FLORENCE HILL ACADEMY 1887-1903 was located one mile south of Fosterville on the east side of the Bell Buckle road.
Gran Gilmore and wife sold two acres of their land and signed a deed for the school on September 30, 1887. Trustees were F. B. Williams, P. R. Miller, J. C. Todd, and J. D. Gilmore.
The frame building contained two classrooms and a large auditorium. Teachers also lived in the building.
Early teachers were Mr. Hill and Mr. Harold, In 1896 the teachers were Orville Cranor, principal, Allie Cranor, and Hortense Watkins Lamb, music. Other teachers were Hugh Todd, Jim Hale, Mrs. Lenice Fields, Tennie Jordan, John Cyhilders, Tom Dunn, and Mr. McRay.
The curriculum included many subjects taught in high
school today.
FLORENCE HILL ACADEMY was consolidated with a short term subscription school 1897-1903 which was located in Fosterville north of the railroad depot. The new consolidated school, FOSTERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, was across from the depot, behind the Presbyterian church and Mrs. Alice Hoover’s house.
The only remaining evidence of the FLORENCE HILL ACADEMY building is a piece of twisted metal from a desk that is embedded in a large tree in the yard of Mrs. Ona Gilmore. Her residence was built on the site.
SOURCES: Deed Book 29, p. 415. *Gene Sloan, “County’s Two Florence Schools Have Faded into Obscurity,” Daily News Journal Accent, July 10, 1977. *Elvira Brothers, ci. June 15, 1985.