Social - June 2003

North Brook schools house history, memories

Published June 27, 2003

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

The monikers for the three schools were simple, bearing the name of the community and a number.

In fact, North Brook No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 were often referred to just by their numbers.

The schools, spaced about 7 miles apart in the North Brook community, are no longer in operation.

For the people of the area, they were a source of pride. For the educators and former students still living in Lincoln County, plenty of good memories remain.

“They were really community kind of schools,” said Phyllis Tallent, a student at the schools and the new assistant superintendent for support services.

All three schools were built during the 1920s, a time when one-room schools were being consolidated into larger buildings.

No. 1, the largest of the three, went up first in 1922. No. 2 and No. 3 followed two years later.

At the time they were built, the state had a uniform set of blueprints for schools similar in size, said Kelly Childers, who was a student and physical education teacher at the schools. No. 2 and No. 3 were virtually identical with the only difference between the two being their size.

In the early years, grades 1-7 were taught at each of the three schools. Students all moved on to No. 1 for grades 8-11. Twelfth grade didn’t exist at the time.

The schools served as more than just a place for education. They were something the rural community could identify with.

Since the teachers were an integral part of the community, children respected them because they knew their parents would find out quickly if they did something wrong, said Lucille Upton, who worked at all three schools from 1940 to 1974.

People would come to the schools to eat lunch, and they provided a social setting, a rallying point.

“You had three things that offered social well-being for people: the little country store, church and the school,” Childers said. “Each community really rallied around those things.”

 The makeup of the schools changed in the early 1960s with the opening of West Lincoln High. No. 1 eventually became a school for students in grades 3-6; No. 2 and No. 3 each housed K-2 students.

When Ed Hatley, the retiring associate superintendent, arrived at No. 1 as principal in 1984, No. 3 had already been closed. No. 1 had an enrollment of less than 300 students, and No. 2 supported just 150.

There were maybe two classes per grade level, giving Hatley a chance to know all of the students’ names. Everything was very informal, he said, and everyone knew each other.

“It was a different feeling about it … ,” said Faye Shidal, a teacher at the schools from the 1970s until their close. “It was more like a family school.”

The new North Brook Elementary opened in 1987, completely replacing the original three schools. Shidal went to the new school for two years before being moved to West Lincoln Middle with the rest of the sixth grade.

“It was like going into a new house,” she said.

No. 3 became the North Brook Rest Home, standing on the road that still bears its name.

All that’s left of No. 2 is the old cafeteria, which became the North Brook Community Center. The rest of the building, demolished after the new North Brook Elementary opened nearby, was located where the North Brook Convenience Recycling Site now rests.

No. 1 is still standing on near the border with Gaston County but barely. The building, a shadow of its former self, is slowly decaying after years of neglect.

People who grew up in the community still give directions based on the locations of the schools, Hatley said. The educators who worked there constantly see former students — as many as three generations worth in Upton’s case.

“They served the community well for more than 50 years,” Hatley said.

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Staff Writer Jeremy Ashton can be reached at 704-735-3031 or jashton@ltnews.com.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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