Gerald Ensley: If history repeats itself, let’s hope we hear this name again

(This column was first published in the Tallahassee Democrat on April 16, 2006.)

They're closing Tallahassee's oldest elementary school. But Caroline Brevard Elementary may live again - or maybe just its name.

At least, let us hope. Because part of what makes Tallahassee special is the community's appreciation of history. And few names echo our history more than that of Caroline Brevard, one of this city's earliest and most prominent educators.

Caroline Brevard Elementary, on Jackson Bluff Road, will close at the end of this school year. Officials say attendance at the school has declined as the one-time family neighborhood surrounding it has evolved into a college-student neighborhood. They will transfer its students to nearby schools and use it for the School for Applied Individualized Learning high school.

The closing has brought protests from parents. That story has a familiar ring: The original Caroline Brevard Elementary was downtown and was moved because the neighborhood changed. Folks were upset then, too.

But as life moves on, it occasionally circles back. Officials want to reacquire the original Caroline Brevard Elementary on South Calhoun Street - now the state-owned Bloxham Building - for a school.

If that happens, it may get renamed Caroline Brevard. Whatever happens, Leon County Schools Superintendent Bill Montford promises to honor the name.

"I think we would be remiss if we didn't retain the name Caroline Brevard on an education facility in this school district," he said. "There are a lot of graduates of that school, a lot of pride in that school. I won't recommend abandoning the name."

In 1925, Caroline Brevard Elementary opened on Calhoun Street as Tallahassee's first public elementary school. Sealey Elementary, now the Tallahassee Police Department, followed in 1928.

Back then, both schools were for white children. Black children went to elementary school in one of the numerous rural schoolhouses or at the Florida A&M Developmental Research School. The first county public elementary school for blacks was Bond in 1949. Full integration of Leon County schools did not occur until 1970.

Caroline Brevard was a majestic school: three stories of ornate Spanish Mediterranean architecture, high ceilings, big windows, wide halls, a large playground where kids played marbles and tag. It was the kind of school that lived forever in a child's memory.

"The thing that stuck in my mind was there was a big world globe over the entrance and we used to go out there with pencils and paper to draw it," said Dave Raker, the retired Raa Middle School principal and coach who attended Brevard in the 1940s.

"Several years ago, I went back to check if it was still there." It was. "I didn't know if I dreamed it or not."

But by the late 1950s, the school had become an island in a sea of state office buildings. Families were moving out of downtown, mostly to the burgeoning west side of town. So, in 1958, the School Board sold Caroline Brevard to the state for $185,000 and built a new Caroline Brevard out west on Jackson Bluff Road for that same sum. Teachers and students moved to the new school in February 1959.

Whatever tradition was lost in the move was balanced by the retention of the name - though there has been some carelessness. The phone book lists the school as "Carolyn" Brevard.

Former music teacher Mary "Maggie" Marchant remembers that, as a young teacher, she even mispronounced the first name - until she was upbraided by Otis Peacock, a former Leon High principal.

"He said, 'Maggie, you don't mispronounce Caro-LINE Brevard,' " said Marchant, who taught there from 1956 to 1990. "She was kin to so many people in Tallahassee and had written several textbooks."

Caroline Mays Brevard (1860-1920) was indeed Old Tallahassee. One grandfather was Richard Keith Call, a two-time territorial governor of Florida. Her other grandfather was Theodore W. Brevard, a state comptroller for whom a county in Central Florida was named. Her father was Theodore W. Brevard Jr., one of only two Confederate generals from Leon County. Tallahassee has streets named Call and Brevard.

Caroline Brevard was one of Tallahassee's early suffragettes and a leading educator and author. She taught for many years at the private Leon Academy and for five years at Florida State College for Women. She wrote four books about Florida government and history, including one that was used as an elementary-school history book for years. She wrote a book about local Indian folklore and dedicated it to two nieces, one of whom was Mary Call Collins, widow of Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins.

Collins, 94, grew up in the house with her grandparents and aunt, who never married. Though she was only 9 when "Auntie" died, Collins has fond memories. She said Brevard walked to FSCW every day from their home at Brevard and Monroe streets and often took her and her cousin, Cora, along to eat at the FSCW dining hall. She said Brevard's students came to their home during the holidays to serenade their teacher with Christmas carols.

She said her aunt often played with her nieces or told them stories. But she said she also was serious about her work.

"I wasn't allowed to go into her room unless I behaved nicely and had clean hands," Collins said. "She had a big typewriter. I wasn't allowed to touch it but I thought it was magic. We understood she was a busy woman and we shouldn't disturb her."

Collins always thought it was "nice" a school was named for her aunt, though as a former Florida first lady she's careful not to pass judgment on its closing. But she allowed, "I would hate to see the name lost."

So would Montford.

State officials want to sell the Bloxham Building, which houses only a few state employees. City, county and school officials are interested in buying it - and perhaps restoring it as a downtown elementary school. Montford said such a school could serve the rebounding population of downtown residents and children of downtown state employees.

He said the goal is to acquire the building before the end of the year. While it might seem logical to rename the school Caroline Brevard, Montford said every naming of a school elicits strong opinions: "Naming things is complicated. But that's why we have committees."

He promised that name would be attached to something.

"In Tallahassee, we believe in recognizing historical significance," Montford said. "Somehow, somewhere, Caroline Brevard will continue to hold a place in our school system."

As she should.

Gerald Ensley was a reporter and columnist for the Tallahassee Democrat from 1980 until his retirement in 2015. He died in 2018 following a stroke. The Tallahassee Democrat is publishing columns capturing Tallahassee’s history from Ensley’s vast archives each Sunday through 2024 in the Opinion section as part of the TLH 200: Gerald Ensley Memorial Bicentennial Project.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Ensley: If history repeats itself, let’s hope we hear this name again