[Granville-Hough] 13 Aug 2009 - Sullivan's Hollow School (New Haven)
Trustees for Granville W. Hough
gwhough at oakapple.net
Thu Dec 2 05:55:12 PST 2010
Sullivans Hollow School (New Haven).
In my youth, the majority of the
Sullivans attended New Haven Grade School, then Mize High School. But it
had taken New Haven sixteen years to evolve. What was available before
1900 is not recorded in the WPA History of Smith County. The Howell
School began in 1900 and was taught by Johnanna Beavers, William and
Bertha McLaurin, and Ludie Anderson. Their 40 pupils were all named
Sullivan except for three. Forest Hill School was built in 1908 and was
taught by King Oliver Sullivan and others. It took over Howell School in
1915. Darby School was set up in 1902 by Sullivans, Dardens, Tillsons
and Spells. My maternal uncle, Martin Richardson, was a teacher there,
along with King Oliver Sullivan and Earl Royals. Darby transferred to
Forest Hill in 1915. Two other schools were in the area, West Point and
Pleasant Hill. They must have predated 1900 as Victor Sullivan, killed
in 1899, had been a teacher at West Point. In 1916, they all
consolidated into a school district called New Haven and built a nice
building near the Cooley farm on the Mize-Mount Olive Road. It was an
unusually level area and there was a depression near the school where
water collected. For this reason, the popular name for the school was
Frog Pond. On a few occasions, the winters were cold enough for the
pond to freeze and give the children a chance to frolic on the ice.
Uncle Luke Richardson taught at New Haven, and the Principal for many
years was King Oliver Sullivan, whose handy paddle became well known to
the author. The Richardson children of Uncle Luke and Uncle Sid
Richardson attended school there, along with all sorts of Sullivan
descendants. The WPA history indicates that high school work was
included at New Haven until 1933, but that seems incorrect to me. I
think the year of consolidation was more likely 1923, or some 1920
decade year, certainly not as late as 1933. What the writers assumed was
that New Haven had a high school until the Smith County Agricultural
High School (with boarding facilities for students from any part of the
county) was changed into the Mize High School, which essentially served
Beat 3 with busses, but with no boarding facilities. I do not see how
New Haven could have had high school work in 1933, but I was only eleven
years old at the time.
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