Benjamin Russell High School - Echo Yearbook (Alexander City, AL)

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The Benjamin Russell High School: A City’s Pride I HE Benjamin Russell High School is more than a building; it is a visible reminder of what a town can accomplish when all its citizens unite for a worthy cause. The high school is unusual in that when it was constructed in 1950, not one penny of federal or state money was used in its construction. It was financed completely by donations from local citizens and industry. Built at a cost of $645,000, the school is now valued at one and one-half million dollars. As early as 1942 plans were being made to erect a school which would be equipped and staffed to meet the needs of all the young people of Alexander City, those who would attend college and those who would enter local industry upon completion of high school. During the war years and for a few years thereafter, local civic leaders contacted citizens for pledges to the proposed high school. These pledges, in varying amounts, were paid over a three-year period. The Benjamin and Roberta Russell Foundation contributed generously in setting up the fund, as did Avondale Mills. The problem of a site for the new school was solved when stockholders in the East Alabama Fair Association, a corporation, donated a 31-acre plot of land to the local board of education. It was on this site that the Benjamin Russell High School, visible evidence of Alexander City’s concern for and interest in its young people, became a reality. To complete the school plant, in October of 1963 a new auditorium was finished at a cost of $323,000. Of this amount $138,000 came from state funds; local funds used in its construction amounted to $185,000. Opening its doors for the first time on Sept. 4, 1950, the Benjamin Russell High School began its work with a student enrollment of 479 students in grades nine through twelve, with a staff of 24 teachers. The enrollment reached 868 for the current term, and the faculty numbers 36. Named for the late Benjamin Russell, the high school contains approximately 75,000 square feet of space. It has 34 classrooms, of which 19 are air conditioned. Plans are to have the building completely air conditioned in two years. Also included in the facilities are two shops, two auditoriums, a library, a lunchroom with a seating capacity of 250, offices for the principal, counselor, librarian, lunchroom manager, and Eight