Oak Ridge Public School
Opened 1925
The Oak Ridge Public School had a capacity for 123 students and served grades 1-8. The structure contained six classrooms and had two indoor flush toilets, but no cafeteria or gymnasium. The center of the original building included a stage and auditorium which seated 300. In 1937, an office/library was created and in 1959, a community public library was located within the school. The cost of the structure in 1925 was $30,552. In 2006, the old building was incorporated during a $13 million expansion of the school and was renamed the Thomas F. and Carolyn C. Brown Historic Wing.
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This school replaced several one and two-room schools in Oak Ridge township, including a log school (approx. 1/4-mile from here), and a frame-built school used in the early 1900s. The original Station 15 of the Oak Ridge Fire Department was located in a separate building on the property 1954-2004.
For over 75 years, the school was used for community events such as meetings, festivals and the annual Fiddler's Convention. During the 1930s-1950s traveling musicians of national acclaim performed here, including Bill and Charlie Monroe, Stringbean and Grandpa Jones. A grandstand stood behind the school and was the site of the baseball games and events associated with the annual Oak Ridge Horse Show. Oak Ridge Public School served as an integral part of this community and remains a beloved part of this town. A small community museum was established within the historic structure in 2006.
Marker is on Oak Ridge Road 0.2 miles west of Linville Road, on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
