Berea City School District history

In 1854, Fee built his home upon the ridge.

In 1855, a one-room school, which also served as a church on Sundays, was built on a lot contributed by a neighbor.

The commitment to Appalachia, however, began as early as 1858 when Rogers, after a trip through the mountains, identified the region as a “neglected part of the country” for which Berea was founded to serve.

The first articles of incorporation for Berea College were adopted in 1859.

Fee spent the Civil War years raising funds for the school; in 1865, he and his followers returned.

The constitution of 1868 was the first to mention education.

The first Berea College president was appointed in 1869.

In 1884 the school was moved as recorded in the Greenville County Court House:

By 1885 interest in education had grown in the community.

Even so, by 1891 Greenville County had two colleges, three high schools and two grade schools.3 (James Alexander Stoddard, "Backgrounds of Secondary Education in the South," Bulletin of the University of South Carolina, No.

In the first few years of the 1900's there was much criticism of the South Carolina education system.

The library was established under "An Act to encourage the establishment of libraries in public school of the rural districts" which was passed in 1904.

In 1906 the Berea School established her first library with one hundred forty volumes.

Following the advice of the Superintendent of Education an act was passed in 1907 to provide for the establishment of high schools of the state.

In 1913, Berea and the Saluda or "Davis" School combined.

In 1916 Berea High moved from its location on White Horse Road to a new site at the inter- section of Farr's Bridge Road and Franklin Road.

In 1919, the Term Extension Act was passed which encouraged rural schools to stay open longer during the year.

In 1924 Berea started its first basketball team and team uniforms were brown khaki shorts and a white tee shirt with a green stripe around it.

The people in the community began to show heightened interest in the school by organizing a School Improvement Association in 1926.

Also in 1927, the first course in agriculture was offered under the direction of Mr.

In 1928 the first debate team was organized.

Also in 1930 Berea's athletic teams entered the County League which was composed of schools in Greenville County.

Palmetto Literary Society Debating Declamation Contest School Paper First Aid Club Glee Club Adelphien Literary Society F.H.A. Dramatics F.F.A. Expression Contest (regulated by the High School League) Beta Club (National Charter, 1936) Basketball (Girls & Boys)

The first dining room was added in the early 1940's and was called "the soup kitchen." Food was cooked on an oil stove, and two classrooms were used as the eating area.

The Berea community began to change from rural to suburban in the early 1950's.

101) The Berea School was under the direction of three trustees until 1951 when the schools of Greenville County consolidated into one district.

The school used this as the Alma Mater until 1953 when Miss Hannah Lou Dargan, music director arranged the work for chorus.

By the 1960's the potato house had to be used as a classroom due to crowded conditions.

The fourth Berea High School was opened in September, 1962.

Ed Means, member of the Board of Trustees, April 14, 1966)

The school name changed officially to Berea High School when the new Berea Middle School opened January 1973.

He was named Greenville County Teacher of the Year in August 1978 and in October 1978 recognized as the South Carolina State Teacher of the Year.

In 1988 with the school's population over 1100 students, came additional renovations which included school-wide air conditioning, ten new classrooms, new media center, a "commons" building, and enlarging the administrative facilities, fine arts wing, athletic facilities, and cafeteria area.

The 1990's was a time of expanding educational technologies.

In 1996 the school's classrooms were wired with local funding and volunteer labor provided by ITC DeltaCom for networked CD-ROM software and Internet access.

The School District of Greenville County Board of Trustees proposed March 2003 that a fifth Berea High School be built at the same location for 1400 students.

On August 17, 2006 students attended for the first time the new school facilities.