Urbanna School

Urbanna School. Urbanna, Virginia. Taber Park was once home to Urbanna High School, later known as Urbanna Graded School. The two-story brick school building then located here was completed in 1911 by Sidney Muire as a state-of-the-art school facility. It served elementary and secondary town and area students until 1925 when it became strictly an elementary school. Although never a state accredited high school, graduations were held and diplomas awarded. Urbanna School closed mid-term of 1962, when Middlesex County consolidated elementary schools in expectation of Civil Rights Act of 1964. The downstairs had four classrooms and upstairs had a cafeteria/stage/auditorium, two classrooms and a film projector room where students in the pre-television era watched educational films on hygiene, travel and nature. The school was the first public school in Middlesex County to serve hot lunches. In February 1924, women of the Urbanna League (PTA) started serving hot soup and cocoa daily. The highlight of each year was the annual May Day celebration in which boys and girls in the highest grade were given the honor of dancing around the maypole. The finale came with the crowning of the May Day king and queen. Vacated after school closed in 1962, the Urbanna School building was torn down in 1972 and the property was named Taber Park in honor of Town benefactor Dr. C. Wellington Taber. Dr. Taber retired to Urbanna in 1945 and when he died left a valuable trust to the town.