Schools - Page Five

By the school term in 1910 the fine new building was ready and, according to Council Minutes, the Town Council improved the street and sidewalks approaching it. In that day, it was an imposing building. Grades one through nine occupied the school. Some new teachers were Marguerite Sloan, Ella George, Blanche Hogsett, and Fay Miller.  

Alderson High School was established in 1911 as a four-year high school. Evidently, the year before, the ninth grade was the first class taught on the high school level, and the Board application was made in July 1911, to bring the school up to the standards of a third class high school. The first senior class of Alderson High School was graduated in 1914, nine boys and four girls. They were: Walter Bonner, Howard Ford, Clarence Hall, Ollie Hedrick, Walter Grimes, Mary Keeney, Pearl Kershner, Otto Kessler, Fred Mays, Francis Markley, Boyce Miller, Katherine Peterson, Hobart Smith. H. L. Mattics was the first principal of Alderson High School; Carrie Coffman and Salome Johnson were two of the teachers. The course of instruction was good by present day standards.  

ln the meantime, colored children were receiving instruction instructions in other schools. The first colored school was located, from what can  be learned, near the lower railroad crossing, and a Mr. Bundy was Principal. By 1917/1918 the colored school in South Alderson had about 70 students. Walter W. Banks was principal, and Ophelia Davis was a teacher. During all the years of separate instruction of colored students they were educated in so-called "separate but equal" schools. Colored high school students in Alderson either went to the Lewisburg colored high school or traveled by train to Hinton. Few colored students were graduated from high school under such a handicap.  

Some of the principals of Alderson High School have been Lewis H. Miller, L. S. Shires, B. E. Grant, M. A. Pyles, Carl G. Eades, H. R. McVey, H. A. Yeager, E. V. Core, J. C. Bobbitt, I. L. Mitchell, and Stella Nelson. The present principal is Roy Coffman, for both the elementary and high schools.  

During the 1920’s both the elementary and high school white students occupied the same building. Generally, the high school occupied the second floor and the grades used the basement and first floor. Those of us who attended there have some sharp memories of Professor M. A. Pyles, the principal, and his staff of teachers who were generally good. Some were Carl Eades, Gladys Johnson, Drusilla Smith, Virginia Monroe, Miss Kies, Lillian Alderson, Marjorie Craig, McNeer Baker, Rodgers McVey, and Catherine Bailey.  

By the late twenties new school buildings had to be provided for both the white high school and colored elementary school. The Alderson Independent District had Warne, Tucker and Patterson, Architects of Charleston, design the proposed buildings. J. Albert Rigg and Carl G. Eades gathered data to decide the type of buildings best suited to the community’s needs. The Attorney General of West Virginia ruled that the Board could float a $100,000.00 bond issue, and on April 19, 1927, the election was held and 608 voted for it to 75 against. The colored school was to receive $10,000.00 for its new building on the Monroe side. On September 19, 1927, Boone, Mason and Wood of Bluefield were awarded the contract to construct the high school building. Apparently, the total cost of the high school building was $86,415.00. The first occupancy of the new building was in September 1928.  

In 1933 the County Unit plan became law, doing away with the district, independent, or other type of school board. All county schools were to be administered by the Greenbrier County Board of Education, Lewisburg. The last meeting of Alderson Independent School District Board was on June 19, 1933. The members were: J. N. Alderson, President, H. Rodgers McVey, Secretary, Cornelia Alder- son Smith, Marian Nelson Lobban, Max W. Miller and Everett Warren. The old Board had functioned twenty—eight years and it had an honorable history. It had built three schools and generally labored for the welfare of Alderson.  

The Greenbrier County Schools were integrated in 1956. The Supreme Court decision of 1954 was followed by obedience in Monroe County but not in Greenbrier County. The National Association For the Advancement of Colored People took the Greenbrier County School Board to Federal Court. Ben W. Moore, Judge, United States District Court, recommended on January 9, 1955, that colored children be admitted by transfer to any school by the second semester of the 1955/1956 school year. On October 12, 1955, the Board accepted the "recommendation" in both "letter and spirit", and in the second semester of the 1955/1956 school year Alderson High School was integrated.  

During the years Alderson High School has had a student publication, The Aldersonian. For thirty-eight straight years the school has had a May Day Festival, and Evelyn Jones Smithson was the First May Queen. The athletic teams, The Alderson Indians, frequently have distinguished themselves, and brought fame to Alderson in football and basketball.  

The enrollment of the public schools in Alderson for the 1963/ 1964 term Was: High School - 325; Elementary School - 335. There were thirteen high school teachers and twelve grade school teachers during the 1963/1964 school year.  

With the Federal Reformatory, Mountain State Christian High School and Alderson High School, the Alderson community has three schools granting high school diplomas accredited by West Virginia Board of Education. 
 

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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