Blountsville Agricultural School
Blountsville, Alabama
1895-1937
E-Travel
The 1912-1913 catalog is available through Auburn University. C. J. Owens’ Secondary Agricultural Education in Alabama outlines the common curriculum for all nine of the state’s agricultural schools. The Blount County News-Dispatch and the Birmingham News were among newspapers that carried news from the school.
History
The history of Blountsville Agricultural School is tied up with two other institutions—Blount College and the present J. B. Pennington High School. Blount College (founded 1890) saw its building burn in 1895. However, Blount College classes continued in the new agricultural school for at least the next two years, and graduates are listed in that school’s catalog. Beginning in 1932, the two schools shared an annual alumni gathering.
B.A.S. offered two curricula—Agricultural-Scientific and Agricultural-Classical, with most students choosing the former. Each curriculum offered five courses annually—agriculture, science, history, mathematics, and English. The classical curriculum substituted a Latin course each year. All students took a normal course during the junior year. B.A.S. was a practical school, so all students were required to work in the school’s farm and gardens.
Two of the six-member faculty taught music and expression. All students were required to be members of one of the two literary societies--the Henry Grady or the Frank Burns. The nine agricultural schools held an annual debate contest.
The 1912-13 catalog shows 167 students—13 Seniors, 34 Juniors, 31 Sophomores, and 48 Freshmen. Forty-one students—some as old as 18--were listed as seventh graders. Apparently these were students whose common school education had not prepared them for high school work. Forty percent of students were females.
In 1937 the state of Alabama passed control of the agricultural schools to their local school districts. Blountsville Agricultural School kept its name until 1941, when it became J. B. Pennington High School to honor a long time educator associated with the school.
1911-1912 Senior Class. Image from the catalog
Bricks and Mortar
The Blount College building burned on January 5, 1895. The city of Blountsville (population 1016) then raised funds for a new building to attract the new agricultural high school. Measuring 65 by 105 feet, it sat on a three-acre lot in south Blountsville. The school was a two-story frame structure on a stone foundation. Newspapers note that it contained a large chapel, section rooms, a chemistry lab, and a library. The accompanying experimental farm was 65 acres with a barn and other farm buildings.
The new building was ready at the end of November 1895. The private college and the state agriculture school jointly occupied the building for the next two years. This building also burned in September 1938. The following year the new J. B. Pennington High School was built on the site.
Pinterest image of the Blountsville Agricultural School building, posted by Tammie Swann. This building burned in 1919.
Sports
Team name: Aggies
According to the catalog, B.A.S. offered “reasonable encouragement” for athletics for the “proper physical, mental and moral development of the pupils. But it is not until 1908 that newspapers show any sports activity—a 5-0 loss to Alabama Presbyterian College in football together with baseball games against St. Bernard College.
In 1913 the Birmingham Post-Herald proposed a conference of “minor colleges” in Alabama—including the agricultural schools, the normal schools and the small private colleges. Though they were all secondary schools of modest size, the agricultural schools—especially Blountsville and Albertville-- were considered a class above the public high schools. B.A.S. football and baseball schedules before World War I often included Howard College, Birmingham College, Jacksonville Normal, and Greene University—in addition to St. Bernard and Alabama Presbyterian.
Note—Images are used in accordance with their terms of use as I understand those terms. Recopying or reproducing these images may be restricted or forbidden.