Almyra School

Almyra School was located about a quarter-mile west of Baker's Crossroads in northern White County, on Burgess Falls Road. The site is about a half mile away from the present location of Almyra United Methodist Church. Opened in the early 1890s, Almyra served the educational needs of the community until it was consolidated in 1966.
==Formation and early years==
Due to overcrowding at the nearby Macedonia School prior to an 1891 fire which destroyed that schoolhouse (forcing local students to attend a temporary subscription school called Golden Academy), that year the community undertook a project to build a combination Methodist church and schoolhouse. On April 2, 1894, William Thomas Doan and wife Almyra donated a half-acre to the trustees of the as-yet-unnamed school.  The deed stipulated that:
: “the land is to be used for the purpose of building a school house with full Church privileges to the Methodist and Episcopal Church South, and the Cumberland Presbyterians to preach in so long as it is used for the purpose herein expressed. In the event it is abandoned the land is to fall back to the original tract.”
The generosity of the couple inspired the community to name the school in the honor of Almyra McConnell Doan. Many of the citizens devoted their time and talents to the construction. Louis Wilhite donated trees to be sawed into boards. John and Wayne Southard erected the building's frame. The head carpenter was Tom Goodwin, and some material was brought in from as far away as Dry Valley, in Putnam County.
When completed, Almyra was a one-room schoolhouse, designed to hold 80 to 100 students, with two teachers. The students and teachers were to get fresh water from the nearby John Goodwin spring. Before classes could start, the building was inaugurated with a singing school taught by Tilman Howell and others.
The first teacher was Jeff Sims. He served three years at Almyra for $25 a month.
In 1937, the school's trustees, D.M. Southard and Jesse Farley, sold a parcel of land (presumably containing the schoolhouse) to the county Board of Education for the nominal sum of $1.00.
==New building==
As the community grew, the need for a larger, more modern schoolhouse became evident. On August 8, 1950 Dallas and Mollie Goodwin sold one and a half acres of land for $375 to the Board of Education for the purpose of erecting a new building directly behind the old school/church. When completed, Almyra had a cafeteria, coal heaters, and dividing walls that could be closed for privacy, but opened to create a large space for communal activity. The school was also serviced by the county's bussing system, and around this time Eller's Ridge and Carter Seminary Schools were consolidated into Almyra. The first two teachers to work in the new building were Delois Reed Cooper (grades 1-4) and Linnie Erwin Goodwin (5-8).
At this time, Almyra had four basketball teams, cheerleaders, a 4-H club, and a volleyball team, impressive for a school of its size. Basketball was played outdoors on a dirt court.
==Consolidation==
In 1966, Almyra School was closed, a casualty of the county's efforts to consolidate the smaller two- and three-teacher schools. The students were sent to a large, new building at Findlay Elementary School, on the northern side of Sparta. Other schools consolidated into Findlay at this time were Old Zion, Cole's Chapel, Fountain Head, and Black Oak, with Yankeetown following the next year.
==List of teachers==
*Claude Austin
*Pasco Tollison Clark
*Kitty Lou Fisk Carson
*Delois Reed Cooper (1950-?)
*Guy Cooper
*Willene Millsap Cooper
*Mollie Bandy Crook
*William Thomas Doan (likely the early years)
*James Fletcher Erwin
*Linne Erwin Goodwin (1950-?)
*Charles Hennessee
*Ammon Hitchcock
*Arah Saylors Howard
*Robert Franklin Howard
*Jenny Kinnaird Howell
*Ethel Keathley
*Herbert M. Keathley
*Mattie Kerr
*Mattie Lee Saylors Kline
*Elizabeth Lee
*Martha Lee Little
*Nora Matheney
*Mrs. Herman Mitchell
*Vinnie Knowles McPeak
*Elise Brown Morris
*Reba Hickey Nash
*Ruth Erwin Newsome
*Gladys Green Pedigo
*Margie Scott Phillips
*Anne Lee Green Price
*Janey Ruth England Price
*Erston Roberts
*Bessie Sorrell Rogers
*Bernice Howard Saylors
*Bethel Saylors
*Betty Lee Saylors
*Clair Saylors
*Cordell Saylors
*Florence Saylors
*Gertrude Saylors
*Payla Brown Saylors
*Fate Scott
*Janie Borden Scott
*Kate Scott
*Taylor Scott
*Jessie L. Broyles Sewell
*Myrtle Frasier Shelton
*Mildred Golden Sherrell
*Jeff Sims (1890s)
*Frank Southard
*Lorine Southard
*Sallie Wilson
==References==
*White County Retired Teachers' Association. Schools of White County Tennessee 1806-2006. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2006.
Category:Defunct White County schools
Category:Baker's Crossroads