ROBINSON SPRINGS SCHOOL

ROBINSON SPRINGS SCHOOL

Photo was taken around 1909

First Row (-R):  Donald Smith, Shorty Logsdon, Arnold Middleton, Buford Smih, William Logsdon, Hiram Hooper, Cecil Lindley, Joe Holems, and Maynard Clark.  Second Row: Prof. O.H. Moore, Inal Lee Knowles, Beulah Logsdon, Rosa Stewart, Geneva Middleton, Hope Stegall, Odell Stegall, Lillian Biffle, Ora Holmes, Gracie Barker, Islda Elrod, Linnie Lowery and Loraine Ford.  Third Row:  Tommie Ford, Leona Hooper, Nora Barker, Fannie Smith, Lottie Forret, Lola Smith, Cora Lowery, Desa Smith, Furman Ford, Fitch Stewart.  Fourth Row: M.L. Middleton, Gracie Ford, Nora Clark, Mary Holmes, Lonnie Logsdon, Dell Ford, Clara Forrest, Effie Hooper, Mary Lizzie Knowles.  Fifth Row: Earl Lowery, Edgar Ford, Luther Lindley, Neal Greer, Tom Clark, Arthur Vinson, William Stewart, Tom Forrest, and Charlie Lindley.  

ROBINSON SPRINGS SCHOOL

The first school in this area was built at Sallie Robinson’s springs.  Sallie was a widow who had settled in the area in the late 1860’s or early 1870s.  The one room-one teacher school shown here was replaced the following year by the first modern rural school building in the county, and two teachers were employed.  The new building was about 45 feet long by 35 feet wide.  A hallway divided the building into three rooms.  The first through fourth grades met in the room on left as one entered the building and the fifth through the seventh met the room on the right.  The rear room held the other four grades (8-11).  A fireplace on the north end of the building and a wood burning stove in the center of the school served as the heat.

After the merger of the Docum school into Robinson Springs, another teacher was added and was quickly followed by a fourth. The largest enrollment was 147 students.  The school was accredited in 1929. In 1935 the school consolidated into De Leon and Desdemona.   The building was sold in 1964 and moved off the land which had initially been contributed by C.W. Park.

The teacher in this photo, O.H. Moore went on to teach for a total of forty-four years, including stints as the principal of De Leon’s North Ward.  He served two terms in the Legislature and six years as Justice of the Peace in De Leon.

The first teacher was Miss Beatrice Robinson.  Others included: Miss Bean Brumbelow, Mrs. Mildred Miller, Miss Callie Hornsby, Mrs. Katie Kuhn, Mrs. Bess Brumbelow, Mr. Emmett Howard, Mrs. Hezzie Dean, Mr. Lovell Little, Mrs. Thessel Lowery, Mrs Twala Macon, Mrs. Lela Mohon, and Opal Howard.  The superintendents included: D.A. Brown, O.H Moore, B.H. Mason, Mr. Reynolds, Perry Moring, and W.E. Heatly.