SHARPESVILLE SCHOOL 1868-c 1918, first known as UNION SCHOOL, was on the present Guy James Road which turns north off the Hall’s Hill Road. The school was on the east side of the road and on the 1878 Beers Map it is marked as Union Church and School.
On September 8, 1868, John James deeded one acre to School Trustees William A. Jones, J. S. Smith, John F. Brown, Joseph R. Thompson, J. B. Rankin, M. H. Sanders, J. R. Rucker, and B. P. Northcott for a “school and church for white.” The land was on the south side of the East fork of Stones River and was bordered by H. Sanders.
The large one-room building was weatherboarded and painted white.
Teachers were Mr. Campbell, the first teacher, John Northcott, Seigle Ogles, Nieme McHenry, Ellen Champion, Myrtle Dement Johns, Maggie Kerr, Elmer Jackson, John Pruitt and Florence Brandon Johnson in 1905, Effie Adams in 1912 or 1913, Bernice Couch Lawrence, Albert Hall, Genoa Bowling, Virginia Tilford Youree, and Rob McKnight.
When the school closed, the students went to HALL’S HILL SCHOOL. A new church was built on the north side of the Hall’s Hill Road. The abandoned church and school building was converted into a home.
SOURCES: Deed Book 16, p. 52. Interviews, May 1979, by *Ethel Edwards with *Hattie Reeves Pruitt, both now deceased; March 31, 1986,with Katherine Compton Pearson, whose sisters were students. *Ethel Edwards. *Mary McKnight Manley.