Etowah NC Heritage
  • Home
  • SPECIAL
    • Virtual Tour of Selected Historic Places
    • History Displays in Etowah & Library Notebooks
    • Etowah Heritage Day 2019 - 130 Years
    • Etowah Treasures Exhibit, Sept/Oct 2019
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Maps
    • Memorabilia
    • Places, Early Homes, Other
    • French Broad River & Valley Views
    • People - early times
    • People - later times
    • People - Gash Family descendants
    • Veterans
  • HIST. I
    • Timeline
    • Maps - 1838 Formation of Henderson County
    • Etowah History Notes - Research To Date
    • 1889 Money, then Etowah
    • Etowah - Creek/Muskogee Translation
    • How Etowah Got Its Name
    • Postmasters 1889 - 1968
    • Etowah Train Depot - 1895 >
      • Trains of Etowah
    • The Railroad - Hendersonville to Toxaway
  • HIST. II
    • 1900 U.S. Census
    • Farms of Early Etowah
    • Historic Etowah High School 1928 - 1960 >
      • 1st Annual 1938 -The Chief
      • Little Chief - Gleanings from
      • Students & Faculty EHS
      • EHS Memorabilia
      • Etowah High School - Memorial Plaque 2014 - HCEHI
    • Historic Schools 1800s - 1928 >
      • Etowah Institute 1911
    • Schools of Nearby Communities
    • Historic Churches
    • Historic Cemeteries >
      • Thomas-Fletcher Cemetery
      • Adopt-A-Cemetery: Thomas-Fletcher
  • HIST. III
    • Sheriff Robert Thomas
    • Civil War Union Monument
    • Orr Cabin Homeplace - early 1800s
    • Mountain Lily - 1881
    • Welsh Colony 1880s
    • Grist Mills
    • Shape Note Traditions
  • HIST. IV
    • Community Fairs 1938-1941, 1950s
    • Stores of Early Etowah
    • McKinna General Store
    • More Business Ads 1938 - 1960+
    • "Etowah Brick" Moland-Drysdale Corp. - 1923
    • Calx Mfg. Company - 1919
    • Camp Peep-Out - 1935
    • Etowah Grange #984 - 1937 >
      • Grange - 25th Anniversary 1937-1962
      • Grange Quilt - 1953
  • HIST. V
    • 1952 - Hatheway Floral Company
    • 1954 - Etowah Lions Club, Park & More
    • 1960s - Growing & Changing
    • 1964 - Etowah / Horse Shoe Volunteer Fire
    • 1966 - Water & Sewer System, Tower
    • 1966 - Etowah Riding Club
    • 1982 - A Library Comes to Etowah
  • Stories
    • Eade Anderson, Reverend
    • Lois Adcock Bayne
    • Emma Louise Curtis Bradley
    • Richard Brown
    • Patricia Bell Cantrell
    • Jerri Whiteside Lambeth
    • Wanda Sumner Love
    • David S. Mallett
    • Opal Dalton Parkinson
    • Jeannie Huggins Revis
    • Glenda Maxwell Simpson
    • Marylin Annette Jones Thomas
    • "The Follies" & "Matilda's Folly"
  • About
 HISTORIC  ETOWAH HIGH SCHOOL
 Established 1928  -  1960

Grades 1 - 11
12th Grade added in 1945

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Etowah School, 1928 - 2002, designed by architect Earl Stillwell. Present day Etowah Elementary preserves one of the arch entries.
Excerpt from the 1939 "Chief" school annual

" In 1928, a great forward step was taken in the educational system of Etowah, when the Horse Shoe, Rhymer, Pleasant Grove, Big Willow and Boylston schools were consolidated with Etowah, and the present modern building was erected.  Mr. Ralph W. Jones has served efficiently as principal since opening of the high school.

   In 1928-1929, while the new building was under construction, the high school classes were taught in the Baptist Church.  Mr. and Mrs. Jones were the teachers and there were only six graduates of the first class.  The children of the grammar grades remained at the various elementary schools of the district until the opening of the 1929-1930 session."
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Henderson County Schools
operating in 1928 - 1929  school year
as shown on  the  reverse side
of a student's report card.

Etowah's  enrollment  is listed as 283 students
with an average attendance of 212.
Promotions, 217.
  • 1928     Etowah School opened, constructed of brick from Moland-Drysdale Corporation, aka "the Etowah Brickyard"
  • 1929     Six graduates in first class:  Carl Cantrell, Coy Greer, Mattie Hamilton, Willie B. Laughter, Ada Orr, and Miriam Weese
  • 1940     Vocational Building built
  • 1944     Last class to graduate 11th grade seniors
  • 1945     12th graded added
  • 1959     Cafeteria built
  • 1960     Last class to graduate as high school
  • 1960     High School students moved to West Henderson High
  • 1973     Junior High students moved to Rugby Junior High School (now Rugby Middle)
  • 2002     Original 1928 school demolished, new elementary school built behind original school

Construction of Etowah School, 1927 Notes
from Minutes of Henderson County Board of Education
​
  • Aug 8, 1927     The Commissioners agreed to furnish funds for the following projects:  Etowah  $50,000; Dana $50,000; Bat Cave  $15,000; Brickton Colored   $2,500.
  • Oct 3, 1927     Mr. [Earl] Stillwell presented the plans for the Etowah school building to the Board for their approval.  The Board approved the plans and directed Mr. Stillwell to advertise for bids on same.
  • Nov 14, 1927     The object of the meeting was to receive bids for the erection of a new consolidated school building at Etowah.  The following bidgs were received and accepted:
             General contract  -  Jones & Justus, $57,770
             Plumbing Contract - J. L. Powers, $4,545
             Heating Contract - J. L. Powers, $6, 793
             Wiring Contract - Hendersonville Electric Co., $1,345
             Total:  $70,453
  • Dec 5, 1927     The Board received bids for the installation of a water system for the Etowah school.
  • Mar 5, 1928     In the matter of an electric line for the Etowah school building, the Board agreed to accept the proposition of Mr. Picklesiemer of the Brevard Power Co. to build a line to the building and furnish a transformer for the amount of $500.

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Photo from 1947 Etowah School annual, "The Chief." The smaller building on the far right is the Cannery, operated by the Etowah Grange. Behind the main building is the Vocation School. In the surrounding farm fields are corn shocks from the harvest.
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Photo courtesy of Henderson County Education History Initiative
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Photo courtesy of Henderson County Education History Initiative
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Photo courtesy of Henderson County Education History Initiative

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"The Etowah School with four hundred seventy three (473) students and seventeen (17) teachers
has never had a lunch room."

I
n 1957, Lions Club President Robert E. Greer wrote a letter
to the Times-News explaining the need for a lunch room
for Etowah School.
Greer describes the Cannery, which served as the school's lunch room for ten years, 1947 - 1958.  "Although the building was well designed and constructed for a cannery, it is not satisfactory for a school lunch room.  There is no ceiling overhead; the floor is made of concrete with open drains which must be covered with planks. ... Repeated attempts at poisoning have failed to keep the rats out. ... An attempt has been made to heat the building with two coal heaters; but in cold weather students near the stoves get too hot while others get too cold."

​1959 Chief:  "For several years we have needed a new cafeteria at Etowah.  Finally, funds were made available for the building and construction was started in the spring of 1958.  After watching and waiting, somewhat impatiently, we were served our first hot lunch on November 4, 1958."

More about the Etowah Lions Club

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A photograph from the 1947 Chief - students having lunch in the Etowah Grange Cannery near the main school building. Pictured above, students having lunch at the Etowah Grange Cannery. L to R: Ellen Jean Fletcher, Bruce Hollingsworth, Euva Sentelle, Nell Allison, ? , Lena Bates, Sally Cantrell ?, Elizabeth Gossett, Marvin Orr, ? , Inez Johnson, ( ? ). Corrections, please contact the website.


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Brick sign constructed by Harold Allison; Chief emblem painted by Gene Corn. This structure did not survive the 2002 demolition.

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The new Etowah Elementary School - established 2002

The photo to the left shows the original 1928 school just before demolition which took place the week of June 3, 2002.  Behind the 1928 school is the new school we see today.  Care was taken to relocate one of the two arched concrete entrances to the new Etowah Elementary School. The other arched entrance was damaged in the tear down (below, left).

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Gleanings from . . .
​The Hi (Hy) -Tower  -  1928 & 1937
The Little Chief  -  1946 & 1947

Students & Faculty EHS

2014 Dedication of Etowah High School Historic Marker 
 Henderson County Education History Initiative


  • Home
  • SPECIAL
    • Virtual Tour of Selected Historic Places
    • History Displays in Etowah & Library Notebooks
    • Etowah Heritage Day 2019 - 130 Years
    • Etowah Treasures Exhibit, Sept/Oct 2019
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Maps
    • Memorabilia
    • Places, Early Homes, Other
    • French Broad River & Valley Views
    • People - early times
    • People - later times
    • People - Gash Family descendants
    • Veterans
  • HIST. I
    • Timeline
    • Maps - 1838 Formation of Henderson County
    • Etowah History Notes - Research To Date
    • 1889 Money, then Etowah
    • Etowah - Creek/Muskogee Translation
    • How Etowah Got Its Name
    • Postmasters 1889 - 1968
    • Etowah Train Depot - 1895 >
      • Trains of Etowah
    • The Railroad - Hendersonville to Toxaway
  • HIST. II
    • 1900 U.S. Census
    • Farms of Early Etowah
    • Historic Etowah High School 1928 - 1960 >
      • 1st Annual 1938 -The Chief
      • Little Chief - Gleanings from
      • Students & Faculty EHS
      • EHS Memorabilia
      • Etowah High School - Memorial Plaque 2014 - HCEHI
    • Historic Schools 1800s - 1928 >
      • Etowah Institute 1911
    • Schools of Nearby Communities
    • Historic Churches
    • Historic Cemeteries >
      • Thomas-Fletcher Cemetery
      • Adopt-A-Cemetery: Thomas-Fletcher
  • HIST. III
    • Sheriff Robert Thomas
    • Civil War Union Monument
    • Orr Cabin Homeplace - early 1800s
    • Mountain Lily - 1881
    • Welsh Colony 1880s
    • Grist Mills
    • Shape Note Traditions
  • HIST. IV
    • Community Fairs 1938-1941, 1950s
    • Stores of Early Etowah
    • McKinna General Store
    • More Business Ads 1938 - 1960+
    • "Etowah Brick" Moland-Drysdale Corp. - 1923
    • Calx Mfg. Company - 1919
    • Camp Peep-Out - 1935
    • Etowah Grange #984 - 1937 >
      • Grange - 25th Anniversary 1937-1962
      • Grange Quilt - 1953
  • HIST. V
    • 1952 - Hatheway Floral Company
    • 1954 - Etowah Lions Club, Park & More
    • 1960s - Growing & Changing
    • 1964 - Etowah / Horse Shoe Volunteer Fire
    • 1966 - Water & Sewer System, Tower
    • 1966 - Etowah Riding Club
    • 1982 - A Library Comes to Etowah
  • Stories
    • Eade Anderson, Reverend
    • Lois Adcock Bayne
    • Emma Louise Curtis Bradley
    • Richard Brown
    • Patricia Bell Cantrell
    • Jerri Whiteside Lambeth
    • Wanda Sumner Love
    • David S. Mallett
    • Opal Dalton Parkinson
    • Jeannie Huggins Revis
    • Glenda Maxwell Simpson
    • Marylin Annette Jones Thomas
    • "The Follies" & "Matilda's Folly"
  • About