Before 1928, our area had many small schools. Among these were Bethel, Mt. Zion, Old Poplar Springs, Elinor, and Bell. We're not sure that was all. These little schools served our area for many years.
The time came when the little one and two room schools could not adequately do the job. Our area was fortunate in having citizens who realized the need for a community school. Three of these farsighted citizens were Clifton Bolden, John Joiner, and J.A. (T-bone) Bush. These three men spent many days, at their own expense, in Tallahassee establishing the Tax District #3. These were discouraging times for them, but finally victory.
The job was just beginning with the establishment of the tax number. Now that the tax number had been established the hard work was just beginning. The people had to be sold on being willing to be taxed in order to sell bonds to get money to purchase land and build the building. Mr. Bolden, Mr. Joiner, and Mr. Bush were able to convince the people. It's great this happened many years ago. You would never get people to agree to pay taxes for anything today.
The next order of business was to find a desirable site for the school. A location near the center of the area was located. This land was owned by Mr. J.D. Grace and his wife M.J. Grace. They agreed to sell the land needed for $500.
The purchase of the land was completed on May 8, 1926. A deed was made to R.D. Bell, C.B Stokes, and M.C. Bolden, trustees of Poplar Springs and Sub district #2. The Grace family members were pioneers of the Poplar Springs area, but had moved to Graceville. The original building was completed and classes began in January, 1928.
Oh, this was a happy day. We kids (I was in 3rd grade) felt like we were at the top of everything. Mrs. Irene Hayes was our first principal. She later left teaching and went into the nursing field. Mrs. Hayes had been the teacher for the Bush, Brown, and Snell children (there maybe others) at Mr. Son Brown's barn. He let us use the barn for a school for the first semester, because it was so far for us to walk to Old Poplar Springs.
We moved in and life was great. We played hopscotch, bull in the pen, jump rope, marbles, town ball, and of course, had a few fights for entertainment. Girls as well as boys enjoyed the fighting. We didn't mind the outdoor toilets. We didn't know anything else. We had outhouses at home. We had a pump for water. The water would spew out of holes in the pipe. Probably the boys had poked holes in the pipe. Pot bellied stoves furnished heat for the building. The boys enjoyed getting out of class to get the wood. They usually went home with dirty shirts-not to good for the mothers. Our youngest brother said he always thought he was the teacher's pet because he always got to go get the wood. When he started teaching he found he was the pest and the teacher was just getting rid of him for a few
minutes.
We had one student, Gilbert Register, who could out run the wind. He would stand at the beginning of the path to the boys' outhouse and yell, everyone must be out of his way or they would be knocked aside. He also would chase all of us around a big pit in the school yard. Of course we would pester him.
We are not sure if our first years in the new school was grades on through nine or one through ten. Grade ten, we think. Either way, we had a great basketball team. Our first team was Fred McIntosh, Clyde Payne, Ralph Marshall, Alfred Corbitt, and Forest Corbitt. They were good.
In the early 1930's the North and South wings were added to the building. This work was done by the WPA, a federal project (thanks to President Franklin Roosevelt). The building is still being used and seems to be in good shape. A Mr. Weeks was supervisor of the building and Brock Bush was walking boss. Evidently Bush worked out ways to get the job done whether they had the needed equipment or not.
Poplar Springs became a senior high school the 1934-35 school year. Our first graduating class was 1935. The class members, were Buddy Bush, Willie Mae Joiner, Ceyx Allen, Myrtle Lee Allen, Eula Mae Chance, and Oscar Wombles. There could have been others that we have forgotten.
It was several years after becoming a high school before we had a lunch room. We don't remember the year the lunch room was built. Lunch room or not we enjoyed the lunches our mothers made. We ate outside, so every day was a picnic. Our lunch room is and has been all through the years the best one any place. We've had dedicated lunch room workers. They were the best cooks in the world. We are proud of them.
Later with the work of Harvie Belser, we were able to get a gymnasium. We've had many outstanding ball teams before and after the gym. We will not try to list these outstanding players because there were just too many of them. We would certainly forget some and that would be unforgivable. Let's just say Poplar Springs has had many outstanding athletes and they also exercised good sportsmanship.
Before going into the academic side of the school we'll mention other trustees and School Board members from our area. Hopefully we will not leave any off, but if we do we're sorry. It is our intention to list each one. Trustees: Nine Allen, Rufus Register, John Lane Jr., Remus Franklin, land Sam Brown. School Board members: Ed Polston, Levi Tindell, Sonny Johnson, and Rufus Register. These were outstanding citizens who gave their time to help the school. Of course the School Board members spent time helping all the schools.
Our history would not be complete without mentioning our bus drivers. They were patient but firm. They had the safety of the students always first.
Our teachers' aides have done an excellent job, as well as office personnel. They were always helpful and pleasant. Some of us did not have the pleasure of working with aides many years. The maintenance and janitorial personnel kept things in good shape. We appreciate their work.
The school has been fortunate to have may good teachers and principals. We will mention only a few. Three of our principals became county Superintendents of Public Instruction. They were Ira Bush, Jack Jones, and Myron Hudson.
We will only mention one teacher, Ruby Lee Palmer (Mrs. D.C. Palmer). She became an author and wrote a book with the setting being this part of Florida.
We will not mention the other teachers and principals because the academic record and citizenship record of our students speak to the quality of teachers as well as parents in our area.
The school has had many honor graduates from college. One 16 year old won the scholarship for Holmes County based on a test. Some of our students made outstanding scores on the 9th and 12th grade state tests. These tests are no longer given.
We've had graduates going into every profession and vocation imaginable. We have quite a number of graduates who have their master's degrees, some of whom are teaching or have taught at Poplar Springs School. We also have several graduates who have earned their doctorate degree. Some of them have become lawyers, a judge, and a scientist working with NASA.
There have been many students who did not graduate who have contributed much to our area and have made outstanding citizens.
Our students and graduates have a good work record and record for honesty. Our students have been the greatest. We are very proud of our community and school.
Written by members of the Poplar Springs community
Cortez Bush and Doris Bush Scott
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