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Farming For A Better Future, page 305
The school was founded as the Bush Arbor School. Ms. Maggie Whitson was the first teacher and Mr. Hence Yarbrough was trustee of the one-room log building with a lean-to. At one point the school was moved to the farm of trustee Mr. Edmund Shoulders and renamed the Poplar Creek School.
The school grew and, in 1939, moved again to a newly constructed building with three teachers and became a Junior High School. By 1947, it was an elementary school again with Mrs. G.B. Willis and Mrs. N.B. Fletcher as teachers. Mr. Sam Bell, Jake French, and Charlie Fletcher served as trustees. The 1951 topographic map shows the school next to the church.
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Quarter Lot Cemetery
The Quarter Lot Cemetery is located south of Old Highway 20 between Bella Mina and Greenbrier.
This African American cemetery has 20 to 30 grave markers and over 100 unmarked burials. The first known interment is Lucinda Jones (died 1886). Other surnames here include Davis, Johnson, and Thatch.
(Below) 1938 USGS Topographic Map
Showing Quarter Lot Cemetery
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Red Hill School*
Red Hill School was located along U.S. 72 in the Coxey community of southwest Limestone County. The school started holding classes in a Baptist church around 1935. Ms. Pearlene Leslie was the first teacher. Other teachers who have served here included Mrs. Lula Dobbins, Mrs. Ruth Redus, Mrs. Nannie E. Horton and Mr. Thomas Witt. In the early 1940s, the playground equipment was upgraded and attendance rose due to transportation improvements.
(Top Left) 1938 USGS Topographic Map Showing the Red Hill School (Left) Students and Teachers of the Red Hill School
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St. John School*
Located northeast of Athens along Ardmore Highway at Oakland Road, St. John School was started in the 1890s in a Primitive Baptist church. Sometime in the early 20th century, an acre of land was purchased by the community along with the old school building from the formerly white St. John School.
Little else is known about the school other than those who have taught there, the trustees, and a notable graduate. Teachers over the decades included Mr. Moses Brooks, Rev. Robert Leslie, Mrs. Mary Horton, Ms. Leota Houston, Ms. Lona McWilliams, Mr. Jerome Scales, Mrs. E.B. McKissack, Ms. Verbena Matthews, Ms. Maggie Watkins, Mrs. A.B. McLain, and Mrs. Belah Hill. The last three taught there for more than 25 years. The school trustees included Mr. W.L. Rainey, Mr. Edd Streeter, Mr. L.C. Hanserd, Mr. H.T. Redus, Mr. T. Cox, Mr. L.C. Cox, and Mr. R.L. Leslie. St. John School graduate Robert Penn went on to be a municipal judge in Toledo, Ohio and attended the 1953 NAACP convention with Thurgood Marshall who discussed the upcoming Brown vs. Board of Education case with him and others.
305 - LIMESTONE - (4833)