Fun Fact: “Schools of Yesterday”

From: W.P.A.  for Mississippi Research Project, July 7th , 1936

By Marshall Taylor and H.V. Redfield

Subject:  EDUCATION  “Schools of Yesterday”

The early school days of Stone County date back to the early part of the nineteenth century.  Schools in those days were organized by citizens residing in their respective communities.  The buildings were of logs, an the benches of hewn timbers and there were no desks at all.  The patrons financed these schools, paying $1.00 per month for each pupil attending and usually taking turns among them, boarding the teachers.

One of the first schools of Stone County was located in the western part of the county on Griffin’s Branch, eleven miles northeast of Wiggins.  This school was known as the Davis-Perkins School, named after two of its founders.  It was a private pay school and was founded about 1871 by William Davis, Ben Perkins, Calvin Griffin, and others.  Some of the early teachers of this school were Luther Cox, Mr. Reynolds, John Davis, and James Carpenter.  This school operated at this location for four years; then it was reorganized and moved to a new location, five miles southwest of Bond.  It continued at this location for several years and was known as the Eureka Public School.