The Ransom School House, 1976

March 26, 2020, from the Digital Archives of the Rutherford County Historical Society

The Ransom School House, located at 717 North Academy Street, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, c1976

The Ransom School House has been beautiful restored and maintained since this photo was taken c1976, most likely by Dr. Bealer Smotherman, longtime professor at Middle Tennessee State University and local historian.

Bealer was alo an avid photographer. Throughout 1976 and 1977, Bealer shot hundreds of photos of places of historic interest throughout Rutherford County.

Helene Colvin loaned these slides to the RCHS in 2007 asking if the RCHS could create a book from the slides (many thanks to local historian Bill Jakes for taking the time to digitize the slides!). The resulting work was an exceptional and comprehensive collection of photos from Rutherford County’s past.

‘Pictures and the Stories they Tell (2009)‘, by Frank Caperton and Susan Daniel, features almost 1,000 photos of Rutherford County, then and now.

For a more comprehensive history of the Ransom School House, please visit:

The History of the Ransom School House

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