Schools - Page Four

The present principal is Charles D. Horn, a personable young man who was a minister in Russell, Iowa. He came to the school in 1963. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cedarville College, Cedarville, Ohio. The school has at present 27 students, two full time, and three part-time teachers. The students come from six states and one foreign country. There is a 2350-volume library.

The greatest obstacle this school has had, has been lack of accreditation. This has been accomplished this year. Principal Horn expects enrollment to double in 1964 / 1965 school year. He says that the communication between Mountain State Christian High School and the Alderson Community is improving, and well it should. One gets the feeling that this small Baptist school with its high ideals would find favor in the minds of such good Baptists as Elder John Alderson and Miss Emma Alderson, were they here now.

During the time the private schools were flourishing, the public schools were also growing. After the Civil War, tax supported schools for both white and negro children rapidly increased, lengthen their terms, and improved subject matter.

Records are not available for the earliest public schools. Probably Alderson's first public school was one on the south side, taught by a Mr. Johnson, on the location of what is known as the Witt Bare property. A new school was then built nearby, and one teacher was George Bare. A two—story school was later built on lower Railroad Avenue opposite the lower railroad crossing. One of the first teachers was D. C. Elmore, and others were Anne Correll, and Winifred Foster, of the famed Foster family of Wolf Creek. (She married a Skaggs and still lives in Wichita, Kansas, aged 93 years) Sadie Lynn, Louella Harvey, and Miss Neal also taught there.

By 1894 Blue Sulphur District had twenty white and two colored schools operating, nearly all one-room. There was a small log school near the pond on Mr. and Mrs. A. W. McThenia’s present property, and at some unknown date there was a public school on Muddy Creek near Palestine. In 1894, according to the minutes of the Blue Sulphur District School Board, there were twenty teachers, some of whom were: L. E. Shires, E. S. Baker, Belle Alderson, Sallie Littlepage, J. C. George, Sue D. Anderson, and Bettie M. Alderson. At least three taught in Alderson. The pay for a five—month term was: No. 1 certificate - $30.00 per month No. 2 certificate — $25.00 per month No. 3 certificate — $18.00 per month

Teacher institutes were regularly held to improve the instruction. According to the Greenbrier Independent, June 30, 1881, there were 4657 students in the free schools in Greenbrier County and 3625 in Monroe. The teachers had associations, and the West Greenbrier Teachers Association was active. The Blue Sulphur District Board sometimes met at the schoolhouse in Alderson. That schoolhouse was on what is known as the A.B.A. grounds in North Alderson, a block east of the Baptist Church. It was a two-story building, and in that period it was a good school with good teachers.

During the nineties, Alderson was growing and the school soon became too small. The Blue Sulphur School District Board regularly met and talked of building a new school. But evidently the people of Alderson were not satisfied, as the Alderson Independent School District was formed and held its first meeting on October 19, 1905. G. E. Bare was its first president. Members were Alex McVeigh Miller, L. E. Johnson, R. C. Slaughter. E. W. Nowlan was Secretary. At the second meeting on October 27, 1905, the Board discussed an $18,000.00 bond issue, and J. M. Alderson was also listed as a member attending. The bond issue was to build a new school. An election was held on December 18, 1905, and lost 102 to 82.

The teachers in 1906 were: J. W. Paxton, Principal, Bettie M. Alderson, Frankie Miller, Anne Belle Hedrick, Aura Stevens, and Etta Leftwich. At the Colored School, Walter Banks was Principal, and Mrs. Joyce( ?) A. Trice, a teacher. Books were sold at J. Orr Nickell’s Drug Store at 15 percent commission.

At a Board Meeting April 4, 1907, J. A. Rigg proposed to sell the Board two tracts of land. One, consisting of twelve lots bounded by Maple, Linden and Virginia Streets was priced at $2,000.00, and another tract adjoining the first, known as the Wilson tract, for $1260,00. The Board already had another small tract. On June 8, 1907 another school bond issue election was held for $15,000.00, and it passed 237 to 77. (It is strange that a larger percentage opposed it in North Alderson than in South Alderson although the school was to be built in North Alderson.) A new principal, H. L. Mattics, was employed in 1907, and among the teachers employed in the white school were Annie Correll, Coe Kissinger, and Mate( ?) Goheen. Edward A. Bowling was the Principal of the colored school, and Mrs. L. B. Dandridge, a teacher.

The Alderson Independent School District did not confine its school area to Alderson alone but took children for one mile from the corporate limits and, in fact, served a wider area. A well defined map of its jurisdiction is in the Greenbrier County Clerk’s office with homes listed on its perimeter which are now hard to locate, as the ownership of the houses has changed. The District charged tuition of parents outside the District for their children’s attendance since they paid no taxes to the District. The Board had frequent difficulties in collecting.

In 1908 J. M. Alderson was President of the Board and J. Albert Rigg was Secretary. Several new teachers were working, among them were Vida Miller and Idal ( ?) Lynn. The Board was also busy getting the new school building started. J. B. Stewart, Architect, of Huntington, drew the plans and the bonds were handled by White and White, Bond Brokers of Wheeling.

In 1908/1909, a new Principal, George S. Lewis, and some new teachers, Katherine Hedrick, Sadie Lynn, May Johnson, Carrie Stevens and Cornelia B. Page, had been employed. W. W. (Witt) Bare was in charge of the new school’s construction. Teachers by this time were commanding higher salaries: No. 1 certificate - $40.00 per month No. 2 certificate - $35.00 per month Principal - $65.00 per month.

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The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008