FOSTERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL 1903-1928 was at first a private or subscription school and then a public junior high school. The school was on the east side of the railroad tracks, across from the depot, behind the Presbyterian Church and Mrs. Alice Hoover’s house. This school was a consolidation of the FLORENCE HILL ACADEMY and a short-lived private school 1897-1903 north of the depot and west of the tracks.
Harb Gilmore and wife Martha N. sold three acres to School Directors E. S. Miller and W. F. Clark by a deed dated 1904 and filed July 31, 1906. Margaret A. and Minnie L. Elam sold a building of 3,075 square feet to School Directors R. N. Snell, W. D. Holden, and Pink Miller. The deed was signed September 29, 1905.
The schoolhouse had two large rooms, one of which was used as an auditorium. The windows were covered with wire. Another large classroom and a music room were added later.
Mr. Arthur Jarman organized the first Fosterville graded school in this building.
Principals were: Jim McNabb, 1903, Mr. Knowland, J. W. Simpson, 1916, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Clyde Richards, drafted WWI, Dooley Gobelet, R. E. Haney, Albert Hall, Spencer Donnell, and Angie Haynes who finished the term for Clyde Richards.
Among the teachers were: Lena Osborn, 1903, Alice Rooker, Carrie Wheelhouse Mitchell, 1916, Evelyn Long, Frances Huddleston, Ruth Evans, Bessie Owens, Carrie McCollough, Edith Gattis, Sally Youree, Lucille Mason, Mary Youree, and Lena Taylor Alsup.
In 1928 the students moved to a new brick building on the Fosterville-U.S. 231 Road.
SOURCES: Deed Book 47, Pp. 132, 133. *Gene Sloan, “County’s Two Florence Schools Have Faded into Obscurity,” The Daily News Journal Accent, July 10, 1977. *Elvira Brothers, student. Elvira died June 15, 1985.