Eminence Community School Corporation
HISTORY
1858 - The first Eminence School was a frame building said to have been built on a hill near the barn of
TJ Lewis.
1876 – A brick building was erected in the southeast part of town; this was the first Eminence High School.
1884 – There were 29 high school pupils.
1898 – A uniform four-year high school was organized. Science and languages were added to grammar,
spelling, geography, drawing, history, and math.
1902 – The first graduation class had 3 members, Augustine Summers, Josie Russell, and
Garfield Walters.
1907 – More room was needed and a new brick school was built at the north edge of town. At that time
music, art, domestic science, agriculture, and manual training were added.
1916 – An addition was added onto the back of this building that included restrooms, a laboratory, two
new classrooms, and an assembly room with a stage.
1920 – A gymnasium was built north of the school. Everyone was excited, as now Eminence would have
indoor basketball games all winter.
1928 – During this year both of the buildings burned. The school burned in April and the gym in
December.
1931 - A new brick school was built. It is currently the front part next to the road that we see today.
Also a new gym was built north of the school. The gym was then destroyed by fire in
February 1955.
1950 – Three new classrooms were added to the right side of the building, one for each floor.
1958 – A new building was added behind the school. It included a gymnasium with a stage, cafeteria,
music room, laboratory, assembly room, and classrooms.
2001 – A new addition, housing the elementary school was added to the west and north side of the
1958 building. The other buildings are used as the Junior-Senior High School.
We have come a long way in a hundred years!
This information was gathered from a “History of Adams Township” written by Irene Kivett and from newspaper articles that has appeared in the Martinsville Reporter.