BUILDING BLOCKS OF
EDUCATION
T
BY ELIZABETH KANE
he development of the education system in Chatham County has a unique history all its own, from the humble beginnings of oneroom schoolhouses to 18 schools that serve the needs of 8,810 students each day. This is the story of an evolving community that continues to exhibit strength, grit and innovation with each passing decade.
EARLY START
I
n “A Brief History of the Schools of Chatham County” written by Jane Pyle in 2009, she states: “Chatham’s first and best-known academy was the Pittsborough Academy, established by state charter in 1787, with the name persisting into the 20th century.” Records show that public education began in 1839, Jane writes, “with a local vote approving the recently enacted common school law and setting up 35 districts.” These very early schools, public or common schools, in Chatham County “typically had one teacher, met for only five months and taught only the ‘three Rs.’” (Historically speaking, the “three Rs” were referred to as reading, writing and arithmetic.) “Oral tradition says that the first African American school may have started as early as 1853; the first deed recording for a non-white school was in 1869, for Haywood,” another academy.
erect new buildings and to truck older students to larger schools. (Buses were not introduced until later.)” Schools worked to offer secondary education (high school) from then on, but didn’t offer the 12th grade. (That wasn’t added until 1941.) Surprisingly, Jane writes, “only a few references to World War II appear in the county school board minutes: Wood stoves were being replaced by coal stoves because of a labor shortage and cost of wood; the War Production Board requested one-fourth of the inventory of typewriters from business departments; and schools were put on short schedules in 1943-44 to free pupils for farm work.”
MOVING ON TO BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS
DESPITE RACIAL CHALLENGES, A COMMUNITY UNITES
A
t some point during the 1920s, Jane states, “Chatham’s Board of Education began to eliminate its many one-room schoolhouses to
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CHATHAM MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2021
L
esley Richardson, a volunteer with the Chatham County Historical Association,
explains, “Pittsboro High and Horton High came together to form Northwood