Lascassas High School, 1927-1972

LASCASSAS HIGH SCHOOL 1927-1972 was erected on the same site as the former building.

On July 3, 1953, C. E. Dill deeded one acre beginning at the northwest corner of the LASCASSAS SCHOOL property; on July 11, 1953, John T. Brown and wife deeded to the Rutherford County School Commission the parcel of the R. E. Jarman grant which John T. and Ben Brown had inherited from Johnney Gertrude Dement; on August 17, 1967, John T. Brown and wife Colleen deeded 5.82 acres; and on May 14, 1968, James Robert Ward and wife Evelyn West gave a right of way for the Cainsville Pike.

The brick veneer building erected for the 1927-1928 school year had eight classrooms, an auditorium, and a principal’s office. In 1936, a gymnasium was built through labor and materials donated by the people of the community.

After World War II, Principal Robert Hitt secured two surplus two-room barracks for the home economics and typing departments. In 1952, a fire destroyed the “people’s gym.”

In 1954, a new concrete block structure with room for a cafeteria and agriculture shop was completed by the county.

In 1955, the home economics classes were moved into a large extension on the left wing of the main building. Renovation of the school was approved in 1957. A hardwood floor and opera seats were placed in the auditorium. Brick was put on the walls of the smaller building, the former home economics building. The library was housed in a large, pleasant room
conducive to study under the supervision of Mrs. M. B. Brandon.

Rex Turman, later Superintendent of Cannon County schools, was the first principal of this school. Other principals were Hubert Coleman, Preston Cason, Eston Macon, Robert Hitt, Reece Rogers, Wayne Martin, Chalmus Campbell, Jackson Ray, Jerry Gaither, H. B. Smith, M. B. Brandon, James Faulkner, John Hodge Jones, Albert F. Carey, and Larry Stewart.

The first faculty members of the high school were Catherine Williamson, Annie Henderson, Mrs. Lem Waggoner and of the elementary school, Lassie Henderson, Carrie McCullough, Mable DuboiS, Powell Early, who also coached basketball and baseball, and Eunice Covington, music.

Other teachers of long tenure at LASCASSAS were Nell Alexander, Nell McElroY, Cuma Lee Odom, Sara Turner, Jane Kelton, and Linda Brown.

Although the building was adequate, furnishings were meager. The Parent Teacher Association bought school equipment. Annie Henderson acquired home economics appliances through a hot lunch program. Book drives were organized. Mrs. M. B. Brandon cataloged a library and established a film strip and recording file. In 1946, shorthand and typing were added to the curriculum with Mrs. J. E. Jennings as teacher. FFA, Beta, and Library
Clubs were an integral part of the school program. Boys and girls basketball teams won district championships.

Among the alumni, Douglas David became President of Northwest Pacific Co.; Rufus Jarman, a writer of Saturday Evening Post, Charles Hinds, Captain in the U.S. Navy; Edwin Ayers, owner of a funeral home; Ed Cannon Loughrey, President of Murfreesboro Bank; Sam Delay, a meteorologist;
Edwin Neville, a pathologist; Fred and Jack Delay, teachers and coaches.

In 1972, LASCASSAS HIGH SCHOOL became a K-8 grade school when the high school students were sent to the new consolidated OAKLANDS HIGH SCHOOL.

SOURCES: Deed Book 28, p. 617; Book 71, p. 243; Book 112, pp. 426, 427; Book 177, p. 373; Book 182, p. 138. Tennessee. Dept. of Public Instruction. Annual Report 1890 Nashville: Marshall and Bruce, 1891, p. 160. *Gene Sloan, “‘Stonewalling’ It at Old Lascassas School,” The Daily News Journal Accent, May 15, 1977. “Said to Date Back to Indians,” The Daily News Journal, Nov. 7, 1948. ‘Princeton Graduate Taught at Lascassas in 1824,” The Daily News Journal, Nov. 13, 1963. Rachel Rhodes, Lascassas–Our Heritage 1981 . Interview, June 6, 1984, with Clarence Preston Blankenship, b. 1886 and a student from 1894-1896. *Cuma Lee Odom. *Edna Windrow. *Sallje Dement Evans. *Elizabeth Dement Youree. *BuiSt Dement Smythe. *Mylas
Ayers. *Ernily Dill Florida, niece of *Maggie and *Nannie Dill.

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