Enfield High School — Enfield, North Carolina
Posted by DaveSanders | North Carolina | Posted on December 23rd, 2009
Enfield High School
(click to enlarge)Enfield, NC
Halifax County
Population: approx. 2,300
Established in 1740, Enfield is the oldest town in Halifax County (from Town of Enfield website).
Links
– Six Degrees of Enfield, NC Separation on Facebook
– Enfield alumni at Classmates.com
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Enfield High School
mascot: Cougars
colors: Red, Royal Blue, White
The school always enjoyed community support. The Rotary Club provided funds for the band to participate in parades and competitions. The Levon Theater allowed concerts to be held there.
The Enfield boy’s basketball team made it into the Regional Finals in 1981 before falling to eventual state champion Bunn High School.
Enfield timeline (extracted from the nomination form for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places)
| 1825 |
– Enfield Academy opened. |
| 1839 |
– Enfield Free School opened. |
| 18811888 |
– Halifax County built 17 public schools. |
| 1895 |
– The Brick School was opened (grades 1-12). (see description from 1898) |
| 1901 |
– Enfield Graded School opened (a one-story frame building, grades 1-12). |
| 1917 |
 – A two-story brick building replaced the original Enfield Graded School. (click image to enlarge) |
| 1933 |
– The Enfield School District and Halifax County School District merged. |
| 1948 |
– Construction was begun on a new Enfield Graded School at the end of Branch St. |
| 1950 |
– New Enfield Graded School was opened. Classes began in Sept. |
| 1951 |
– Brick gymnasium was added to Enfield Graded School.
– The Inborden School was opened (grades 1-12). |
| 1952 |
– Concrete block agricultural building was added to Enfield Graded School. The roof was built by the Voc-ed students. |
| 1953 |
– A one-story addition was added to the rear of the gymnasium at Enfield Graded School. It was used for music, lunch and storage. |
| 1964 |
– Enfield schools were integrated. In theory, students were allowed to choose which school to attend. |
| 1968 |
– The Inborden School became an Elementary School.
– Enfield Graded School became Enfield High School. |
| 1970 |
– Metal building was added to Enfield High School for use by the music dept. and for storage. |
| 1981 |
– [from EHS alum Lance Scott] – “Beginning of the 1981-1982 school year (my senior year) all of Enfield High School and Scotland Neck High School and part of Eastman High was consolidated into Southeast Halifax High School. The other part of Eastman High School went to Northwest High School. So, instead of having four high schools in Halifax County, we now have two.”
– Enfield High School became Enfield Middle School (grades 7-9) |
| 1983 |
– [from EHS alum Willie Ray Hawkins] – “1983-1984 school year: Enfield Middle grades changed to 6th thru 8th;
Southeast Halifax High and Northwest High School grades changed to 9 -12.” |
| 2007 |
– Enfield Middle School and Inborder Elementary School were closed in December. |
| 2008 |
– A new consolidated Elementary School opened in January on Hwy. 481. |
| 2009 |
– Plans were being discussed to convert Enfield High School’s main building and agricultural building into housing for seniors. |
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We would like to know more about Enfield High School. Please leave your comments below.
Actually, the 1982 information is not accurate. Beginning of the 1981-1982 school year (my senior year) all of Enfield High School and Scotland Neck High School and part of Eastman High was consolidated in to Southeast Halifax High School. The other part of Eastman High School went to Northwest High School. So, instead of having four high schools in Halifax County, we now have two.
Thanks, Lance. I’ve included your updates in the post.
The conversion of the schoo to apartments for seniors is a reality. Does anyone have pictures of the interior of the school from years ago? These are needed for the restoration of the building. It is on the national historic register.
Good News: Go to Google image search and type this: enfield site:www.braswell-library.org
There are a handful of images that appear to be taken inside Enfield High School.
Bad News: You can’t see the full-size images. Braswell Library has abandoned its project of digitizing Charles Killebrew’s photos, so they are no longer available online. The thumbnails on Google’s search results may only be available until they clear the cache.
More news: It seems like maybe the full-sized images are available online from Braswell Library during their normal operating hours.
1981-1982 school year: Enfield High School became Enfield Middle School (With grades 7-9).
Southeast Halifax High and Northwest High School grades were 10-12.
1983-1984 school year: Enfield Middle grades changed to 6th thru 8th.
Southeast Halifax High and Northwest High School grades changed to 9 -12.
I went to Enfield Middle as an 9th grader during the 1981 – 1982 school year. We were the last 8th grade class to graduate from Inborden Elementary School and the first 9th grade class to graduate from Enfield Middle.
Thanks, Willie. I have updated the timeline with your info.
This is very interesting to me…Love it. I came to EHS in 1969 as a math teacher, Boys & Girls Basketball coach. We won MANY championships during my tenure as coach (1970-1981) The 1972 Boys team was 21-4. Bernard Vaughan was 1st team All-State. I was Coach-of-the-Year (done 13 times in my career). The 1978 girls team was 20-2. Paula Nicholson was All-State. The 1975 boys team was 21-4. Robert Knight was all-everything. Jesse Hilton in 1977 was 1st team All State in Basketball, baseball, football, and track. He went to ECU. I became Assistant Principal in 1977. I came back to Enfield Middle as Principal in 1987-88. I was named Principal-of-the-Year and we were named as the #1 middle school by the NC league of Middle Schools. Principals there included Michael Williams, Jeter Taylor, Linwood Simpson, Jerry Carter. I was Principal 1987-1994. I’ll be glad to provide more info and pics. I have a ton (I actually worked in that building for 22 years).
Coach, I thought I had replied to you, but I guess not (oops, sorry). Thanks for your comments. I know I’d love to hear any more memories you’d like to share and I know the Enfield alumni would enjoy it, too. I can post your photos here; just email them to principal@classicschools.com. Thanks again.
A friend of mine is trying to obtain her high school transcripts from Enfield High, she graduated in 1994. Does anyone know how she would obtain this information now that the school has closed?
i really enjoyed coach cooper comments, those were good times then
In reference to 1964, when Enfield schools were integrated, there were six black students that integrated Enfield Graded School. I was the first Black to be admitted by the Halifax County Board of Education. On my sixth birthday, September 3, 1964, the KKK burned a cross in a field across the road from my home. We were, however, not intimidated.
I was at Enfield High School (1972-1976) when Mr. Claude “Clutch” Cooper won some of those basketball championships. The gym was packed out every night, especially when we played Eastman. I remember Bernard Vaughan and Robert Knight who could jump out the gym. Robert was compared to David Thompson at NCSU.
I was the starting quarterback on the 1975 football team. We were 5-1 in the conference loosing only to Gaston. 1975 was the first time Enfield High beat the Weldon Chargers who were the defending conference champions. Jesse Hilton was a the starting tailback as a sophomore (all conference), Joseph Boone (senior) was the starting wide receiver (all conference), Michael Johnson (senior) was the starting slotback and middle linebacker (all conference), Larry McDaniel (junior) was the starting fullback and nose guard (all conference), and Ronald Pittman (senior) was the starting tight end (all conference). I was offered a scholarship to play football at Davidson but I instead went to NCCU in Durham. Joseph Boone went to Cornell University. Ronald Pittman went to Shaw University.
The 1973 football team went 8-2 for the season and was at one time ranked in the top 5 in the state for 2A teams. That team featured starting quarterback Kenny Demery, All-East tackle Jerome McDaniel, All-East fullback Johnny Mitchell, Ricky Clark – all conference linebacker, Richard Spann – all conference linebacker & guard, Carl Battle – middle linebacker, “Big Charlie” Whitaker – tackle, Donald Richardson – tailback (the fastest thing on two feet), and slotback Curtis Battle. I had to play second string quarterback against these guys in practice. I was glad to see Friday night come when they could hit the opposing team players instead of me!
Thanks for sharing your memories, Victor. Good stuff!