Redan and Shady Grove Schools 1916
Redan School and Shady Grove Schools are included in the 1916 book, “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, Georgia.” I am slowly working my way through the schools in this book. There are photos and descriptions of each school, but the photos are not of high quality. They do give a general idea of how each school looked.
Redan School is described as a standard school in the book. Frances Allen and Annie Lou Phillips were teachers. Mr. J. N. Wagner was principal. Rarely was a DeKalb County school principal a woman at this point.
The school was located on a 2 and ½ acre lot, “well improved and well kept,” with an “ample playground.” There was a school garden that included both vegetables and flowers. The remodeled school was estimated as being valued at $3,000. It had three classrooms and cloak rooms and was properly lit. A nearby church could be used if an auditorium was needed. The listing of features includes “good school equipment and teacher helps” I’m not sure it that means teacher helpers or something entirely different. There are single patent desks, teachers’ desks, blackboards, maps, pictures charts, library, reference dictionary, victrola, sand tables,
Redan School, 1916. From “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, GA.” DeKalb History Center has an original copy of this book in their archives.
In 2025, Redan Elementary School was located at 1914 S. Stone Mtn. Lithonia Road in Lithonia, GA and Redan Middle School is at 1775 Young Road in Lithonia.
Shady Grove School was located on a one-acre lot. Looking on newspapers.com I found the school was located on Rockbridge Road near Stone Mountain. The January 25, 1934 article was about a tragic hit and run accident involving two students playing in the road directly in front of Shady Grove School. Unfortunately, this is the only reference I found to Shady Grove School in the newspapers.
Shady Grove School, DeKalb County, GA 1916
The surveys book lists Miss Nellie Pickens as principal and Bonnie Wells as a teacher. It was located in an oak grove with a small playground area and no garden. There were two closets. The two classroom and two cloak room school building was valued at $1,000 in 1916. On the negative side the school was poorly lighted and had very few pictures. There was a corn club and school improvement club. Two teachers taught 65 students in seven grades. There is a note that a new building has been started which will bring the school up to a “standard school.”
The 1916 survey of DeKalb County schools does not mention any school for Black students. The Union County survey of schools lists one Black school located in Blairsville, GA. The teacher was Ruth Lee. The building is described as small but comfortable. The desks were homemade. Thirteen children attended the school, which offered 5 grades.
In the back of “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, GA” there is a description of what makes a school qualify as “standard.” A minimum standard of efficiency for rural schools had been sent across the state by the State School Superintendent.
A few of the requirements listed include good teaching, teacher’s manual on desk, playgrounds, two separate sanitary closets (bathrooms), painted building, no leaks, windows without broken panes, cloak rooms, patent modern desks, building comfortably heated and ventilated, teacher salary of at least $40 per month. There are also suggested activities; such as corn, canning, poultry or cooking club.
Sources cited: “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County Georgia,” by M. L. Duggan, Rural School agent, 1916, DeKalb History Center archives.