BLAIR SCHOOL before 1865-1890’s was in the La Vergne area. It was on the west side of the present Blair Road between Rock Springs and Chaney Roads on the property of James H. Blair, b. 1842, d. 1865. The name J. Blair is still shown on the Beers Map of 1878.
The earliest known directors were in 1879.
The school was a log building of one room with a board roof, a window on each side, and one door at the end. The benches were split logs with peg legs. A wood heater furnished the heat in the winter.
Teachers were S.D. Waldron, Mary Douglas, John Gooch, Dayton Sanford, Dora Knott, Henry Davis, Alice Battle, J. P. Floyd, Mattie Blair Sanford, Ellen Battle, and Henry Gregory.
Among the students were Joe and George Sanford; the Noes; Lena and Lillie Harris; Bob, Bill, and Lou Bell Cook; Charlie and Ella Blair; Tom, Ben, and Bob Smith; Joe Blackmon; Walter and Lillian Mullins; Kathy, Sallie Evie, and Bud Nelson; Charlie Traylor; and Elizabeth Towns. A.B. Mitchell attended this school in the 1890’s.
School was in session about three months per year.
Salaries were $25-$40 a month.
Margaret Blair Naron now owns the property. (ed. 1985)
SOURCES: Interview, Aug. 4, 1984, with Margaret Blair Naron. Margaret Blair Naron, “Blair School” in the files of the Rutherford County Historical Society. Shirlie Chaney, “Log Schools First Served LaVergne Area,” The
Daily News Journal, Nov. 13, 1963, P. 6. Hoover, p. 276.