"In the year 1884 the first movement was made toward establishing a public school in Henrietta. (Up to that time the only educational facilities were private schools, the best of which was conducted in a private home located just east of where F.F.. Green’s grocery store now stands.) At that time there was no board of trustees, so the city council formulated plans for the erection of a school building.

"Since the city council was the founder and supervisor of this first building and on account of some technical ordinance, it had to be built for a city hall, but was used for a public school building until the enrollment of the school outgrew the capacity of the building.

"This building occupied the northwest corner of the block on which the Gentry houses now stand.

"The council at this time was composed of W.A. Squires, mayor; John F. Conn, secretary; Cliff Easley; Norman Snearly; Sandy Worsham; and L.H. Koethe, councilmen.

"The town’s people took great pride in the erection of this building, and some made daily trips to see how the work was progressing. One of the councilmen, Cliff Easley, spent all of his time overseeing the work that was done to make sure that only the best material would be used. Once when he did not think that the material was up to the standard, he had the workmen to tear down what they had done and to do it over properly.

"This building was built of red brick and was in the shape of a cross. The lower floor consisted of four class rooms, the superintendent’s office, a large cloak room and two halls. The upper floor was given over to class rooms, of which there were six in number, the halls being used for cloak rooms.

"The lower floor was used by the high school departments and since the work was not departmentalized, one teacher taught all the eighth grade subjects; another all the ninth grade subjects; and so on through the tenth and eleventh grades.

"This building was not equipped with a furnace but each room was heated by a stove in which coal was burned. There were no drinking fountains; a well about thirty-five or forty feet in front of the school house furnished the drinking water for the school children.

"A high board fence enclosed the school grounds and this furnished much amusement for the children, because by placing a long board on the horizontal boards of the fence an excellent see-saw was produced. The smaller pupils placed their board on the lower board of the fence and the older the pupils got, the higher they would place their see-saw plank.

"Recess time was enjoyed by all, from the youngest to the oldest and no one was allowed to stay indoors when the weather was nice. The girls amused themselves by playing jacks, town ball, jumping, blackman, and see-sawing inside the school yard, while the boys were allowed to play baseball on a big open space just southeast of the school yard.

"Teachers were not required to do ground duty but all took part in play, even the superintendent and principal. There were only a few houses between the school building and Dry Fork and in the spring the girls were allowed to go flower picking. Sometimes they would go as far as the creek and bring back great bouquets of daisies and violets and plum blossoms.

"In the fall the boys would go to the creek during the noon hour and get their pockets full of pecans. Even in those days the boys knew how to play hookey and some would forget to come back to school in the afternoons but remained on the creek to gather pecans.

"There was an immense bell on the top of the school house and when rung it could be heard all over town. This same bell can still be heard from the Catholic Church.

"The subjects taught in the elementary grades were about the same as are taught now; but the subjects taught in high school were not so many or so varied as are now taught in our high school. There were no electives in high school; all subjects that were taught were required. These subjects were history, English, algebra, geometry, Latin and science.

"After six or eight years, a frame building, consisting of two immense rooms, was built northeast of the brick building and this was used for the primary grades.

"But in the course of another few years, the school enrollment became so large that plans had to be made for the erection of a school building adequate to accommodate the growing school population of the city. The result of this movement was the present ward school, which was named the Lulu Johnson Building.

"When the old building was vacated, it was sold to the Catholics, who used it as a hospital for a while. It was well insured and the priest who was in charge at that time decided that they needed the money worse than the building, so he set it on fire.

"It burned one evening about six o’clock and was the largest blaze that the town had ever witnessed. In some mysterious way it was found out that the priest had caused the fire; he was arrested, tried and served a term in the penitentiary.

"The new building, Henrietta’s second public school building, which is now known as the ‘Lulu Johnson Building,’ was begun in 1909 and was completed and ready for use by September, 1910.

"Professor J.L. Gragg, who was superintendent of the Henrietta Public Schools during the terms of 1909-1910 and 1910-1911, deserves much credit for the erection of this building, because it was through his interest and influence that the citizens of Henrietta were made to realize the need for a more modern and more commodious school building.

"This building is located three blocks north of the first school building. It is built of red brick and concrete. It is considered as a three story building, the first being the basement.

"Until 1928, when the present high school building was completed, the basement of the ‘Lulu Johnson Ward School’ was used by the primary grades; the second floor by the grammar grades; and the third floor by the high school grades.

"This building is modern in every respect; it is heated by a furnace, lighted by electricity, has drinking fountains on every floor, and has fire escapes from the second and third stories.

"The campus is enclosed by concrete walks and curbs. A giant-stride, a slide and swings furnish playground equipment.

"The auditorium with a stage, dressing rooms on either side, and a seating capacity of about five hundred, is on the third floor. This auditorium was also used for a study hall for the high school pupils.

"After about ten or twelve years, this building would no longer accommodate the enrollment, so an annex was built on the east side. This added four class rooms to the building and enlarged the auditorium.

"In 1926 it again became necessary to make plans for more teachers and more class rooms. Bonds were voted in 1926 and the erection was begun in 1927. In the early spring of 1928 the present ‘Walker High School Building’ was completed, and the high school grades moved over into their new home and spent the last six weeks of the 1927-1928 term in it.

"This new building is located on the block directly southwest of the ‘Lulu Johnson Ward School.’ There was much discussion concerning the location of this building because some of the citizens thought that it should be located in the opposite side of town from the other school building, but it was deemed best from several economical standpoints to erect it on its present site. First, by having the buildings close together, one superintendent could better supervise both; and second, it was economical to the science equipment and department in the Lulu Johnson Building.

"This last building was named the Walker Building in honor of C. F. Walker, who was superintendent of the Henrietta Public Schools for sixteen years.

"It is built of cream-colored brick, has a red tile roof and is two stories high. The auditorium serves a double purpose because by taking up the seats it can be used as an indoor gymnasium. This auditorium extends across almost the entire north side of the building and is as high as both stories combined.

"South of it on the first floor are two class rooms, the superintendent’s office, the principal’s office and double home economics rooms.

"On the upper floor there are three class rooms, a study hall and a library.

"In the halls there are steel lockers in which the pupils keep their hats, wraps, and books.

"The walks and curbs enclose the ground and the campus is well sodded with Bermuda grass. A drive is now on for planting shrubs and flowers which will enhance the beauty of the grounds. Each class has charge of a special plot of ground.

"A number of new subjects have been added to the curriculum this year and many extra-curricular activities are participated in by a large per cent of the student body."