Mount Airy High School - Airmont Yearbook (Mount Airy, NC)

Page 15 text:

OUR PRESENT M. yi. Ji. 6. 1917 - NORTH MAIN STREET SCHOOL ADDED First and second grade pupils from the north side of town were transferred to North Main School, then a small frame building. 1922 - NEW NORTH MAIN SCHOOL A new brick school was built on North Main. Rockford School was remodeled. 1933 - BANNERTOWN SCHOOL Bannertown School came into the Mount Airy school district. 1951 - NEW HIGH SCHOOL Students from South Main School were transferred to the new high school on South Street. South Main School was made a Jr. High. Mount Airy High School 1951 Mount Airy High School 1916 - 1951 Now South Main School Rockford Street School in the twen¬ ties. This view is from the west side. Classrooms at the back were a recent addition. 1960 - JR. HIGH MOVED Grades 7 and 8 were moved to the new extension of the High School. South Main School housed grades 4-6; Rock¬ ford Street became a primary school; and North Main, an elementary school for walking students. 1961 - ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER After a hundred years of public education, the Mount Airy school system comprises 3,184 students, 121 teachers (641 students and 27 teachers in high school), and property valued at $2,034,500. Remodeling and additions are in progress at Bannertown School and the J.J. Jones School. The Ashby home next to South Main is to be converted to an administration building, and a 13 acre tract on Old Springs Road has been purchased for a future elementary school. i i

Page 14 text:

OUT OF CENTURY OLD EMERGES This 1910 group of Mount Airy students contains now prominent citizens. The young ladies of Miss Graves ' School, oper¬ ated in the late 1800 ' s became quite accom¬ plished. Miss (; I;A V |-:s- school MOON I AlRIf N. C. Sometime prior to 1856 Mount Airy ' s first school was conducted by a Mr. and Mrs. West in a small building not far north of Judge Graves ' residence. In 1856 Doctor Reed and his wife took over the school. 1860 - ROCKFORD ACADEMY GRANTED T.F. Prather sold to a group of citizens land for the community ' s first free school. Rockford Academy was opened for males. Girls still had to attend private schools. 1896 - ACADEMY OPENED TO GIRLS For the first time free education was provided for females. However, around the turn of the century the academy was destroyed by fire. 1904 - ROCKFORD SCHOOL REBUILT A new brickbuilding was constructed on the same site. Original part of the present Rockford School was supple¬ mented by a small frame building on the lower lot. 820 pupils enrolled at that time. 1916 - SOUTH MAIN STREET SCHOOL ADDED South Main Street School was opened as a high school with 258 students. 679 elementary pupils remained at Rockford. 10

Page 16 text:

Heritage 3rom Dedicated (3eacfiers Dives mam (Left) MRS. KATE BARRINGER returns to MAHS for a visit and looks at early school pictures with Airmont co-editor Missy Clark. A vital personality in our school life has been absent since Mrs. Barringer became ill late in 1958. Teachers and students continue to miss her stimu¬ lating force and her infectious enthus¬ iasm. Mrs. Barringer admittedly loved teaching. She was articulate, straight forward, dramatic and dy - na m i c , generating enthusiasm for learning and thinking. As student council adviser she demonstrated an interest in the welfare of the entire student body and wisely guided the forming of school p o 1 i c i e s . Mrs. Barringer didn ' t know what an in¬ fluence she has been -- and is -- in this school and in this community. Present school personnel and the many MAHS graduates who felt her in¬ fluence in years past will remain in¬ debted to Mrs. Barringer ' s teaching and personality. Mrs. Kate Mitchell Barringer died January 10, 1961. WORKING IN Mount Airy schools for 25 years as teacher, student council adviser, and friend, Mrs. Barringer has built for us an immeasurably rich heritage.