By Anne Ruisi
In the 100 years since Edgewood Elementary was founded in 1924, the Homewood school has weathered a major fire, restoration and expansion while remaining a mainstay of community life.
On Nov. 17, students, alumni, teachers and staff – past and present – and city and school officials will celebrate the centennial of the beloved school with an afternoon party at its College Avenue campus.
“I think we’re just really excited to be able to celebrate 100 years of Edgewood,” said Catie Seale, a parent who is coordinator of the school’s 100 Year Celebration Team.
The idea for the school that became Edgewood Elementary got its start after the area was incorporated as the town of Edgewood in 1920. Shortly after the town was founded, its leaders decided the community’s children needed their own school, according to “Homewood: The Life of a City,” by Sheryl Spradling Summe.
In 1923, the Town Council bought 6 acres for $4,000 and a year later, construction began. It was completed in April 1926 and the school welcomed its first students that September. There were 100 pupils enrolled and four teachers, according to Summe’s city history.
The school had four classes with two grades combined: first and second grades, third and fourth grades, fifth and sixth grades and seventh and eighth grades. R.E. Mallett was the first principal, and she taught seventh and eighth grades.
In October 1926, a month after the school opened, Homewood was incorporated. As the city grew, so did Edgewood Elementary. In 1928, Edgewood Elementary’s first addition, a lunchroom, was built. A second addition in 1930 provided four more classrooms and a basement lunchroom.
Early Excellence
A reputation for excellence in education, a hallmark of the Homewood system, started early at Edgewood Elementary. In 1930 the school, by now part of the Jefferson County School System, became the first in Alabama to receive an A-1 rating by a state Board of Education committee, according to Summe’s book.
More growth ensued, and while the school was in the county system, the county paid for the construction of a $47,000, 620-seat auditorium in 1947. In 1952, the county spent $66,000 on classroom additions, Summe said in her book. About 900 students were enrolled at the time.
Then catastrophe struck. On Nov. 13, 1953 – a Friday the 13th –a fire began in the school’s basement lunchroom after dark. Firefighters from Homewood, Mountain Brook and Birmingham responded, while area residents pitched in by helping to move records and furnishings out of the building while the fire blazed.
By the time the fire was put out it was past midnight, and the $225,000 school sustained $160,000 in damage, according to Summe’s book. The lunchroom and 10 classrooms were destroyed, two classrooms were badly damaged and the rest of the school sustained smoke and water damage. At the time, Edgewood had an enrollment of about 900 students.
Students in grades six through eight were relocated to the then-vacant Paul Hayne School on 20th Street South in Birmingham, while those in first to fifth grade used undamaged portions of Edgewood and the school auditorium while the school was rebuilt. The project cost $155,000.
Lunchroom Fare and Paper Drives
Bob Arnwine, 76, was a first grader in 1954 when he enrolled in the school. By then, Edgewood Elementary served students in first through sixth grades before going to Homewood Junior High, the Hoover resident said.
He has two fond memories of his years at Edgewood. One is of the “fabulous” meals of the meat-and-three variety served in the lunchroom. The other is the weekly paper drive.
“Everyone collected and brought to the school their newspapers. The classes had competitions and got prizes if you had the most, you know, the biggest stack of newspapers,” he said, recalling a time when two daily newspapers were published in Birmingham.
At the time, Arnwine’s family lived at 821 Sylvia Drive, and he and his schoolmates would drag wagons and collect newspapers from their neighbors. His mother would load them in the family’s station wagon and take them to school.
“You couldn’t see the front of the school for all the newspapers stacked up out there,” Arnwine said.
The papers were taken to a recycling center. Arnwine said he’s pretty sure the school received some money for the paper, and it was used for classroom needs, like school supplies.
Arnwine said he enjoyed attending the school and liked his teachers. His favorite was JoAnn Shiver.
“I thought she looked like Beaver Cleaver’s mom,” he said, referring to actress Barbara Billingsley, who played June Cleaver in the classic TV show, “Leave it to Beaver.”
His one disappointment is that he didn’t get to go on the school’s annual trip to Washington, D.C. Only members of the school safety patrol were allowed on the trip and Arnwine wasn’t one of them.
Debbie Fain, a member of the Edgewood Elementary School, Homewood Alabama page on Facebook, attended the school in the late 1960s, from first to third grade.
“Even at that young age, the school had a big impact on me,” she wrote. “We learned respect for school authority, school property and how to treat others.”
Fain recalled students quietly and respectfully walking single file down the hallways and the girls wearing dresses, adding stockings to their ensemble when the temperature dropped below freezing.
“And who could forget May Day Play Day, Cake Walks and Paper Drives!” she added.
When her family moved to Georgia, she said, she missed her old school and felt “almost lost.”
“So, thank you to all the people who worked so hard to ensure that we were given such a great learning environment,” Fain said, adding she was “Blessed that I had that cornerstone in my life, along with my wonderful family.”
Edgewood Elementary Centennial Celebration Set for Nov. 17
Homewood’s Edgewood Elementary School will celebrate its centennial with activities and displays at its College Avenue campus on Nov. 17.
More than 1,000 RSVPs have been received from people who want to attend the gathering, which is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., said Catie Seale, coordinator for the school’s 100 Year Celebration Team.
“I think it will just be a really special event for anyone that comes,” said Seale, who is a member of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization.
Scheduled activities are expected to start at 2:20 p.m. with the dedication of a historic marker at the school – if the marker arrives in time. The sign was ordered early this year, but organizers haven’t received notice that it has shipped, Seale said. They are hopeful it will be delivered in time for the celebration.
At 3 p.m., guests will sing “Happy Birthday” to the school, and Principal Laura Tate and Superintendent Justin Hefner will blow out the candles on a cake that Seale said she will bake.
At 3:45 p.m., current and former or retired teachers and staff will be asked to pose for a group photo.
Throughout the celebration, guests will be able to view displays related to the school’s 100 years. Banners will be up in the school gym, and a slide show with photos focused on each decade of the school’s history since 1924 will play on a loop.
Items related to the school throughout the years will be on display, Seale said. Among them will be the logbook kept by the Homewood Fire Department for Nov. 13, 1953 – it was Friday the 13th – when a fire destroyed much of the school building after dark. A lunchbox from the 1960s and class pictures from throughout the years will be up for guests to view.
Edgewood Elementary’s art teachers are working on creating an eagle, which is the school’s mascot, to display by the library and lunchroom, Seale said. Paper “feathers” will be available for guests to record a favorite memory from their school days there or their wish for Edgewood’s next 100 years. The feathers will be added to the eagle.
The school is also preparing a time capsule that will be opened in 2124. Students in each class are preparing mementoes, trinkets and other items for students in the next century to discover.
