Bland Schools Overview

The first school in Bland was taught in the building now occupied by the Newberry Funeral Home. School was also taught in the Primitive Baptist log church in the years before 1861. In the 1880's school was taught in the old Masonic Hall on Jackson Street. Elias Studebaker and his sons operated the school. The sons, George and Burrell, were said to be strict teachers. Another little one-room school stood on the property of Mrs. William Bird, about 3 miles east of the courthouse. In 1915, this school was relocated to Walkers Creek, replacing the Oak Hill school house that had burned down. This school soon became known as the Oak Dale School. A one-room school for the colored stood on the same site as the exhibit building on the Fair Grounds stands today. An old log building, which stands behind the Seddon Service Station, soon became the town's public schoolhouse. This building was tore down and another consisting of three rooms was erected at the same location. In 1909, this school became a three year high school; whereas before it was an ungraded school. In the year 1917, the present school was built. In the late 1920's and early 1930's, the school was becoming overpopulated. To solve this problem, the Fannon Hotel was used as supplementary classrooms. The Wagner Auditorium was built in 1937 to permanently solve this problem. Just off of the auditorium were two additional classrooms. In 1939, the building housing the Home Economics and the Vocational Agriculture Departments were completed.