School History

 

The first school in the Richardsville area was a log building located near the junction of Lodge Hall Road & Threlkel Ferry Road.  Tandy Gardner was a teacher there about 1890.  In 1896 Miss Linda Steward was a teacher there.  In 1909 there were 68 students & one teacher.

 In 1910 a lodge was built on the site of the present one.  The lower level was used for school & the upper level was used for Masonic meetings.  During this time the school term was 6 months (from July to Christmas).  Those who wished to go longer had to pay $3 per month called “subscription school”.  The teacher who was in charge until 1918 was W.L. Cassady.  In 1918 the enrollment went up to 97 students & a second teacher was hired.

 In 1927 the schools in the area were consolidated by the Warren Co. Board of Education. The decision was made for location of the new school would be the current site of RES.  They built a 2 story white frame building costing less than $20,000.  The first school building had 1 classroom & a furnace room in the basement.  Later 3 more classrooms were finished on this level.  On the second floor there were 5 classrooms.  Mr. Jeff Stagner was the first principal of the high school.  This building was the first building of any size in this part of the country.

 In 1936 the people of the community with help from the board built the stone gymnasium.  The gym didn’t have electricity until 1939.  The school gym served as a community center for the area & included groups like The Carter Family & Lester Flatt who preformed there.

 The schools first buses were homemade.  Students either walked or rode a horse to school.  The people of the community decided they needed a new, larger & safer building than what they had.  After some work from the community PTO & the Board of Education building began in 1946 on a new school. In Feb. 23^rd, 1949 a total of 465 students assembled for classes in their new 15 rooms school building.  The new building was built of Alabama stone with a poured concrete floor & roof.  There were 2 floors with 5 classrooms on each floor.  Steam heat was provided by radiators were located in each room.  The building cost about $230,000 with a gym to be built for an addition $100,000.  The first principal was Mr. Everett Witt.  The school chose the Bobcat as their logo with red & gray as the colors.  This was chosen due to the ball teams.

 Enrollment grew & in 1956 the old gym was converted into 4 classrooms to house the 4^th, 5^th & 6^th grades. The school year of 1969-1970 saw the  high schools of the area combined into what is now Warren East High School.  Richardsville became a junior high school. After the high school students were moved to the new high school enrollment continued to grow.  To accommodate the growth a new addition was added to the school.  It included classrooms, restrooms & storage rooms.  In 1987 the 7^th & 8^th graders were moved to the newly build Warren East Middle School.  This left grades K-6^th.    In the fall of 1993, ground was broken for the new media center.  It was finished in time for the 1994-95 school year.

The old building, which has been torn down, served the students of Richardsville for 60 years.  Three generations of some families have attended there. To meet the needs of our children it was decided to build a new school directly behind the old building.  This was decided to keep the school located in the community.  The new school features “Going Green” which is the first in the nation to be built with this design idea.  Once again Richardsville is the first to be recognized as an outstanding school & community.

 The Richardsville School will continue to lead the way with educational ideas & community values.  We will continue our pride in the new school building where we trust our proud heritage will guide us to an even brighter future.