More DeKalb County schools in survey conducted 1916: Rehoboth and Montreal

The book, “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, Georgia,” 1916, includes both Rehoboth School and Montreal School. The publication spells the word Rehobeth, but since I’ve never seen it spelled that way anywhere else, I’ll stick with Rehoboth.

I wrote about Rehoboth School previously for this blog. The survey book describes Rehoboth School as being a new $2,000 building on one acre, with a few trees and an “ample playground”. There were two classrooms, cloak rooms, single patent desks, good blackboards, maps, pictures and a library. The school also had a bubbling water fountain. Like other schools of the time, there was a pig, poultry, and corn club.

1916 Rehoboth School photo from “Educational Surveys of DeKalb County and Union County, Georgia,” 1916.

The land for the school along Lawrenceville Highway was donated by J. A. Frazier. His name lives on through Frazier Road, which passes between Lavista Road and Lawrenceville Highway, crossing over railroad tracks.

I have not yet found out specifically what a single patent desk is, so let me know if you have the answer.

Rehoboth in 1916 had two teachers for seven grades and 96 pupils. No principal is named in the books, but teachers Ina Norman and Mary Norman are identified.

Montreal School is listed in the 1916 survey as located on one-acre, mostly in grove with a small playground. The building is valued at $1,600. There are two classrooms and two cloak rooms. The school has double desks, good blackboards, maps, pictures, a library, and a reference dictionary. There are two teachers for seven grades and 73 pupils.

This image is of Montreal School in DeKalb County. All the images in the 1916 survey of DeKalb County schools are poor quality, but we get the general idea of how it looked.

The principal is Mr. H. C. Jordan and one teacher listed is named Pauline Burgess. Since I happen to have a Pauline Burgess in my family tree, I looked on the 1920 census to see what she was doing. She was living in Lithonia, where she grew up, and teaching school. Seems likely my Great Aunt Pauline Burgess Thompson was teaching school at Montreal School in 1916 through 1920. Maybe she continued until 1921, when she married Samuel Thompson.