Link School, 1858

LINK SCHOOL log 1858 was located about 100 yards north of the Old Leb Methodist Church. It was in the south end of the field near the Westbrooks Graveyard.

There is no known name for the school which was the first in the Link Community.

The building was of logs with a roof of hand-rived oak boards probably held in place by a ridge pole. The floor was a dirt floor.

William Calvin Westbrooks 1835-1893 was a teacher in 1858. Nancy Smotherman Westbrooks 1846-1919 was a student in 1858. She married William Westbrooks after she had become a widow and he a widower.

The first schools, known as subscription schools, depended upon contributions from parents for their support. Schools were about three months in length and there were no definite qualifications for the teachers, most of whom were self-taught.

Subjects were limited chiefly to reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history.

This school was followed by the FATE LAMB CORNER SCHOOL and then the OAK GROVE SCHOOL.

SOURCE: Hollis Westbrooks, “A History of the Link Community of Rutherford County, Tennessee’! RCHS, Publication no. 6, Winter 1976

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