Cornerstone of Education in Cochran

Cornerstone of Education in Cochran. “Cochran is chuck-full of educational facilities.” - Hawkinsville News. First settled as the community of Dykesboro in the 1830s, the City of Cochran was incorporated in 1869. The town was named after Judge Arthur E. Cochran, a prominent figure in local justice and railroad affairs, and founded on land donated by early resident Burrell B. Dykes. In 1872, Dykes deeded a one-acre lot at the corner of Dykes and Third Streets to a board of trustees, stipulating that the space be used for public education. Before the construction of a school building in Cochran, classes were held in private classrooms and churches. The first schoolhouse at this site was the Martha Ann Academy, a wood-framed building named in honor of Dykes' daughter. In 1913, the two-story brick Cochran High School replaced Martha Ann Academy. Equipped with a laboratory and library, The Cochran Journal hailed the new, modern building as the “pride of the city.” The Tessie W. Norris Cochran-Bleckley Library now stands at the site of Cochran's earliest public school buildings., A Growing City , By the 1920s, both the school and local government offices were in need of more space. The population of Cochran had increased by nearly twenty-five percent since the prior decade. In 1928, notable local builder John H. Mullis was contracted to complete a new City Hall and auditorium at the corner of Second and Dykes Streets. Constructed in the Colonial Revival architectural style, the building housed Cochran's City Hall, Fire Department, the town's first public library, the Woman's Club, and classroom space. The auditorium in this new building was used for graduation ceremonies until the early 1960s and leased out as a movie theater., With federal assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the City of Cochran used plans by Macon architectural firm Dennis and Dennis to build an elementary school building along Third Street, a gymnasium for high schoolers, and remodel the original 1913 high school building. Construction was completed in 1942 for an approximate cost of $85,000. Of these buildings, only the elementary school remains as the gym burned in a 1961 fire and the older school building was replaced with a modern library in 1986., Separate Schools and Separate Systems , Only white students were allowed to attend the Cochran Elementary and High Schools. Few documents detail the history of African American educational resources in Cochran, but records do show that African American teachers and schools received less funding and resources than their white counterparts. African American students were not offered a formal education in Georgia until after Emancipation. By 1914, when Bleckley County formally organized, there were sixteen schools for African American students. In Cochran, a school on Thomson Street served black students living in the Happy Hill community. Though they did not attend the school buildings here at Second and Dykes Streets, African American students from the Thomson Street school did use the city auditorium for performances on occasion. Bleckley County Schools were not fully integrated until 1970, sixteen years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision., Outside of Cochran, students attended schools administered by Bleckley County. In the 19th and early 20th century, one- and two-room schoolhouses served smaller communities in the area. With the purchase of school buses, students were able to attend larger consolidated schools. In 1977, Cochran's city schools were merged with the Bleckley County school system., A Legacy Continued, A Heritage Preserved , City Hall was relocated to West Dykes Street in 1966, and for two decades the 1928 municipal building was largely left vacant. The Auditorium Restoration Committee formed in 1991 and helped oversee renovations to the building. Today, the auditorium hosts civic and cultural events while the Cochran-Bleckley Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Development Authority, and Arts Alliance use the building's office spaces. The City of Cochran Police Department and Municipal Court occupy the former elementary school. With notable contributions to Cochran's educational, political, and women's history, the Cochran School and Municipal Buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003., [Captions] , . (Left) Cochran School and Municipal Building Vicinity , . (Middle) From left to right: A.A. Yelvington (construction superintendent), Mr. Johnson (WPA official), J.E. “Bud Ed” Hinson (foreman), Mr. Ragan (WPA official), and I.A. “Gus” Poole (mayor of Cochran) pose in front of the new Cochran Grammar School in the early 1940s (photograph by Clyde Hill, courtesy of Anne Hill Porter and Layne Greene, as published in Images of America by William Lonnie Barlow). , . (Right) A one-room African American schoolhouse in Bleckley County before and after WPA rebuilding program, 1936 (Courtesy Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia).