Eastland School

Eastland School was near where the Church of Christ is now located in Eastland (214 West Loop Road).  It is uncertain where the first Eastland School was located, but there was a school operated by the coal mine company.  Frank B. Gracey was a teacher at Eastland and there are postcards sent to him to the Eastland Post Office and cards that he sent postmarked at Eastland, Tennessee.

According to Mr. T. L. Leonard, the coal mine company had its own schools, had a school board and hired its own teachers.  The salary was $45.00 from the county and a supplement of $98.00 from the miners.  The school payment was taken out of the miners’ wages.  In 1929, Eastland was a three-teacher school and under the company’s policy the school year lasted nine months.  This was in contrast to other county schools, which lasted five months.  School law required fifteen students per teacher and in 1929 there were three teachers at Eastland School with sixty students.  The building had one large room with folding partitions and a two-room house had been attached.  Earlier the school had a larger enrollment.  The building had been a two-story building with a lodge meeting room upstairs.  The school building was painted red at Eastland, as were the houses.

Mrs. Cecil Chittick’s sister stated that when she was a youngster, the older students put on plays to raise money; in fact, they bought a dynamo so that the school there could have electric lights.  At Christmas time there was a program with a decorated tree and the company would make up money from the miners for a fruit and candy treat at the school program.  The miners apparently were more than willing to donate for schools; they wanted education for their children.

When the mines closed, the school building was sold to White County by Tennessee Products Corporation on December 1, 1936.  Clifty School was consolidated with Eastland School in 1936.  The last year for the old Eastland School building was 1939.  It was torn down and a new building constructed.  The school was later consolidated with BonDeCroft School.

Teachers known to have taught at Eastland School included:
Grace Mitchell Billings – Annie Bohannon – Nannie Bohannon – Rebecca Parker Brady – Cecil Welch Chittick – Herman Cowden – Ethel Hollingsworth Davis – Anna Elrod – Beecher Frasier – Bobby Goff – Frank Gracey – Frances Hennessee – Earlene Jolly – Martha Kelly – Professor King – Wallace Lamb – Ruth Miller – Wilma Moore – Minnie Moyers – Mary Jo Weaver Mullican – Nell Pearson – Mrs. Regan – Fannie Reeves – Delena Rascoe Short – W. E. Short – Amanda Smith – J. G. Snodgrass – Mary Jane Snodgrass – Dorothy Steward – Mrs. J. W. Tucker – Elma Welch – and Kenneth Welch.