| Bowman High School started on August 5, 1929, when the Board of Education changed the name of Bakersville High School. This was done in recognition of Mr. J. C. Bowman and his services to helping education since the 1870's. W.C. Bowman was able to obtain help from the Peabody Fund, an endowment for education in the South. At least two "Peabody Schools" were operated at or near Bakersville , which trained future teachers. J. C. Bowman established Bowman Academy a few years later. This school was not a financial success and the name was changed to Mitchell Collegiate Institute when ownership was transferred to the Southern Baptist Convention. This was a two-story building with a dormitory for students who lived a distance away.
In June 1923, the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Church purchased the property for the sum of $15,000. It was called The Bakersville High School at this time. Board of Education members in 1901-1923 were J.W. Gudger, Tarp Turbyfill, W. C. Berry, D. T. Fortner, C. T. Hickey, and W. W. Bailey. All records of the Board of Education were lost in the May Flood of 1901.
The first principal was R. T. Teague. Subjects taught were English, Latin, History, Civics, Biology, General Science, Geometry and Algebra. Lunch hour was 12:15 to 1:15 and Chapel 1:15 to 1:30. The principal and two others were the teachers. Sports included baseball, basketball, tennis, and track. In the spring of 1924 there were 7 high school graduates. In September, a fourth teacher was allowed in view of crowded conditions.
In 1925 two and one-half acres adjoining the original purchase was added and an eight-room building was authorized. Grades 1 through 7 were to be provided for as well. Classes of bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing were upstairs, Mr. Pannell's Science Room and Lab, and fifth and sixth grades were downstairs. The new building was completed in 1926- eight classrooms, restrooms, auditorium, and four small storage rooms, one used for the principal's office and one for music lessons. One hardly bigger than a closet was the first kitchen for hot soup lunches.
In 1932, another half-acre was bought and a building for a garage for the school buses was ordered.
J. Richard Carr and James L. Burnett served as principals from 1925-26 and 1933-34. In eleven years there had been 286 graduates. But by 1934 room was running out. Another building went up for Bowman, the same basic floor plan as the 1926 building. The unfinished and empty auditorium was used as a gymnasium and the Class of 1941 gave the graduating class of 1940 their Masquerade Party in lieu of a formal banquet. A prom was not allowed in those days because of opposition to dancing. The music director, Paul Butt, was allowed to use only folk dances in any program he might want to present.
The new building was used only four years- for in October 1940 it burned. The bus garage and old clapboard gym were converted to classrooms and used for several years while another building was completed. Another building was completed in the early 1940's. The old gym was used until the 1950's. The Class of 1941 graduated in the old auditorium of the 1926 building. The class of 1939 lays claim to being the only seventh grade class to "graduate" from Loafer's Glory because of Bowman being so crowded. Loafer's Glory was the remaining community school , a half mile or so up the Mine Creek Road.
R. B. Phillips took the principalship in the 1934-35 year and served three years. A. V. Nolan followed with two years as principal. Raymond F. Ashley served as principal for two years after this. From 1935 through 1941 there were a total of 262 graduates and average enrollment of 272 from 1935 through 1940. Teachers during the years 1935-36 were R. B. Phillips, the Principal; Mrs. Maxwell, Guy H. Wheeler, Agriculture, J. Carper Greene, Math Department, James H. Pannell, Science, Miss Louise Morgan, French, Miss Helen McBee, English, Mrs. Lillian Ellis, Home Economics, Bookkeeping, Shorthand and Typing were taught but no state credit toward graduation was given.
During the pre-war years, there were also high schools at Tipton Hill and Harris High. In 1940 Bowman High School had eight teachers, football, basketball, and girl's basketball. Bowman shared championship in basketball for nine years. The maroon and white colors came into existence when the Coach Wade Mckinney ordered uniforms and had to make a decision in 1940.
About 1939 a storage room the 1926 building was converted to a kitchen so that hot soup could be prepared and served. The students paid for the hot lunch with produce- a quart jar of home-canned tomatoes was good for two lunches- hot vegetable soup served with soda crackers. Mrs. Elma Young started and continued for years supervising the preparation of lunches. Most students carried a lunch from home, some carefully folding and saving their brown paper bag to use again. Some carried the "syrup bucket" with a lid and handle. There was baked sweet potatoes, small tomatoes, sandwiches of crackers with peanut butter and cheese, homemade "souse meat" with light bread, and ham biscuits, which many students were ashamed of and pay dearly for now.
The burned building was replaced with a two-story building designed for all grades. Completed in 1942 it had sixteen classrooms and auditorium. The primary grades moved out of the 1926 building and the auditorium was converted into a cafeteria. Fred G. Brummitt was principal from 1941-1942. There were ten teachers. In 1943 four acres were bought for an athletic field. Even in the late 30's a farmer's field was borrowed for a football game.
The war years brought changes to the school system. Shortages and rationing made maintenance and upkeep difficult. Many people left the county for jobs in more developed areas. Enrollment at Bowman dropped in 1943 and stayed low during the war. 1941-1955 saw 501 graduates. There was no graduating class of 1946 because the State Department added a grade after 7 in 1942, making the requirement for graduation twelve years instead of eleven.
In 1948 a building containing a shop, two classrooms, and an office was built for the Agriculture Dept. In 1951 a gymnasium and four classrooms and rest rooms were added at the back of the auditorium. This was used as a dressing room area for the Rhododendron Festival for years. When recent renovations were made and the auditorium was to be torn down festival lovers begged it to saved. The Festival celebrated it's 50th Anniversary there in the summer of 1996.
C.M. King became principal in 1955-56 and land was purchased for "Little Bowman". This moved the first three grades away and gave more room. A new building added a new kitchen, cafeteria and Home Economics Dept. in 1968. the old 1926 building was torn down around 1967. A new building for the Vocational Education was erected around this time also.
Over time people decided that a new consolidated high school should be built. Mitchell High was a consolidation of Bowman, Harris, and Tipton Hill. Bowman High School has now become Bowman Middle School.
Information was provided by June Hughes Wilson, Bowman Class of '41. |