Sicily Island Schools, Part 2

From Sicily Island:  A Partial History, compiled by Mickie Smith:

Sicily Island Central School (1912-1923)

On January 7, 1911, the Catahoula Parish School Board petitioned to consolidate all Ward Two schools.  A committee was appointed to seek a location for a central industrial school.  This school was located about two miles from Florence on the 'Old Steele Place'.

Old Steele Place, 2011

The school was a two-story wooden structure that housed grades one through eleven, the total amount needed to obtain a high school diploma at that time.

The curriculum included English, science, mathematics, history, home economics and Latin.  The children walked to school awhile, carrying their lunch in a 'tin pail'.  Mrs. Lucille Steele Ogden said, "Oh, in the cold weather, my feet got so cold!".  

After some time, the families of the children who lived in Florence each paid a certain amount and hired James W. (Buck) Smith to drive a wagon and take them to school.  It was a full wagon load.  There were railings on the sides with benches along them, but no covering overhead.  Often times the wagon got stuck in the mud and the larger boys got out of the wagon and pushed to help free the wheels.

Mrs. Ogden said she remembered one time it rained so hard they stopped at a church and everyone went inside until the rain was over.  The school board later took over the payment for the wagon driver and hired several more drivers with wagons.  Some of the drivers were Mr. Squyers, Mr. Guice, Mr. Egloff, Mr. John Knight, John D. Boyette, Jack Smith, Mr. Keenan and Mr. Brooks.  These various drivers had different routes for hauling the children. 

Sicily Island Central School, courtesy of Gladys Nelson

The first class to graduate from this school was in the year 1921, with two graduates, Mattie Pearson and Ella Mae Shiel.

The graduating class of 1922 was the first class to graduate from an accredited high school in Catahoula Parish.  Thus, the school in Sicily Island became the first (and for a long time the only) school in the parish approved by the Southern Association of Schools. Until 1922, many parents sent their children away to stay with relatives or board with friends to attend the last year or two of school so they could graduated from an accredited school.

The 1922 graduating class consisted of three students, namely, Mittie Bass, Clarence Edward Enright, Sr. and Garland Furr.  The graduation ceremony was held under a large tree on a lot across from the Methodist Church.

Sicily Island School (1923-1930)

Sometime between the years of 1918-1919, plans were underway for a high school to be built in the town of Sicily Island.  The site was selected and in April of 1920, Mrs. E. S. Bryan, a resident of Shreveport, sold five acres of land for $1,000 to the school board for a school building.  

During the spring session of 1923, the Central School moved to a newly completed three-story brick building in the town of Sicily Island.

Sicily Island High School  three-story building

Principal, Cameron B. Coney

The class of 1923 was the first graduating class from this structure, whose foundation (a concrete slab) can still be seen on the campus of Sicily Island High School today.  Mr. Willett, principal at that time, finished his last term in the new school.

He was followed by Mr. C. B. Coney, who remained in this position for twenty-eight years.

Sicily Island School Campus - Concrete foundation of old three-story school in foreground

Sicily Island Schools, Part 1