

The 1918 Annual School Report to the North Carolina State Inspector of Public High Schools contains this entry:
Richmond County
Principal O. G. Reynolds, Ellerbe High School:
We have voted since last year $12,000 worth of bonds for the purpose of erecting a brick schoolhouse, which we hope to have built this year.
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