Pike Road School - Pike Road, Alabama
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 32° 17.080 W 086° 06.156
16S E 584502 N 3572343
Marker telling the story of the consolidation of several one-room rural schools into a grade one through twelve facility.
Waymark Code: WMEWZV
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 07/16/2012
Views: 10
Pike Road was a farming community when the people raised the money to build the consolidated school. It is interesting to note the date the school opened, November 11, 1918. That was the day the cease fire took place in World War One, celebrated yearly after that as Armistice Day. The school served as a community center until it closed in 1970.
Today there is a town of Pike Road, incorporated in 1997, which is trying to develop its own school system. Looking at some of the comments on web pages, it seems residents want to return to the time when the school was one of the focal points of the community.
The marker text reads:
Pike Road School
Montgomery County's first school to consolidate rural, one-room school houses into grades one through twelve opened November 11, 1918. The school was built by the Montgomery County Board of Education on 30 acres of land at a cost of $40,000 with monies loaned and donated by families from surrounding settlements. Hailed by the U.S. Commissioner of Education when it was featured in the Alabama Exhibit at the 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition in Philadelphia, the school subsequently attracted foreign educators from Europe and South America interested in observing the system. The last graduating class was in 1945; the school remained a junior high school until its closing in May 1970.
Sponsored by the Pike Road School Alumni Association
Alabama Historical Association
1997
Marker Name: Pike Road School
Marker Type: Urban
Addtional Information::
This marker is located on Old Pike Road (Montgomery County Road 85) at the intersection with Flinn Road. The side facing Old Pike Road is in rough condition, but the other side is okay and can be easily read.
Date Dedicated / Placed: 1997
Marker Number: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Alabama history please include that in your log.