In the previous post, reference was made to the disassembly and move of the Walnut Hill School building to Bradley.
The 1963 Bradley School yearbook says that the old elementary school building was originally built in 1934.
In 1997, Frank M. Cochran, Jr., wrote the following short piece on that building which places a different date on the construction of that building:
“[This] building … was built in the summer of 1929 to prepare for students added by the consolidation with the Walnut Hill, Hackney, Canfield, Arkana and possibly other small districts. The lumber used was salvaged from the old Walnut Hill building, a three room structure built about the turn of the century. The doors and windows were also salvaged and used (notice the transoms above the doors). The walls were covered with beaded ceiling. There was one electric light in each room. The old roof was unusable and was replaced with asphalt shingles.
The southeast room was for the first and second grades with Ray Crabtree as teacher. The southwest room was for the third and fourth grades. This room was so crowded that most of the students had to sit two in a single desk. Donnie Marie Cheek Collins was the third and fourth grade teacher. She got married at Christmas and had to resign because of a rule that there could be no married teachers. This was my room and was very hot on fall afternoons. I think that [in] the first year, the fifth and sixth grades were in the northeast room. After the first year, the seventh and eighth grades were sent to the high school building, [but] may have been sent to the brick building from the start. After a very few years, the teachers taught certain subjects and the students moved from room to room.
In 1946, the State Line district consolidated with Bradley and the two north rooms of the building were added. These were built of newly purchased lumber, doors and windows.”
This is how the building appeared in the 1956 yearbook:
And this is a slightly different view of the building from the 1961 yearbook:
The building has recently undergone a remodeling. The photo below was taken earlier this week. The sign on the right (north) side of the building says, “Bradley Head Start Center.”
bradleyark.com 