Ashland High School (Ashland, Louisiana)

Ashland High School was a rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

public kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

-grade 12 primary and secondary

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

educational institution located in the village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

of Ashland

Ashland, Louisiana

Ashland is a village located in the northernmost portion of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was incorporated in 1963. A few residences and a convenience store to the north spill over into neighboring Bienville Parish. The population was 291 at the 2000 census...

in northern Natchitoches Parish

Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana

Natchitoches Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Natchitoches. As of 2000, the population was 39,080. This is the heart of the Cane River Louisiana Creole community...

from 1907 until its closing in 1981.

Background

Ashland High School was originally a one-room structure. The late Judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

H. Welborn Ayres

Harrison Welborn Ayres was a 20th century judge of the Louisiana Second Judicial District Court, based in Jonesboro, and the state Second Circuit Court of Appeal, anchored in Shreveport....

, an Ashland native and AHS alumnus, refers to it as "one of the foremost rural high schools in the state," having offered instruction even in the less-studied subjects of physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

and medieval history. Andrew R. Johnson

A.R. Johnson (Louisiana politician)

Andrew R. Johnson, known as A.R. Johnson , was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate, who represented District 24 from 1916 to 1924....

, who had once taught school in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, donated the land for the original 1907 Ashland public school. Later a banker and the mayor of Homer

Homer, Louisiana

Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...

in Claiborne Parish

Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....

, Johnson also served in the Louisiana State Senate

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

from 1916–1924, having represented Bienville

Bienville Parish, Louisiana

Bienville Parish is a parish located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Arcadia and as of the 2000 census, the population is 15,752....

and Claiborne parishes.

School records date from 1913. The school building burned in the spring of 1918, and no school was held for one year. The 1918 commencement exercise was held in the long since disbanded Ashland Methodist Church, with former U.S. Representative Phanor Breazeale

Phanor Breazeale

Phanor Breazeale was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.Born in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Breazeale attended private schools.He moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, in 1877....

, an attorney from Natchitoches

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...

, as the speaker. In his address, Breazeale focused on contributions of the American Red Cross

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...

during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

and the example of service to which he encouraged the graduates to aspire.

Ashland educators

W. R. Hatcher served as Ashland High School principal before taking the same position in the nearby Martin

Martin, Louisiana

Martin is a village in Red River Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 625 at the 2000 census.-History:The Reverend John Dupree organized sixteen Baptist churches in Louisiana east of the Red River. where his work began in 1862. Earlier, he had organized congregations in Georgia. He...

community in Red River Parish

Red River Parish, Louisiana

Red River Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Coushatta. It was one of the newer parishes created in 1871 by the state legislature under Reconstruction...

.

S. G. "Greg" Lucky left teaching at Ashland High School to procure a law degree at the Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...

. However, he returned to education as the principal of Bastrop High School in Bastrop

Bastrop, Louisiana

Bastrop is a city in and the parish seat of Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,988 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Bastrop, Louisiana Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Monroe-Bastrop, Louisiana Combined...

and as the superintendent of Morehouse Parish

Morehouse Parish, Louisiana

Morehouse Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Bastrop. In 2000, the parish population was 31,021....

, located north of Monroe

Monroe, Louisiana

Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...

.

S. M. Robertson of Ashland became principal of Raceland High School in Raceland

Raceland, Louisiana

Raceland is a census-designated place on Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 10,224 at the 2000 census...

in Lafourche Parish in south Louisiana and was an adult education supervisor for the Louisiana Department of Education in Baton Rouge.
Orie Madison Lay (1898–1990), a 1917 AHS graduate, served as the principal of Robeline High School in Robeline

Robeline, Louisiana

Robeline is a village in western Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 183 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area....

and then as an assistant superintendent in Natchitoches Parish. He is interred at Memory Lawn Cemetery in Natchitoches.

Dovie Lillias Lay Dupree (1900–1969), a sister of Orie Lay, taught a generation of first-graders at Ashland High School. Her husband, Alvah Hume Dupree (1901–1974), operated a store across the street from the school. The abandoned building still stands. The three Dupree daughters followed in their mother's footsteps as educators. The middle daughter, Gloria Dupree Anderson (1936–2009), taught at Ashland High School from 1964 until its closing. Anderson continued her career in education until retiring after forty-three years in the profession.

Similarly, Marie Weaver Powell (1907–2001) taught elementary grades at Ashland High School during several decades before the school closed.

Later years

There were seven ASH graduates in 1939. The twelfth grade was added in 1948. In 1951, there were no graduates. The second Ashland High School building, which opened in 1919 and closed in 1981 because of parish school consolidation, has since been razed. The school mascot was the "Bearcat". A private Ashland Community School operated for another two years from 1981-1983 at the Ashland Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation which much later renovated its facilities in 2009.

Children in Ashland now attend public schools in Goldonna

Goldonna, Louisiana

Goldonna is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 457 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area...

and Campti

Campti, Louisiana

Campti is a town in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,057 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area. Campti is a flat area of mostly farmland. It sets on the eastern bank of the Red River...

, with kindergarten

Kindergarten

through eighth grades attending Goldonna Elementary and Junior High School and ninth through twelfth grades assigned to Lakeview High School on Louisiana Highway 9

Louisiana Highway 9

Louisiana Highway 9 is a state highway that serves Natchitoches Parish, Bienville Parish, and Claiborne Parish in north Louisiana. It spans , running a north–south route.-Route description:...

north of Campti.

The former Ashland school site is now occupied by a fire station manned by volunteers. The gymnasium was converted into the Ashland Community Center, where Ashland High School alumni held class reunions. The community center burned to the ground in the summer of 2009. The debris has been since cleared.

A former Natchitoches Parish branch library, operated from the residence of Eleanor Sylvia Walker Bamburg (1915-2010), a librarian for forty years, was located across from the high school and the Dupree store. After its closure, a bookmobile

Bookmobile

A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...

began coming weekly to the village hall. Near the former school was also a once popular horseback riding club arena.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.