History of
Stone School
Dr. Charles Benjamin Stone and his wife,
Eugenia Ann Earle, lived in Greenville from 1840 to 1886 on a
large plantation covering much of the land from Main Street to
and including part of East North Street, Rutherford Road, and
Wade Hampton Blvd. Upon Dr. Stone's death in 1886, his five children
inherited his estate. One of those children was Eugene Earle
Stone.
Eugene Earle Stone was a prominent Greenville
resident who fought skirmishes in the Civil war, loved literature,
often quoted poetry, and was an excellent farmer and a devoted
family man. Stone School
was eventually built on land that he had owned. He sold the
parcel to the Greenville School District Trustees in March of 1923 for
$2.000 (probably discounted), with the agreement that the school's name
would be "Stone."
But that came later.
Until 1914, there had been two schools for whites
(Central and Oaklawn) and two for blacks (Allen and Union). In
1914 two new schools, Park and Pinkney, were built. All but one
of these schools had seven grades. Central High School (later
called Greenville High) had 10 grades until 1916, when it finally got the 11th grade. There was no twelfth grade. Forward-thinking
educators envisioned schools which would be'operated exclusively
for small pupils, so everyone would have a better chance.'
 The original Stone
Avenue School
In May of 1917, construction began
on the four-room schoolhouse on Stone Avenue. The school was
to have opened in September, but construction was delayed for
one month. The U.S. had just entered the war and troops had come to
Greenville for training at Camp Sevier.
Soon the dream came true, and the
first of these schools, Stone
Primary School (Stone Ave. School) opened for its first small pupils. There were
ninety-five students in grades one and two.
In 1919 Superintendent J.L. Mann proposed the building of a separate high school
on Westfield Street, which meant that
several new grammar schools would be needed to house the elementary
pupils who had been combined with higher classes. After a
successful bond election, there was a flurry of building in Greenville.
Construction
began on a building "at the upper end of Wilton Street." This
school, paired with Stone Avenue Primary School, had fourteen rooms and
cost $60,000. Work was
completed and the school opened (probably) in the Fall of
1924.
Stone Avenue School continued to serve nearby
residents until about 1942. It was vacant for awhile in 1943 and
housed the "Stone Avenue Nursery" sometime in 1945. The original small school was sold in 1947
to Earle Street Baptist Church. It was named the Kiddie Crisp
Building in honor of the many years of service of first grade
teacher, Mrs. B. B. Crisp. Now newly remodeled, it still serves
the community, housing Boy Scout Troop 30, a Vietnamese congregation,
and church activities. This is likely the oldest surviving school
building in the city.
Mrs. Eugenia Graff, daughter of the
late Louis Henry Cary and niece of the late Eugene Earle Stone,
has memories of the years she attended Stone Primary School on
Stone Avenue and Stone Elementary School on Wilton Street.
"During the day we memorized things,
read books, did drill and practices, had arithmetic matches on
the board, and were in spelling bees. There were many musical
performances and plays in which such dances as the minuet or
the Virginia Reel were performed. Since there was no cafeteria,
we brought a snack from home. I remember Miss Lucia Sloan, a
maiden aunt of Laura Thomas, who trained her little dog to carry
a goodie basket containing a doily and a cookie or a sandwich
to Laura every day when she was at school."
Mr. James Mann, whose father was mayor
of Greenville from 1929 to 1933, attended both Stone schools
and was three years behind Eugenia. James remembers more about
playing than what he did at school. "All the boys in the
neighborhood liked to play football or roller skate while playing
tin can hockey. All my brothers and sisters, and all my own children
went to both Stone schools. The teachers were all good,"
said James as he remembered the past.
In 1955 there were 620 students and twenty
teachers. After studying the Greenville community, Miss Elizabeth
Morgan's class presented a spectacular musical play called "Yesterday,
Today, and Tomorrow." This was one of the fun activities
which went on in Miss Morgan's class as she integrated the arts
even then. Miss Morgan, although retired, is still active in
Greenville functions and has a wealth of information to share.
Stone Elementary School was the first Greenville
elementary school to have a separate checkout library, and the
first to use audio-visual aids extensively. In 1950 the library
was built and classroom additions were constructed. In May of
1976 additional renovations were made.
From the early years to 2009, there have
been six principals at Stone: G.W. Palmer until 1950; Morgan
Arant from 1950-1980; Cecil Edwards from 1980-1984; Pat Borenstein
from 1984 to 1988; Francis Allgood from 1988-1989; Dwight Hettinger
from 1989 to 1993; and Edward Holliday from 1993 to the present.
Students at Stone won the school's first
Incentive Award in 1987-1988. In 1991, Mr. Charles Slate, Stone's
PTA president, spearheaded a letter-writing campaign and organized
speakers who were successful in keeping Stone Elementary open
and stopped a proposed merger with Summit Drive, which would
have resulted in one very large school with 1000 students. While
in office, Mr. Slate contacted alumni from Stone, community members,
and city officials for help cleaning up adjoining Croft Park.
Mr. Dwight Hettinger enlisted help from the Rotary Club. Hettinger
and SIC Chairman, Tom Faulkner, were also strong supporters of
Stone's Community Partners, based on the Big Brother/Big Sister
model, which paired families or members of families from different
backgrounds. The school Community Partners program was effective
in bringing the neighborhood together.
In 1995, under the leadership of principal, Ed
Holliday, Stone became a magnet academy
with the focus on the arts. Stone Academy of Communication Arts
embarked on an exciting future. Drama and dance were added to
the weekly related arts instruction, which already included visual
arts, music, and physical education.
The program has been successful, with students
enrolling from every part of the county. Since Stone has been
a magnet school, many accomplishments have been made. Stone won
a $10,000 Arts-in-Education grant four consecutive years, a $5,000
grant by the State Arts Commission, and was a four consecutive
year School Incentive Award winner for improving over each previous
year. (That program is no longer in place.) The South Carolina
Arts Commission has designated Stone Academy as a model Arts
in the Basic Curriculum (ABC) site. Stone's writing program received
recognition for three consecutive years as an exemplary writing
program. Stone entered the exemplary writing Hall of Fame in
2000.
Increasing enrollment as a result of the
magnet program again necessitated the expansion of the facilities.
The various additions to the original building were demolished
and a new building constructed behind and attached to the main
building. The front of the school moved to the North side of
the block. The new portion of the school contains the main office,
a gymnasium, a cafetorium, a media center, a computer lab, individual
classrooms with grade level conference rooms, and other rooms.
The original building is now the arts wing, housing art, music, strings, band, piano, and the Challenge program.
Following the extensive rebuild/remodel, the
landscaping was in need of serious attention. Several projects
have taken place to improve the grounds, as well as adjacent Croft Park.
In May of 2004, Kaboom selected Croft Park for a major playground
improvement project. Fifth grade student council members chose
their favorite from three different plans for the central play system.
That includes a slide and climbing wall, among other activities.
Home Depot provided volunteers and materials for a workday, and Chic-Fil-A
brought lunch. Over fifty volunteers constructed the piece.
The city of Greenville helped out by grading the park, building low
retaining walls along sidewalks to contain the mulch, and removing the
old play construct to be placed at a later date in the newly renovated
kindergarten play area. In the summer of 2004, the
kindergarten playground area was improved, thanks to the efforts of Jim
and Christi Bailey. The ground was leveled and grass planted, and
a mulched area built and fenced in to contain the relocated play
equipment. Now kindergarteners have a nice big area all their own
that is fun and safe.
Christi Bailey didn't stop there. She
continued landscape improvements by recruiting architect Dabney Peeples
to donate a plan for the interior courtyard garden.
Her vision was to incorporate science activities, such as composting.
That has indeed happened. Classes have planted basil and made
pesto sauce that the cafeteria served them for lunch, and collards,
which were harvested and donated to a women's shelter. Thanks to the SIC
and particularly Carolyn Henry, whose efforts have made these projects
possible. In the Spring of 2007, another aspect of the garden was
completed. Amy MacPhee, a parent and school therapist, supervised
the painting of a mural at the "hidden" entrance to the garden.
She employed many of the special ed students to help with the art work.
Soon after the completion of the mural the garden was dedicated and the
major contributors honored. Those honorees were: Steven and
Patrice Lineberger and Steve's company, Southern Greens, Christy and
James Bailey, Lowes, and Dabney Peeples.
Early in the 2009-2010 school year, the Board of
Trustees for Greenville County Schools voted to purchase additional land
on the block for a new playground, as the new building used up all the
school's land, and children were left with nowhere for running games.
That land is now our new playground, with a walking/running track
surrounding a play field. The PTA funded a the installation of a
sprinkler system in August of 2010, to keep the grass and other
plantings healthy.
The latest improvement effort has not yet
officially begun. Tentative plans are in place to upgrade the
original basement, turning the old cafeteria into a multipurpose room
that could house meetings (including community meetings, an art gallery,
and assemblies. Smaller rooms off the cafeteria could be used as
studios for local artists-in-residence, who would interact with students
all year long. You'll be hearing more about this later, as details
emerge.
From that small four-room schoolhouse,
to the large facility that is now called home, Stone Academy
has not changed in its purpose to 'operate for small pupils
so that everyone has a better chance.' Eugene Stone and his
family would be proud.
-History courtesy of Mrs. Ginny
Bennett, 4th Grade Teacher
with contributions from Mrs. Margaret Love, parent and neighbor
Thanks to Dr. Judy Bainbridge, for revisions based on
her extensive research, 2009
Click
here to see the new facility.
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