Drawing of Curtis School as Carolyn Wilson Johnson remembers itThis Saturday, October 13, alumni of Curtis School which was located 8 miles from Opp and 8 miles from Elba, AL, will gather for the 22nd reunion. Some of the older alumni wanted to have a school reunion in the 1980's and my aunt Mattie Lena talked me into organizing one. I was living in Winston-Salem, NC and had helped with my Elba High School 30th reunion and my aunt said I was "experienced" and knew what to do. I contacted one of my classmates from Curtis School, Janice Cowen Hudson, and she said she would help. Thus the Curtis reunion was "born". The school closed in 1967 and students started attending school in surrounding towns, mostly at Elba. A few years later the school burned, along with records of the school that had been left in the building.
An Alabama Historical sign was purchased with donations and installed at the site of the old building where the Coffee Co. Farmers Cooperative store is now located. When I was trying to get the historical sign approved, I was asked if there were any outstanding alumni from the school in order for them to approve the historical marker. I replied that there were so many that there wouldn't be room to list them all! So they used the narrative I sent, listing principals and date school opened, etc.
HISTORY OF CURTIS SCHOOL
The site of the first Curtis School is where New Ebenezer Baptist Church now stands on Highway 141 South, Elba (Curtis Community). The Coffee County courthouse discarded all records pertaining to Curtis School, therefore the exact date of organization cannot be determined. Interviews with some older residents indicate 1900.
Mrs. Lucy Grimes Donaldson, born in Nov. 1893, and interviewed just a few years ago, stated that she first attended school at the Foley Schoolhouse which was a one room school located about 2 ½ miles west of Curtis, on what is now Hwy. 84. The land was donated by William (Bill) Foley, and is now owned by Mrs. Enoch (Jimmie Lou) Cowen.
About 2 years after Miss Lucy started to school, Foley School disbanded and a new building was erected near the present site of New Ebenezer Baptist Church. It was named Curtis School. This was in the early 1900’s. There were other small schools in the vicinity; Mt. Zion, Danley’s Cross Roads and Rhodes School.
An increase in population required a larger, more centralized building. Mt. Zion, Rhodes and Curtis schools consolidated in 1926 and a building was erected at the present site of the Coffee Co. Farmers Cooperative, commonly called Curtis Coop. Danley’s Cross Roads school joined them in 1931.
Before the schools were consolidated, students walked to and from school. This was usually the highlight of the day. Friends were made, disputes of the day were settled and sometimes fights broke out along the way.
After consolidation, busses were provided to transport the students. The busses were owned by the individuals who drove them. Some of these were: Jim Cowen, Arthur Johnson, J. C. Jones, Grafton Young, Mixon Young, and Dick and Dot Daniels.
The school closed for a short time during the depression despite the efforts of parents and teachers. The teachers taught without pay and some families provided free board for the teachers.
In 1940 the building was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in the same location, and school resumed operations in the new building sometime in l941. During the construction of the new building, students attended school in surrounding churches. Grades 1, 2, and 3 used New Ebenezer Baptist Church; grades 4, 5, and 6 used the Church of Christ building at Danley’s Cross Roads; and, grades 7, 8, and 9 used the Bethany Primitive Baptist Church building located on Hwy 166, about 1 mile east of Danley’s Cross Roads.
The new school building was completed in time for the 1941-42 school term, but had no indoor plumbing or lunchroom facilities. Indoor plumbing was installed about 1944. During the school year of 1945-46, a lunchroom was established. Some of the
first cooks wereLena (Mose) Grimes, Bonnie Taylor, and Buna Daniels. Other cooks were Sallie Jacobs, Jessie Lee Donaldson, Fannie Foley, and Cora Donaldson.
The school also had music teachers during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Mrs. Mary Ringsdorf was the first teacher, then Mrs. Lena (Mose) Grimes.
Curtis School always had a good basketball team and good coaches. Mr. E. C. Griffin was coach and also principal. He held this position until the school closed. When the school first consolidated, there was also a girls basketball team and on Friday afternoons, they played other area schools. The smaller children looked forward to this.
The teachers worked hard for minimal pay during those years, and for that we owe our gratitude. They not only helped to educate us, but instilled character-building values. Some of those teachers were: John Grimes, Miss Maude Byrd, Viola Byrd, Lucille Campbell, Tex Kilpartick, Hazel Grimes Lee, Lena Grimes, Doris Pinckard, Jean Lee Johnson, Hilda Lunsford, Mary Ringsforf, Frances Taylor, Jean Meacham, Cammie Ballard Johnson, Arvie D. Fuller, Ora Kelley, Mae Morris, Syble Wise, Evelyn Hocutt, and others. The principals who served were: C. H. Byrd, J. E. Cheatam, Dan B. Nelson, F. T. Walton, R. L. Farris, and E. C. Griffin.
Father time took its toll on Curtis Junior High School, as it did many other country schools. The rural population slowly shifted to the cities and small towns where the factories, mills and other industries offered employment for the parents. Farming had become mechanized and many of the farm workers were no longer needed. Modern transportation provided students the opportunity to attend larger, more progressive schools. All of this meant too few students left
in the country schools.
Curtis Junior High School closed at the end of the 1966-67 school term. It was indeed a sad day. A few years later, the building was destroyed by fire completely erasing all visible evidence of the school. Nothing can erase the memories in the hearts and minds of the men and women who attended school at Curtis.
The land on which the building previously stood, was purchased by Charles Cowen in 1974 who erected the present building and established Curtis Seed and Feed business. Cowen sold the business to Coffee County Farmers Cooperative in 1978.
(This article was researched and compiled by: Jimmie Lou Smith Cowen and her daughters, Janice Cowen Hudson and Mary Cowen Flagg, for a previous Curtis reunion.)
