|
(after new members were in place), but then moved to rebuild the school as soon as
<br />possible. Further, they voted to "get copies of the plans and specifications for the building
<br />from the State Department of Education". 12 In June 1933, the Board elected to use plan #5 -A
<br />from the State Board of Education with minor modifications to be made by Chapel Hill
<br />architect H. D. Carter. 13 In July 1933, they awarded the construction contract to the Home
<br />Construction Company of Durham for $9400, the plumbing and heating contract to Paschall
<br />Brothers of Durham for $1459, and specified the use of brick from the Trollinger Brick
<br />Company in Mebane, North Carolina. 14 Construction continued through the fall of 1933 with
<br />the Board pproving the purchase of 225 auditorium chairs from the Carolina School Supply
<br />Company.' Additionally, in September 1933, the Board voted to include concrete walks and
<br />porch floors on the building instead of the wood porch floors previously specified. 16 The
<br />Board also voted to include a Delco light plant (a type of generator) that supplied electricity to
<br />the building. 17 Construction appears to have been completed by the late fall of 1933.
<br />According to information compiled by one of the current teachers, two bathrooms were added
<br />in 1937, one in the "sunhouse" and one in the "kitchen ". While no principals' reports were
<br />available for the school for 1933 -34 or 1935 -36, the report from 1940 -41 indicates that the
<br />school had four classrooms, an auditorium, four fountains, and five lavatories. The report
<br />also indicated that just seven years into its use the school was already overcrowded. With
<br />four teachers and 137 students in grades 1 -7 the report notes "too few teachers for too many
<br />PUP ils ,,.18 In comparison, St. Mary's School had three teachers with 64 students.19
<br />An eighth grade was added in 1943 and overcrowding continued throughout the 1940s with
<br />124 students enrolled in grades 1 -8 and four full -time and one part-time teacher on staff in
<br />1947 -48.20 Conversely, the Murphey School had an enrollment of 89 students with three
<br />teachers during the same year .21 The White Cross School also had no lunchroom or
<br />cafeteria, a problem that was remedied by the 1948 -49 school year.22 The school continued
<br />to serve students in grades one through eight until the fall of 1957, when students in the 7th
<br />and 8th grades were reassigned to the Carrboro School . 23 The following year, the Carrboro
<br />School was absorbed into the Chapel Hill City Schools .24 Thus, by 1959, as a result of the
<br />ongoing consolidation and restructuring of elementary and high schools in the county,
<br />enrollment in the school had dipped slightly to 94 students in grades 1 -6.
<br />In 1959, the White Cross School became part of the Chapel Hill City Schools .25 However, the
<br />school remained open until 1961 when, as the final phase of its consolidation into the Chapel
<br />Hill City School system, the White Cross School was closed permanently. The building and
<br />7.98 acres were sold in 1967 to A. C. Shearer and Austin Watts, then to Everett and Ruby S.
<br />Blackwood in 1968. The houses behind the school were constructed soon after. The property
<br />12 Orange County Board of Education minutes, May 29, 1933.
<br />13 Orange County Board of Education minutes, June 5, 1933.
<br />14 Orange County Board of Education minutes, July 3, 1933.
<br />15 Orange County Board of Education minutes, July 20, 1933.
<br />16 Orange County Board of Education minutes, September 4, 1933.
<br />17 Orange County Board of Education minutes, October 2, 1933.
<br />18 Division of Institutional Services, Elementary and Secondary Education Section: Elementary and High
<br />School Principals' Annual Reports, 1924 -1949, Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh: State Archives
<br />Research Room.
<br />t9 Ibid.
<br />20 Ibid.
<br />21 Ibid.
<br />22 Ibid.
<br />23 Orange County Board of Education minutes, May 23, 1957.
<br />24 Orange County Board of Education minutes, August 28, 1958
<br />25 Orange County Board of Education minutes, June 1, 1959.
<br />31
<br />
|