Tucker High School - Tiger Yearbook (Tucker, GA)

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crowdeal and they continued to use nearby churches for the overflow. This became the communityls first high school In 1918, R. E Carroll was elected County School Superin tenden t. Eager for ad- vancement for the school system, he urged that high school courses be taught and stand- ardized throughout the system. Tucker made progress immediately: arithmetic, history, languages, literature, and English grammar comprised the curriculum. There were so many classes that each period was limited to 25 minutes. The hrst high school principal was Mr. Drukenm1'ller. Dr. Marion Flowers was principal of the school during the period 1919-1925. Mr. Carroll commended Dr. Flowers by saying that T uckerfs curriculum was worthy of ac- creditation by the state. Tucker could not be accredited however, because it had neither laboratory nor library of its own. The Sea- bord Railroad had a circulating boxcar li- brary that provided Tucker with its books. Under the direction of Mr. Carroll and Dr. Flowers, Tucker became one of the su- perior schools in the area. Certain courses were required for graduation: Tucker grad- uated its first high school class in 1918. There were also many extracurricular even ts for the students enjoyment. Field days, in- cluding academic and athletic competition, were held with other schools. There was no football team then, but basketball was played on outsidex courts. A Tucker set out early to make its name known. Dr. Flowers, now living in retirement in Clarkston, reports that 1'n 1922, Tucker Pictured about 1920, this building was in use until its demolition in l966 I The Tucker High School Class of 1922. Seated, l-r: Howard England, Gndy Cain, Lula Mae Cain, Veatrice Lewis, and Cecil Flowers. Stand- ing, l-r: Andrew Ashworth, Dr. Marion Flow- ers, Principal, and Horace Ambrose.

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4 . .ifw Originally Bmwning's Courthouse and dating back into the last century, this building is located on LaVista Road across from the school. The Tucker area is still known as the Browning Voting District. building on Main Street. In the early I900's, the railroad was purchased by Seaboard, and the community was ofHciaIIy surveyed' and laid out as the town of Tucker in honor of Captain Tucker, an ofhcial of the Railroad. lAnother story says the town was named for a prosperous farmer who lived in the com- munity. 2 Prominent families of the community in 1900 included the Hendersons, Brownings, Chewnings, Englands, Burns, Gozas, and Chestnuts. In addition to Mr. Chewningsis general store and Post Offce, George M England and his son, Junius, operated a dry goods store at the present intersection of LaVista and Chamblee- Tucker Roads. The building, which still stands, is located across the street from Tucker High School, and most recently housed a printing company. Another business in the community in 1900 was a blacksmith shop on Main Street oper- ated by Edwin P. Dunagan. About 1900, a larger, three-room school building was constructed on Main Street ad- jacent to the present site of the First Baptist Church. This was an ungraded school and the level of education extended to approxi- mately the eighth grade. It was a growing community, and the overflow from this building was housed in the nearby Methodist and Congregational Churches. In 1915, in an effort to improve com- munity education, the citizens of the town cut and sawed their own timber and used the lumber to construct a new, two-story, ante-bellum structure on the former site by the Baptist Church. Soon, it too was over- Mr. J . M. England and his family are shown in his l9lO Reo, the first automobile in the Tucker com- munity. AMHTT-14's

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U ' ' ,Lr1:1:..it5:e -,L 'e-I'i'3f'.: ,, . -?, 'Q5-Ala.. . V v i Located on Chamblee-Tucker Road, this building was completed in 1929. won first place in a large literary meet, re- ceiving special commendation for excellence in essay writing and speechmaking. A teachers life was particularly hard during this period. He was paid no more than 830 per month. He was also subject to com- munity pressures, which could sometimes be difficult. About the time of the coming of the high school to Tucker, the commercial and civic life of the community received a big boost when Kelly and Reid Cofer founded their general merchandise store on Main Street in 1919. Cofer Brothers enterprises has de- veloped into one of the largest economic ac- tivities in the Northeast Atlanta area. The late Kelly Cofer served the community as Postmaster for about 25 years. i i fi 21- g 5 o i A ,NX f ,... 'I '11 t f ' ,,T'f, .. .-:Qi-g,,:.5ag.4., 1 V ' X 1,iFTT,!ijlx'43?' 'l 2 A Mr. Smith succeeded Dr. Flowers as principal of Tucker in 1926. About 1928, he was succeeded by Mr. Tom Jones. An election in 1928 provided for a new school to be built: it consolidated into the Tucker School the community schools of Midway, Antioch, Montreal, and Sugar Hill. This red-brick building housed twelve classrooms, an auditorium, offces, storage space, and rest- rooms. It was located offLaV7sta Road fac- ing Chamblee- Tucker Road, immediately behind the present site. Two years later the people ofthe community built one of the frst gyms in the county. They continued to use it, even after the bleachers had fallen in, in the early sixties. By now the curriculum was extended to include algebra, science, biology, and busi- mine.. mi mr ue LMUIYBDLTDNS ary iuss mm 1' 1 Sl Vocational Agriculture disappeared from curriculum as farming disappeared from community.