College Hill School: First Black public school in Maury County celebrated

More than 100 former students and residents gathered to celebrate the history of the College Hill School, the first public school for African Americans in Maury County on Feb. 19.

African Americans saw education as an important step toward achieving independence.

The first school for African American students opened in 1864, while the Civil War still raged. By 1865, with the support of the Freedmen’s Bureau, an early bank for African Americans, and other organizations, there were nine schools in Maury County. After Reconstruction ended in Tennessee in the early 1870s, the formerly enslaved and free people of color established more schools.

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Tennessee tried and failed many times to establish a permanent public school system; one of the most successful efforts took place from 1867-1869. The 1870 state constitution required racial segregation in public education. A law was passed to create a state board of education, which required separate school systems.

John H. Kelly, born in Boston, Massachusetts, was the son of a formerly enslaved preacher and Columbia native, Edmund Kelly. He finished school at an early age and began the study of law with the view of making that his life work. While pursuing this course, he decided to visit his relatives in the South. He discovered his services were needed in Columbia as a teacher.

Changing course, he began work to educate African American students in Maury County. In 1875, he and business partner Frank Wigfall acquired a building —the former orphan asylum — free of charge, for three years to be used for school purposes.

Based on the 1874 scholastic population census, there were 5,312 African American school-aged students in Maury County, 30 teachers and 49 schools.

Many of these schools were established during the height of the reconstruction period and some after, such as the school and church that was established in 1872 at the site where Mt. Zion Missionary Church is now located in Spring Hill, Tenn.

Columbia had three schools for African Americans by May of 1875. In addition to Kelly’s school, which became the College Hill School, there were Mrs. Mary Frierson’s and Mount Tabor schools. The total enrollment was 207 students.

Originally called the Colored Public School, the College Hill School was officially established in 1881. John H. Kelly was appointed principal and served for two years before taking a leave of absence. Kelly returned and served as principal for more than 30 years.

In 1883, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of Columbia purchased about two acres of land for $1,400 to build the Colored Public School on College Hill.  

Raising the funds to build the new school was difficult. In 1885, Principal W. I. Lewis went to the North as an agent to raise funds to assist in the building of the new schoolhouse.

In addition, the Colored Public School was suspended for 10 months and funds were used to assist in the building of the new school. The new school opened in 1886. The original school was a very basic building with classrooms only. There were no indoor toilets or water fountains. There was no facility for making hot lunches and no indoor gym facilities.

Columbia native Robert Graves Johnson was principal for 22 years prior to retiring in 1930’s.  He was the principal at the New Decatur Colored School in Alabama during the 1896-1897 school year, prior to serving as principal of College Hill. Johnson graduated from Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tenn. with the class of 1885.

After Johnson, Columbia native, J. T. Caruthers was appointed principal. He resigned in 1945 but remained on staff and taught science until he retired. He graduated from Roger Williams University in Nashville and Massachusetts Agricultural College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Samual E. Jones became principal of the College Hill School in 1945 when the school was struggling to cope with the economic strain of supporting the expanding population of African American school-aged children.

In February 1946, to address the increase in the number of African American students from the rural communities attending high school and the need for a more modern facility, Jones organized the leaders in the African American community and developed plans to purchase land and build a new high school. From Hardeman County, Jones earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from A & I State University.

Horace O. Porter, the last principal, joined the staff at the College Hill School in 1937, serving as a teacher, coach, and then principal when the school became the College Hill Elementary School in 1949.

The school was remodeled in 1958, 1960, and again in 1962. The original building was eventually torn down.

Porter retired in 1979 after 42 years in the Maury County School System. He graduated from College Hill School and Tennessee A & I State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in history and social science. College Hill was renamed in memory of Mr. Horace O. Porter in 2006. It is now an alternative school for disruptive/at-risk students.

Currently, the Maury County Board of Education also conducts its monthly meetings in the building.

In 2014, the African American Heritage Society of Maury County placed the Tennessee Historical Commission marker at this site.

The College Hill School played an important role in the lives of hundreds of African Americans in Maury County. The dedicated principals and teachers always emphasized to their students that education was the only way to make their lives better ... the true path to freedom.

Jo Ann Williams McClellan is the Maury County Historian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: College Hill School: First Black public school in Maury County celebrated