Dear AHS Graduates:

Once upon a time there was a little village on the hill called Andalusia. Around 1844 the pioneer residents had moved to higher ground from a Covington County river community called Montezuma where it had flooded each spring and, more or less, washed away all of the houses, post office, general store, ferry, and courthouse. In those days, the latter half of the 1800’s, the children were mostly taught at home. The little town grew and some private schools in town were prevalent such as the Baker Street School on South Three Notch and the Church of Christ schoolhouse on Church Street taught by Miss Fannie Barron, the “schoolmarm.” One-room schoolhouses had sprung up around the county. It was routine for the parents to keep the wood chopped and the primitive schoolhouses maintained. Just about every community had a one-room schoolhouse.

Around 1899, the train line was extended into downtown Andalusia from Searight and a lot of families moved into Andalusia, because they anticipated their businesses growing and their families prospering. The farmers could at last ship out their cotton, lumber, and pine products. Building materials to construct main street homes and downtown buildings could finally arrive by rail along with mules for hauling. The new form of transportation was quite beneficial to the town’s economy.

The astute and ambitious citizens knew the importance of education so around the turn-of-the-century, they began making plans to establish a city public school. The first brick two-story school was built on East Three Notch Street in 1902. It was a beautiful architecturally designed building, but soon so many students were in attendance, the town leaders recognized that a bigger school building would have to be built to accommodate the growth. So in 1914, the larger East Three Notch School was built and completed and the cornerstone laid. It was located just behind the first school building that was soon torn down to replace the original one.

The students had an ideal playground in the back of the property where the “little schoolhouse,” a wooden structure that faced College Street, formerly sat. Most of the students lived in town so they routinely walked to and from school and also home for lunch and back. They began group singing in assemblies on Friday afternoons in their beautiful school auditorium, a tradition that lasted almost 60 years according to the late Mr. James Arthur Wilson, former long-time teacher and AHS principal who was once a student there at E3N.

Before too long an additional city school was needed for the growing number of children, so a school on the west side of town was built in 1926. The Church Street School became the school for the higher grades, the high school, and the East Three Notch School was used soley for the elementary grades.

The town population increased to about 5,000 by 1920. The main streets were paved in the early 1920’s. City sewer and sidewalks were installed. In 1921 a six-story bank building, the First National Bank Building, was built on the Public Square that housed many thriving businesses in the upper floors.

In the late 1930s during the Depression when many people were out of work and needed jobs, a government program, the WPA (Works Progress Administration), part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, enabled the city to build even another school, because there was an increasing number of school age children in town. The Andalusia High School, the newest “hall of ivy,” was completed in 1939 with the first class graduating at AHS in 1940. The Church Street School became the second elementary school at that time.

On the new AHS campus site, there were some very poor people living in a cave that had to be relocated in the middle of the construction, according to one of the builders, the late Mr. Reid Merrill of Andalusia Manufacturing Company. “This was at the end of the Depression when some families were just trying to survive,” he stated. Also, during the construction, Merrill stated, “A brick fell from up high on one man’s head killing him!” The new building, which was situated on a beautiful expansive lot in the heart of a residential neighborhood, was the pride of Andalusia. This parcel was originally the John Chapman farm. Many people came from everywhere to view its traditional beauty. “It is certainly one of the most attractive school buildings in the state,” many exclaimed then and now.

A good many of the AHS students who were supposed to graduate in the classes of 1942, ‘43, ‘44, and ‘45 but were called to serve in the military during World War II found it necessary to postpone their education. The names of those AHS students who served and who died in the service of their country are written on an impressive plaque in the front interior entrance lobby on the west wall. One of those students was young Lindsey Padgett who had never been tardy or absent in twelve years, according to Principal Wilson, who grieved about that loss for many years.

In 1950 during the Tracy Wilson administration, the City of Andalusia built a municipal stadium adjacent to the high school campus. The first varsity football game in the new stadium was played in the fall of that year.

Southside School (Circa 1920s) and Bethune School (Circa 1950s) named after a famous black educator, Mary McLeod Bethune, were also city schools. The Covington County Training School (CCTS) and Ralph Bunch High School, later renamed Woodson High School, was built in 1961.

Through the next 70 years, the many graduates of these schools which all merged in the mid to late 1960s took their place in the world to become teachers, lawyers, judges, pilots, automobile dealers, business owners, homemakers, doctors, nurses, artists, musicians, florists, bankers, restauranteurs, college professors and deans, educators, soldiers, mayors, engineers, and even three-star generals.

For the most part, these graduates never forgot their roots. They never forgot the lessons they learned even though at the time, what the teachers tried to instill sometimes seemed insignificant.

These CCTS, Woodson High, and AHS alumni continue to celebrate their class reunions at annual homecomings and summer reunions which are the happiest of times. They reminisce, they remember, they sing their Alma Maters, they yell their class yells, they ride their class parade floats, they welcome their old teachers, they honor their schools with needed gifts such as park benches, stadium lighting, and scholarships. A Heritage Room established by former AHS English teacher of 39 years, Mr. Joe Wingard, along with the Class of 1948, preserves and maintains all of the memorabilia which was collected through the years by Mr. Wingard and donated by the former students.

The 100-year anniversary of the city schools was celebrated a few years ago. When the graduating classes celebrate their reunions with former classmates and teachers, many times, the grown-up students become good friends with some of their classmates that they weren’t even friends with in high school. Their friendships last a lifetime.

So this is the story that really has no end. It continues on and on. Each and every one of you is part of this story. It is the hope of the teachers, the administrators, and the city leaders that your story will be one of happiness and that you can attribute part of the success that you will experience in your life to the time you spent in the city schools and at AHS.

“Andalusia, our dear mother, ‘Tis to thee we sing, Our true love and fond allegiance, Ever we shall bring. Through the years, dear Alma Mater, This shall be our aim, Always ever to endeavor, To honor thy fair name.”