Turkey Creek School

Turkey Creek School. . , Turkey Creek School was established in 1873 in a one room log cabin at Beaty's Corner. By 1903, two small schools (Bledsoe and Pleasant Grove) were consolidated into the Turkey Creek School on property located along Edwards Road., It was one of several schools built in eastern Hillsborough County that operated under the "Strawberry School" concept. These schools operated on a schedule dictated by the winter strawberry growing season. The students would attend school from March to December so that during school vacation they were able to work in the fields or packing houses. The early farm families depended greatly on their children for the planting, cultivating, harvesting, and packing of strawberries. This was essential to the local economy, providing the necessary labor for the small farms which depended primarily upon family labor and sharecropping., In the 1950s the future of the "Strawberry School" concept was debated. Conditions on the farms had changed and subsequently the era ended on July 27, 1956., In 1908, the initial five-acre property at the current site was purchased by the Hillsborough County School Board from Tampa Bay Land and Lumber Company. A new two-story frame building was built. In 1908 and 1909 there were 6 graduates of the Turkey Creek, Senior High School. In 1910 the school board closed the senior high school and reduced the course work to include grades 1 through 8. The school continued as a grade school from 1910-1928., In 1927, a new 2-story brick building was completed. High school courses were again added to the Turkey Creek School. The next senior high graduating class was in 1932 and this continued through 1972., In 1938, a new 2-story brick building became the elementary school after the new U-shaped building was completed by the WPA. In 1961 the elementary grades were moved to the new J.S. Robinson Elementary School, just north of the campus., In 1972, the senior high school ceased operation due to consolidation of Turkey Creek, Pinecrest, Plant City, and Marshall high schools, forming the new Plant City Consolidated Senior High School. The school operated as a junior high and later became Turkey Creek Middle School in 1995., Modifications and expansions to the school campus occurred during 1963, 1977, 1986 and 1998., The Turkey Creek School reflects the pride the community has in its rural heritage and children. This 2-story brick building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.