May 27, 2022 Coats Museum News
So many of the visitors to our Coats Museum make the statement that they wish the Coats High School buildings could have been saved or not all completely demolished. Just for your information, I thought you might be interested in the other Grove schools that are also history. Some of them were attended by our grandparents and great- grandparents. Wonder if they were sad to see their schools no longer in use?
I thought it would be informative to give you a timeline and a small bit of information of the seven schools in the Grove School District. We do not know for sure if this is the first school but history has shared that the Rufus Beasley School was in operation in 1858. We do not know the exact location of the school but it was identified as being one mile north of the present day of Coats and was in a one room dwelling vacated by Rufus Beasley family. It was one of 36 schools in Harnett County and the students would have been among the 1,659 who were enrolled in those 36 schools. Do you wonder what the average days attended? Sixty-three days was the average and 17 men and 5 females taught in the Harnett County in that year. Did some schools have no teachers and how much of the $1212.39 went to the teachers? Harnett County was only three years old.
In 1879, there were only 37 states and the White House was only two years old. In some towns, gas lights were replaced by electric lights. Some students in the Troyville area could have attended a school that was located behind the general area now occupied by Rose and Graham, Hardees or the former Owen Odum house. It was remembered as being the Harriette Spring School. These students in this area would later attend the Grove District #3 School.
Between 1875 and 1900 Cornelius Hodges had fathered 17 (?) children and he deeded one acre of his land with a reversion clause. This acre was to house the District # 1 Grove School. At that time the area was District #17 and Hodges was a school board member who was to reclaim the school property if the school was dissolved. His house was located on the Chic Ennis Road and the house is completely dilapidated and hidden by bushes and trees.
The land was later owned by his son, Jimmy Hodges, who sold the land to Maggie Sorrell Ennis. It was in 1913 that Grove District #1 was built for $848.25 and was built by Hinton Ennis, Lyan (A.L?) Bailey and other local patrons. Records share that 105 students were on the school census when the school mysteriously burned. The museum has the principal’s desk which was the only item saved from the fire. The students in that school attended school for six months and teachers in 1918 made $45.40 per month. In 1922, Principal Claude Stewart made $110.00 per month.
The second Grove District #1 had 88 students after Rodolphus Ennis agreed to turn one of his tenant houses and one barn into a school and was thus called the Ennis School. The house later burned but the barn was still in use as a barn in 1985.
In 1923, the Ennis School was in use when the students would leave it to go to the new Oakdale School which was a brick building located on what was on SR1551which was later referred to as the Old Fairground Road and Bailey’s Crossroad Rd. Tinker Howard would buy at a public auction the old school in 1950 after the school consolidated with the Coats Union School that year. Through Tinker’s generosity, the old school was used as a community center, a gathering place, apartments and tobacco storage. Oakdale had a principal’s office, an auditorium, two bathrooms and several classrooms built on the pattern of the Rosenwald Schools. Redding McLamb was later associated with the building which burned in 1972.
At the same time the Ennis School was educating its youth, the Grove District #2 Gregory School would educate students from 1885 until 1916. In 1917 the Gregory School sold for $161.00 Records show that the District #2 school was called Gregory and in 1922-23 it was recorded as the Fair Hope School. The second District #2 School was built near the Bethel Church on the Johnston County line for $1400.
In 1922-23, Fair Hope had 82 students in two classrooms, one U.S. flag, 55 double desks, 2 stoves, 14 square feet of blackboards, 2 pencil sharpeners, 10 window shades, one open well and six maps.
In 1925 Fair Hope appeared again as Gregory School on records. In 1933-34 Gregory consolidated with Coats Grove District #3.The Gregory School was named for Albert Gregory who had taught at the Rufus Beasley School. Students such as Herbert Johnson recalled walking one and one half miles north facing the chilling winds to reach school where he would help fire up the heaters before school started. Lottie Godwin Pollard remembered carrying some chocolate or milk as did all students and the teachers would prepare hot chocolate on the wood stove for the students to drink from their little tin cups that each brought from home.
Grove District #3 patrons built a one room school around 1902 where W.P Byrd was the first teacher which likely had the Troyville address. In 1905, Claude Stewart was the principal; and in 1907, four more rooms were added to the one room school. The school had its first high school teachers in 1908. The students probably attended school about 70 days and teachers earned an average of $16.74 per month. In 1911, Owen Odum was principal. The school added a fourth teacher at the salary of $32.50.
Did you note that salaries and days of attendance varied? Oscar Young, Bessie Stevens and Lottie link were the teachers leading one to think that the principal was the fourth teacher. By 1913-14, there were seven on the faculty with one expression (speech) and one music teacher. Students attended school for eight months. The American flag now had 48 stars upon it in 1914-15. This was the time that an additional building was built. This two room building was later referred to as the Goat House after it was no longer since a three level brick building opened in 1920-21. In 1995 the Goat House became the Coats Museum.
The three level brick building which cost less $65,000 and had an auditorium on the third floor but had no bathrooms or electric lights. Prior to the auditorium, the end of year programs were under a shelter of domestic cloth furnished by the patrons of the old school. In 1926, bathrooms were added and about 90 percent of the 317 student enrolled attended daily for about 288 students. There were only 49 school buses in the entire county and they traveled mainly on dirt paths and roads. In 1932, it had cost $5,000 to build a road made of 2 inches of crushed rock and asphalt.
In 1931, the auditorium on the top floor was restructured to make six classrooms and by 1935 there was a need for even more classrooms and an auditorium. In 1936, another brick structure was completed for $65,000. It was this 1936 building that the first graduating class from that Coats District #3 addition opened the fifty-four year old cornerstone that was sealed when the building was completed in 1936, The 1940 class who were in-coming freshmen in 1936 were asked to collect the data that went into a metal box enclosed in the cornerstone. M.O. Phillips, a teacher in 1936, was master of ceremonies. . The class of 1940 held a reunion in conjunction with the ceremony (Daily Record Apr. 30, 1990).
Question-were these freshmen in the 8th grade? Students attended eleven grades at this time.
Next week after you read about the other four schools in Grove District, you will understand why Grove District #3 needed even more than those six class rooms which resulted in the building of a new auditorium and another brick building in 1936.
We really enjoyed meeting a church friend of Ralph Denning. Ralph gave him a tour of the museum and was headed to Campbell University where both men had graduated. Another thank you to Ralph for remembering Pastor Jim Carroll Lee who graduated from Coats and for his continued support to help in the operation of the museum.
So many of the visitors to our Coats Museum make the statement that they wish the Coats High School buildings could have been saved or not all completely demolished. Just for your information, I thought you might be interested in the other Grove schools that are also history. Some of them were attended by our grandparents and great- grandparents. Wonder if they were sad to see their schools no longer in use?
I thought it would be informative to give you a timeline and a small bit of information of the seven schools in the Grove School District. We do not know for sure if this is the first school but history has shared that the Rufus Beasley School was in operation in 1858. We do not know the exact location of the school but it was identified as being one mile north of the present day of Coats and was in a one room dwelling vacated by Rufus Beasley family. It was one of 36 schools in Harnett County and the students would have been among the 1,659 who were enrolled in those 36 schools. Do you wonder what the average days attended? Sixty-three days was the average and 17 men and 5 females taught in the Harnett County in that year. Did some schools have no teachers and how much of the $1212.39 went to the teachers? Harnett County was only three years old.
In 1879, there were only 37 states and the White House was only two years old. In some towns, gas lights were replaced by electric lights. Some students in the Troyville area could have attended a school that was located behind the general area now occupied by Rose and Graham, Hardees or the former Owen Odum house. It was remembered as being the Harriette Spring School. These students in this area would later attend the Grove District #3 School.
Between 1875 and 1900 Cornelius Hodges had fathered 17 (?) children and he deeded one acre of his land with a reversion clause. This acre was to house the District # 1 Grove School. At that time the area was District #17 and Hodges was a school board member who was to reclaim the school property if the school was dissolved. His house was located on the Chic Ennis Road and the house is completely dilapidated and hidden by bushes and trees.
The land was later owned by his son, Jimmy Hodges, who sold the land to Maggie Sorrell Ennis. It was in 1913 that Grove District #1 was built for $848.25 and was built by Hinton Ennis, Lyan (A.L?) Bailey and other local patrons. Records share that 105 students were on the school census when the school mysteriously burned. The museum has the principal’s desk which was the only item saved from the fire. The students in that school attended school for six months and teachers in 1918 made $45.40 per month. In 1922, Principal Claude Stewart made $110.00 per month.
The second Grove District #1 had 88 students after Rodolphus Ennis agreed to turn one of his tenant houses and one barn into a school and was thus called the Ennis School. The house later burned but the barn was still in use as a barn in 1985.
In 1923, the Ennis School was in use when the students would leave it to go to the new Oakdale School which was a brick building located on what was on SR1551which was later referred to as the Old Fairground Road and Bailey’s Crossroad Rd. Tinker Howard would buy at a public auction the old school in 1950 after the school consolidated with the Coats Union School that year. Through Tinker’s generosity, the old school was used as a community center, a gathering place, apartments and tobacco storage. Oakdale had a principal’s office, an auditorium, two bathrooms and several classrooms built on the pattern of the Rosenwald Schools. Redding McLamb was later associated with the building which burned in 1972.
At the same time the Ennis School was educating its youth, the Grove District #2 Gregory School would educate students from 1885 until 1916. In 1917 the Gregory School sold for $161.00 Records show that the District #2 school was called Gregory and in 1922-23 it was recorded as the Fair Hope School. The second District #2 School was built near the Bethel Church on the Johnston County line for $1400.
In 1922-23, Fair Hope had 82 students in two classrooms, one U.S. flag, 55 double desks, 2 stoves, 14 square feet of blackboards, 2 pencil sharpeners, 10 window shades, one open well and six maps.
In 1925 Fair Hope appeared again as Gregory School on records. In 1933-34 Gregory consolidated with Coats Grove District #3.The Gregory School was named for Albert Gregory who had taught at the Rufus Beasley School. Students such as Herbert Johnson recalled walking one and one half miles north facing the chilling winds to reach school where he would help fire up the heaters before school started. Lottie Godwin Pollard remembered carrying some chocolate or milk as did all students and the teachers would prepare hot chocolate on the wood stove for the students to drink from their little tin cups that each brought from home.
Grove District #3 patrons built a one room school around 1902 where W.P Byrd was the first teacher which likely had the Troyville address. In 1905, Claude Stewart was the principal; and in 1907, four more rooms were added to the one room school. The school had its first high school teachers in 1908. The students probably attended school about 70 days and teachers earned an average of $16.74 per month. In 1911, Owen Odum was principal. The school added a fourth teacher at the salary of $32.50.
Did you note that salaries and days of attendance varied? Oscar Young, Bessie Stevens and Lottie link were the teachers leading one to think that the principal was the fourth teacher. By 1913-14, there were seven on the faculty with one expression (speech) and one music teacher. Students attended school for eight months. The American flag now had 48 stars upon it in 1914-15. This was the time that an additional building was built. This two room building was later referred to as the Goat House after it was no longer since a three level brick building opened in 1920-21. In 1995 the Goat House became the Coats Museum.
The three level brick building which cost less $65,000 and had an auditorium on the third floor but had no bathrooms or electric lights. Prior to the auditorium, the end of year programs were under a shelter of domestic cloth furnished by the patrons of the old school. In 1926, bathrooms were added and about 90 percent of the 317 student enrolled attended daily for about 288 students. There were only 49 school buses in the entire county and they traveled mainly on dirt paths and roads. In 1932, it had cost $5,000 to build a road made of 2 inches of crushed rock and asphalt.
In 1931, the auditorium on the top floor was restructured to make six classrooms and by 1935 there was a need for even more classrooms and an auditorium. In 1936, another brick structure was completed for $65,000. It was this 1936 building that the first graduating class from that Coats District #3 addition opened the fifty-four year old cornerstone that was sealed when the building was completed in 1936, The 1940 class who were in-coming freshmen in 1936 were asked to collect the data that went into a metal box enclosed in the cornerstone. M.O. Phillips, a teacher in 1936, was master of ceremonies. . The class of 1940 held a reunion in conjunction with the ceremony (Daily Record Apr. 30, 1990).
Question-were these freshmen in the 8th grade? Students attended eleven grades at this time.
Next week after you read about the other four schools in Grove District, you will understand why Grove District #3 needed even more than those six class rooms which resulted in the building of a new auditorium and another brick building in 1936.
We really enjoyed meeting a church friend of Ralph Denning. Ralph gave him a tour of the museum and was headed to Campbell University where both men had graduated. Another thank you to Ralph for remembering Pastor Jim Carroll Lee who graduated from Coats and for his continued support to help in the operation of the museum.