Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Place.....Wynnton School ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 June 2, 2007, 7:53 pm Source: Sesquicentennal Supplement IV, Ledger-Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/wynntons13416gph.jpg Image file size: 34.9 Kb Wynnton School Has Long, Varied History By Clason Kyle Sesquicentennial Editor Little red brick school buildings are an intergral part of America, as basic as the Bill of Rights, as fundamental as our motta 'In God We Trust,' as sentimentally admired for their simplicity as Greek Revival is revered for its columned splendor. Such an edifice - now stuccoed and painted white -exists in Columbus, and is considered the oldest such building in continuous use as a school facility in the State of Georgia. It is the library of Wynnton Grammar School. Built in 1843, the building has seen many uses, but all of them have pertained to education. It has been a two- room class building, an armory for a boys military school, a cafeteria and now is a library with over 4,500 books categorized as "easy," "junior fiction" and "Youth." Once freestanding in a grove af trees, the "Red Brick School" has been practically enveloped by encroaching tenacles of an ever-expanding Wynnton School. Today it is located between the cafeteria and auditorium, an appendage of a classroom wing, and totally hidden from Forest and Wildwood avenues and from the Wynnton Road. Only from inside the grounds can the one-room building be seen. Over an elaborate marbel mantel in the "Red Brick School" a mantel that obviously is not original but is from the farmer Owsley-Shanks estate on the Wynnton Road -are the words "Wynnton Academy, June 17, 1843." The interior of the one-room building has exposed brick walls. There is no paneling, no plastering. And the words "Wynnton Academy, June 17, 1843" were carved by an unknown sculptor - obviously the handiwork af an untutored even untalented - would-be Michelangelo! Mrs. Murphey Pound Jr. - "I'm the self-appointed historian and toucher-up of the building"- painted in gray the letters and the numerals, so that they are now easily readable. "Many people and children never even knew it was there," she observed. "But I bet my grandmother Golden knew it. Her family lived out on the Macon Road and she went there to school." Another self-appointed historian who has extensive family ties to' the "Red Brick School' is Watkins Dimon. "A member or members of each generation of my family has attended school at Wynnton since it was built," he said, then traced the pupils. The first were the 11 children of banker-planter John Banks, the ancestor who built the handsome home - "The Cedars" - in which Dimon and his family live. One of the daughters, Josephine, married G.J. Peacock, and their four children attended, including Sallie Peacock Dimon, who was Dimon's mother. "Their six children attended, of which I am one, and my two Sons, Jimmy and Sammy, have also. According to the late historian, Mrs. Etta Blanchard Worsley in "Columbus on the Chattahoochee," two academies were started in Wynnton, the Female Academy - "situated exactly where Mr. John F. FlournoY later built his home" - and the Male Academy, 'which became famous as the 'Red Brick Sohoolhouse', where it is today used as a school library of the Wynnton Grammar School. It is the oldest elementary school still in use in Georgia." The primary proponent in education was Colonel John Banks, who moved to Columbus from Elbert, Ga., in 1836 and built "The Cedars". With his many children, Col. Banks was naturally anxious that a school be started. So-along with James M. Chambers, Van Leonard, A.H. Flewellen and Colonel William L. Wynn, the movement "was perfected setting apart about four acres of land for use as an academy for girls; and not far from this location about six were provided to be held in perpetuity by trustees for an academy for boys. The lots selected were beautiful sites and attest to this day the wisdom of these early settlers of Wynnton. Later, the Banks family gave other acreage to Wynnton School," continued Mrs. Worsley. Dimon also recalled that the rooms were heated with pot-bellied stoves, that absolutely devoured wood and coal. "The honor students were allowed to get out and bring in the wood and help keep the fire. And every morning, we'd draw a bucket of water from the well and there was one dipper for all to drink from!" Another person who remembered the pot-bellied stoves and the open fireplaces was the late Mrs. W. Cooper Campbell, who, in a 1964 interview said: "I graduated from Columbus High School - it was located then in downtown Columbus on 11th Street in 1903, and from Wesleyan College in Macon in 1905. Upon graduation, I went to teach at Wynnton. At first, I helped Miss Leila Kendrick in the first grade-, B.K. Scott was principal-then I taught the fourth and sometimes the fifth grades until 1910. We didn't always have enough pupils to make up separate grades, so they were occasionally combined. I was paid the grand total of $40 per month for teaching, and we brought our own lunches. There was no cafeteria then. The late Mrs. Frank Bradley started the cafeteria and all the mothers helped." Travel to and from the school at the time of Mrs. Campbell's tenure at Wynnton was by streetcar, a streetcar that followed the old Dummy Line. In the annual catalogue of "Wynnton College, Male and Female, Columbus, Georgia, 1890- 91," is the statement that "Parents whose children come on the Dummy Line may rest assured that they will be fully protected. A teacher will be on the 8:30 a.m. and the 3:30 p.m. train and pupils will be considered under his charge from the time they enter until they leave the car." In another 1964 Interview, the late Miss Jessie Fortson, former Muscogee County Home Demonstration Agent, described another method of getting to school. Miss Jessie remembered leaving home at Gentian "'fore light in the winter months. And the house lamps would be burning when we got back." "My father sent us into Wynnton in a buggy behind my pony. On the way to school, we'd pick up five more students, Mary Yonge, Bessie and Fannie Neill, and the last two were Frank and Cecil Garrard. They'd ride outside the buggy on the axle!" "The school, you know, had separate grounds; one for the boys and one for us girls. But we met at lunch time and shared," said Miss Jessie. On this subject, the catalogue said, "The female department is located in a new, thoroughly modern three-room school building, well lighted, fully ventilated and nicely furnished with single desks. A commodious building was erected last year for the male department. These are separated by a large grove. This, together with the use of separate grounds, will effectively prevent any intercourse between the two departments." The catalogue went on to point out that the college was located on the Dummy Line, and afforded "all the advantages of the city, while every temptation is removed. There is not a saloon within a mile and a half of the grounds." Miss Jessie remembered the "three rooms and a porch" that the girls used, as well as the "four or maybe five" rooms that the boys used. "Music and art under Miss Mary Kivlin and Miss Maymie Banks used one room, Latin and French was in another under Mrs. Lula Lamar Strother, and then the primary department had a room with Miss Maggie Meagley. "Captain E. L. Darst, who had graduated with distinction from Virginia Military Institute in 1886, was in charge of higher mathematics and also the military department for the boys. The boys stored their guns in the 'Red Brick School' and used it as an armory," reported Miss Jessie. President of the Wynnton College was W.E. Meagley. , Miss Jessie explained that "The Meagleys lived at Hilton, the Howard Bickerstaff home, and this is where the school parties were held!" Also some students boarded there. In his "fourth annual announcement," Meagley wrote, "The growth of our school has been phenominal. Three years ago we opened with but 15 pupils; last year we had an enrollment of 164. Three years ago we did not have a pupil from the city; last year we had 60. Three years ago we opened with but one room and that poorly furnished; next year we shall have nine and all nicely furnished. We have under, present management, rapidly developed from a broken down mixed school, into two standard institutions, one of each sex, and both under a most able and efficient faculty of trained instructors." Meageley's statement and opinion regarding school government is unique, and certainly refreshing today. He said that school government will be in the hands of the president, and "as every student knows full well the difference between right and wrong, we consider it unnecessary to formulate any code of rules in regard to the same." Today at Wynnton, the cafeteria is no longer located in the little "Red Brick" building. A cafeteria was built along with the auditorium in 1948. There are now some 900 students at Wynnton, all receiving fine, nourishing fare. A former Wynnton pupil- recalled her days there during the '30s. "I was allowed $.25 a day, and I spent $.05 at Little Recess, and $.20 at lunch and Big Recess. Mrs. Tom Cooper ran the cafeteria at that time, and this $.20 would buy a 14,000 calorie lunch. It seems like I remember delicious creamed potatoes everyday and I looked like I had been blown up by a tire pump!" The State of Georgia's constitution provided for the establishment of schools in each county at the expense of the state. The first educational institution in Muscogee County came the same year the city was founded, 1828. It was named Muscogee Academy. Other academies in the county, courtesy records made available by Nathan Patterson of the Muscogee County School System, were Upatoi Academy, incorporated 1832, Jefferson Academy, 1833; Mt. Pleasant Academy, 1835; Summer Retreat Academy, 1836; Hallock Academy, 1837. Hickory Academy, 1839. Wynnton Academy was incorporated July 17, 1843. In the 1840-1850s, the communities of Columbus and Wynnton, Ga., were separated by swamp and woodland, and the distance seemed far. One family, the Lambert Spencers, even had a summer home in Wynnton, known as "The Elms" and now called "Wynnwood," the home of radio station WDAK. Pioneer citizen A, C. Flewellen left a description of Wynn's Hill-named for Col. Wm. L. Wynn-during that decade when travel between the two towns was accomplished more with dignity than speed. He wrote of the weekly procession of vehicles returning from church. "The retinue was so extended that the head of the column reached the summit before the rear vehicle had reached the ascent. The carriages were virtually chariots while each vehicle was lustrous with paint and gilt, and horses vied in blood and trappings." Wynnton apparently was as devoid of churches as it was of saloons! In the year that the "Little Red Brick School" was built, the income of the city of Columbus was $20,000, with $5,000 municipal expenses. Other City taxes were slaves, 25 cents; free persons of color, $6; licenses to practice law, medicine and brokerage, $4 and a liquor license was $25. Times change and total city taxes for 1978 amounted to nearly 22 million dollars, and the "Little Red Brick Sbool" is now painted white! Yep. 135 years make a difference. Special Sesquicentennal Supplement IV Ledger - Enquirer, Sunday, May 7, 1978, S-22 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/wynntons13416gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 12.1 Kb