Raleigh, North Carolina
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History of
Boylan Heights School
Raleigh, N.C. [Thanks
to Glenn Plott of 1003 W. Lenoir for providing this transcript to the
neighborhood] After much effort on the
part of the people in Boylan Heights, a school building was erected in 1927 in
Boylan Heights on a large wooded lot given to the Raleigh School Board by the
Boylan Heights Improvement Association. The building erected was a
one and a half story brick building costing $51,117.89. It contained an
auditorium and four classrooms on the first floor and three classrooms in the
basement. There was no library or cafeteria. The school opened for its
first year’s work in the fall of 1927, with Miss Mary Page as principal and
seven assistant teachers, who were: Mrs. C.S. Andrews, Miss Nan Lindsey Stokes,
Miss Margaret Lipscomb, Miss Louise Robinson, Miss Sadie Neal, Miss Harriett
Usale, and Miss Jimmie Blanchard. Miss Neal, who came to Boylan Heights School
at the opening, has remained all these years. She has always been faithful,
conscientious, and efficient teacher. The first month the school opened there
was 224 pupils. The largest enrollment for the school for the first year was
229 pupils. In
the fall of 1928 Mrs. Ella Ford Senter came to the school as principal, and she
has continued to remain as head of the school ever since. She is responsible to
a great extent for the splendid work that the school has accomplished, both in
the educational progress of the children, by always demanding the best from
both child and teacher, and also for the many improvement in the building
itself. Soon after Mrs. Senter became principal, Centennial School, which was
located on the site where the Memorial Auditorium now stands, was closed. The
children from this school were then transferred to other schools. Boylan
Heights got a large part (great number)
of them (these children). With
these children added to the Boylan Heights School, it was soon seen that the
building was already inadequate. Then
it was that the people of Boylan Heights, led by the Parent Teachers Associate,
began another struggle for a more adequate and more modern building. By the
year 1936, the enrollment had increased to 306, the largest for any year up to
the present time. From
the beginning the Parent-Teacher Association has been a great moving force in
the life of the school. It was organized immediately after the opening of the
school with Mrs. W.H. Hills as the first president. So closely has the progress
in this school been related to the work in the parent-teachers Association,
that it is well worth mentioning the manes of all those to this time have
guided its course as president. Following Mrs. Mills there were Mrs. O. F.
McGrary, Mrs. L. W. Baker, Mrs. H. G. Walker, Mrs. Sam Lumsden, Mrs. C. T.
Wheeler, Mrs. W. R. Hanchey, Mrs. E. M. Powell, Mrs. L. B. Rhodes, Mrs. John
Coffey, Mrs. W R. Jennette, Mrs. W. C. Edwards, Mrs. J. B. Garner, and Mrs. G.
W. Putnam. Each year the Association has accomplished one outstanding piece of
work. The
association has contributed much in the way of improvements in the school. When
money could not be secured form other sources, it has not hesitated to try to
raise a least part of the needed fund. Over $500.00 has been spent on books for the library in the fourteen
years since the school opened; and $400.00 has been spent on other school
improvements. Almost $1000.00 has been spent on food and clothes for the
underprivileged children. By
the end of the second year of school, the need for a cafeteria was evident. As
there was no space in the school building in which one could be places, an
improvised one was set up in the back of the auditorium. There for twelve years
all of the lunches were served. When
Claude F. Gaddy became superintendent of the city schools in 1936, he
immediately saw the situation that existed and made plans, which would relieve
the condition. In the fall of 1940 an addition was made to the building costing
$32,000.00. The building now has an auditorium and four well-lighted classrooms
on the first floor. There is a beautiful and modern cafeteria and a large
storage room for books in the basement. Another story has been added to the
building. This contains four new classrooms and a modern well-lighted library,
where the children have library periods daily. The
school has the largest playground of any elementary school in the city. There
is space for two nice tennis courts, and space for a baseball diamond or
football field. There is also plenty of space with the large trees where the
smaller children play. The school is now considered one of the most modern in
the city and the people in Boylan Heights are justly proud of it and all the
work that has been done. Written by Helen Rhodes, 1941 Copyright 2005, BoylanHeights.orgCopyright 2003-2008, BoylanHeights.org |