Kirkland Elementary School for African American Students

Kirkland Elementary School for African American Students. . , This school was "separate but equal" in the time of segregation. Prior accommodations included dilapidated buildings, cast-off desks and books from the white schools, and an outhouse. In 1953, fearing desegregation, the Williamson Co. Board of Education purchased land from Abb Scales, a prominent Black entrepreneur. In the Fall of 1954, the new Kirkland School opened, with Allison's Chapel, Huntsville, Locust Ridge. Green Grove, and Patton Chapel Elementary Schools being consolidated. The new concrete block school had six classrooms, in-door toilets, a kitchen, and a central heat system for the cost of $71,000. The teachers could teach in a school with a new desk for each student. Hot meals were prepared daily., The first faculty: principal, Professor W.B. Covington, and six teachers, Vella Moody, Pattie Taylor, Hattie Louise Reams, Maudell Dotson, Nannie Lanier, and Annie Patton, taught the students to. always do their best in every area of their lives. In 1965, Williamson Co. Schools were desegregated. Grades one through four went to Kirkland School, and grades five through eight went to College Grove. In 1975. when Page High School opened, all elementary students went to College Grove. and Kirkland Elementary was closed. The Board of Education sold the school in an auction on December 11, 1976, much to the disappointment of the Kirkland community, who cherished the school building as a center for community activities.