EAGLEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 1924-1972 is on the same site as the concrete and stucco building which burned in August of 1923. By a deed signed October 28, 1963, W. Melvin Claxton and wife Elizabeth Sullivan sold an additional eight acres of land adjoining the school to the Rutherford County School Commission.
The brick building containing twelve classrooms, a library, principal’s office, and auditorium, was erected at a cost of $18,750. In 1926, a gymnasium was built by the community. In 1933, two new classrooms were added. Through the years many other additions were built: in 1938, a science laboratory; in 1948, a cafeteria and vocational education building; in 1949, the old agriculture shop; in 1959, a home economics building; in 1963, a new front on the main building; in 1964, two rooms and a laboratory tar science; in 1965, a closed entrance to the main building, and in 1971, a new cafeteria.
Principals have been: Max Hamrick, C. M. Pickier, Horace Smith, W. D. Potter, D. H. Kaiser, Roy Dowdy, Charles Griqsby, J. W. Wheeler, U. R. Elmore, and Joe Shelton.
Among the teachers were Minnie Fairfield Dyer, Martha Elmore, Ethel Elmore, Cornelia Elniore, Rachel Floyd, Mrs. Iva Hay, Myra Morris, Georgia Lee Pate, Jane Simpson, Mrs. Scott Williams, Mrs. Neil Alexander, Betty Eirod, Annie Ruth Farris, Virginia Jackson, and John David Todd.
After 1921 the school was organized on an 8-4 plan. In 1948 it changed to 6-6 or elementary-secondary grades. The secondary grades were departmentalized.
The trophy case is filled with awards from the days of Literary Societies, Blue Ribbon Parades, and Field Days to those of dramatic contests and tournaments. Buddy Pope, Jon and Don McCord, Tommy Reed, Charlie Reed, J. J. Redmon, Fred Hobbs, Embree arid Charles Biackwell, Betty Lou Dyer, and Dorris Todd have been state winners in FFA and 4H Clubs.
The community has worked closely with the school. One of the last acts of service of the Odd Fellows was the donation of a set of Encyclopedia Britannica to the school. The Woman’s Club started the library; the Rotary Club sponsored the horse show and bought a little more than four acres of land for a playground. The Lion’s Club, formed after the Rotary Club disbanded, sponsored the horse show, installed a modern intercom system, furnished lighting for the field, built tennis courts, sent students to Boys and Girls State, and furnished glasses for children.
SOURCES: Deed Book 150, p. 585. “‘Big Eagle’ Was Source of Name,” The Daily News Journal, Nov. 13, 1963, p. 11. Doris Ann Marable, “Eagleville, Yesterday and Today,” The Daily News Journal, Nov. 9, 1948, p. 5. *Minnie Fairfield Dyer, History of Eagleville Dyer, 1972 . Interview, April 25, 1985,
with Pearl Tucker, b. 1892, a student in the early schools. *Margaret Scott. *Vera Covington. *Joe Shelton. *Mrs. U. R. Elmore.