HAPPY HILL SCHOOL BLACK 1913-1948 was on Marshall Knob,
where the rock quarry is now, on the east side of U.S. 231 between Murfreesboro and Christiana.
On June 16, 1913, C. C. Henderson and wife Hattie signed deed to the Rutherford County School Board of Education for a school on the Murfreesboro and Shelbyville Turnpike. The land was on the Scott Webb corner. The deed was not filed until December 17, 1948.
The one-room frame building was backed up to a rock wall. Later a hall, a cook room, and a dining room were added to the front. There was then a side door but no front door.
Known teachers were Richard North, Estella Butler, Mr. Thompson, Mack McGowan, Josephine Blackman, Annie Ransom, Kate Bright, Estella Moore, Andreween Seward, Mrs. Randolph, and Mrs. Willie C. Miller, who was the last teacher.
Among the students were Sadie, Hannah, and Fannie Butler, Sadie Webb, Willie Clara Alexander, and Tommy Nelson. Roy and William Fagan were from Nashville.
Marietta Smith Fagan cooked in both this school and the new HAPPY HILL SCHOOL. Asa Lytle drove the school bus.
The school was torn down because it was in poor condition.
On October 30, 1948, the Rutherford County School Commission deeded to Abner Dement and wife Lucy for $151 the property that had been bounded by Scott Webb and Alexander the Murfreesboro and Shelbyville Turnpike. The names Webb and Alexander are shown on the Dixie Highway Map.
HAPPY HILL SCHOOL 1948-1952 was relocated on the north side of Rucker Road which runs east off the Shelbyville Murfreesboro highway. The school, also called RUCKER SCHOOL BLACK, was between the highway and the railroad. On September 29, 1947, Sam S. Cox, and John T. Cox, executors of the will of Charles F. Cox, deeded 1.67 acres of land for $350 to the County School Commission. The acreage was on land known as the Reynolds Brothers farm.
The new two-room concrete block building, consisting of a classroom and a kitchen, was completed during the summer vacation.
Mrs. Willie C. Miller was the first and the last teacher. A Negro circulating library was used to provide reading books.
Asa Lytle and then Robert Lytle drove the school bus.
HAPPY HILL was consolidated with CHRISTIANA SCHOOL BLACK in 1952. In September 12, 1952, there was a sale of the old kitchen utensils that were not to be used. The $20 realized from the sale was given to the new school.
The school property was first leased and then sold to Rucker Road Baptist Church. The Trustees of the church signed the deed for the 1.67 acres and building on May 26, 1962. The building has since been remodeled.
SOURCES: Interview, August 1982, with Marietta Smith Fagan. Deed Book 100, p. 385; Book_103, pp. 47, 211; Book 144, p. 513. Rutherford County, School Superintendent’ Office, School Records under “Happy Hill.” *Arena Tillage. *R. T. Butler, Jr., d. April 5, 1986.