Southmont High School - Yearbook (Southmont, NC)

Page 6 text:

FOREWORD This book is for all of the people who care about Southmont School. It was planned, at first, for the children. It seemed such a shame that they should have nothing to carry with them, to help sort out the impressions of a fleeting school year. But some old buildings have a life of their own, despite temporary occupants. Southmont School is not simply a center of learning. Its rooms, its furniture, its countless mementoes make it a living story of the whole experience of education in its community. As the project went on and so many little-known facts from the past were learned, it was decided to make this a book that would be of interest to adults as well as youngsters. It is hoped that each of you will go over the book at home and read more about the school. Its purpose is to stimulate your sense of history and your pride in your school. Four generations of children have attended school here. The school's record is one of community and family. On the theory that a book of one's personal history is cherished, this book took its present form. lhope our young students will vindicate this theory, find pleasure in the book, and know that they were its inspiration. To their elders, may it remaind you that many of us have loved this school, and that each of us has left something of himself behind in it, as you have by your effort to make this book a reality. Richard N. Lane Southmont, North Carolina May, 1978 2

Page 5 text:

V 1 K, lf gi -y.o,.,4,1jgkig ff , f f . Nfgf 1 0 WJ H QwwwmQlFQy' , ,Q N 4' Jmfi' ' , ff13 43 5 Southmont School 1914 - 1978 Published by Southmont Elementary School Southmont, North Carolina 1978 1

Page 7 text:

SOME OLD BUILDINGS I-IAVE A LIFE OF THEIR OWN. g ' A 4,... M+ Tfi 'k Q L, I Q5 K- .,'- X .5 . 'wwf Before 1914, children at Southmont attended one-room schoolhouses set up in temporary quarters throughout the area. In 1913, the citizens of the community, desiring to provide the best available educational opportunities for their children, carried a local tax election of thirty cents on the hundred dollars property valuation. This tax was passed as the result of a hard and bitter struggle waged by public-spirited citizens, led by school committeemen J. D. Lookabill, C. D. Wrenn, and S. M. Peacock. Revenue from the special tax financed the construction of a two story frame building at the intersection of the Southmont- Linwood and Cotton Grove Roads. The building, painted red, was known as the Red Schoolhouse and was, for its time, probably the finest rural public school building in Davidson County. First used during the 1914- 1915 school year, the Red Schoolhouse contained grades one through ten. In 1924, the school having outgrown its building, an election for a bond issue of 320,000 was carried. This amount was supplemented by another 320,000 from the county, and the present brick building, containing ten classrooms, an auditorium, a library, and Principal's office, and with steam heat and electric lights, was erected on a slight knoll on the same grounds behind the Red Schoolhouse. The school district was immediately enlarged by the addition of the Oak Grove and Arey School districts, each of these having been voted in as local tax districts. In 1929, the Floyd and Pine Knot School districts were added, completing consolidation according to the county-wide plan of grouping. The school is, and has been since 1926, a standard school. 3