About Lucy

Lucy Elementary School has historically been a small, red-brick building located on an attractive lot in the shade of huge trees in the center of the Lucy Community. Since its humble beginning as a tiny, two room wood building in 1875, many changes have occurred through the years.

With the acquisition of the “School Lot” on October 15, 1897, by the directors of the School District Three in Shelby County, Tennessee, the way was paved for an “official” school which would later serve primary and high school students. A teacher for Lucy High School was employed on June 8, 1907.

Records indicate that land in the Lucy community was donated around 1910 for a high school. The land was donated by Mr. Lewis Williams. The west wing of the original brick building was completed in the spring of 1911. This school was staffed by Professor Wolf as principal and Mrs. Irene Abbington and Mrs. Peirce Wortham as teachers. Upon completion of Lucy Elementary, the two other elementary schools in the area, Rembert Springs School and Big Creek School, were closed and those students were transported to Lucy High School by wagonettes. According to Dorothy Carlisle Vincent as quoted in Millington, the First Hundred Years, first graduates of Lucy High School were Lila Branch, Evelyn Bolton, and Mamie Armour.

Wagonettes, those horse-drawn wagons, were first used to transport students to Lucy High School. The wagon from Big Creek was driven by Mr. Wylie Wortham and the one from Nettle Creek was driven by Mr. Mark Wortham. In 1914 the students were actually transported by covered wagonnetes. The first motorized bus was an old Model T truck that Mr. Mark Wortham had redesigned it so that it had a body with curtained windows on the side. This bus was driven by Mr. Wortham until around 1922 when the first regular school bus was furnished to bus driver Dave Goldsby.

In 1920 the high school was moved to Millington, leaving the Lucy community with an eighth grade school again. The seventh and eighth grades were removed after the eighth grade graduation in 1927, making Lucy an elementary school of grades one through six.
Oral history indicates that in 1936 each classroom housed two grades. The kitchen was small and students ate lunch at their desks. Food for lunch was provided by the community; community members were able to use school facilities to “can” their garden vegetables in the summer, and in return they gave some of the produce to the school for student lunches. The cost of lunch was a grand total of $.05.

Indoor restrooms and water fountains were constructed in 1938. A great story involves the excitement that this miracle brought. The boys at school had so much fun flushing the new toilets that the new pump lost its prime and Lucy School ran out of water! The teachers had to let the students go home.

Seventh and eighth grades were returned in 1940. A second addition containing additional restrooms, cafeteria, office, clinic, four classrooms, and a front porch was constructed in 1954. In the early sixties a third addition was completed which provided four more classrooms, a teachers’ lounge, a textbook room, and two restrooms. Kindergarten classes began on a limited basis in 1960.
The first seventh and eighth grade basketball team was organized in 1961; the “Golden Eagles” played with no gym for the first few years. Players practiced on the asphalt in the back of the school, and all games were played at Millington High School. The Lucy gymnasium was erected in 1968. The whole school voted on the school colors.

Many former Lucy Eagles fondly remember “womanless beauty reviews,” princess, prince and page representatives to the Cotton Carnival, concessions at basketball games, and spelling bees held at the school. For many years, there were Fourth of July picnics held on the school campus. Folks talk of the Kiddie Band and the grand uniforms. The assemblies held in the auditorium and the plays presented are often mentioned.

Portable classrooms were added as the population grew. By 1985 there were six portable classrooms with an enrollment of 430 students in grades K-8.

Shelby County Schools filed a request with the Federal Court to construct a fourth addition and renovate the present facilities. The request to construct the addition was denied. The denial was appealed by Shelby County Schools, but to no avail. The Federal Court Order of August 1986 necessitated the transfer of all students in grades 5-8 to Woodstock Elementary. Boundary changes caused some students in Grades K-4 to be transferred to other schools in the area. The court order further required the removal of the six portables.

Since the request to renovate the present facilities to meet safety and handicapped standards was approved, renovation began in July 1987. A larger library, handicap ramps, and classroom central heat and air units were provided. Other structural changes included a new office complex and lowered ceilings were accomplished by rearranging existing facilities. Students attended classes during this process.

The school continued to operate as a K-4 school until the 1989-90 school year. As a result of the low enrollment, parent/community concerns, and court order approval, the students in the fourth grade were allowed to remain at Lucy for their fifth grade year in 1990-1991 school year, effectively making Lucy a K-5 school. Once more, additional portables were required each year until 2000-2001 when seven portables were located around the campus to house students.

With the onset of the 2000-2001 school year, Shelby County Schools revealed plans for the building of “New Lucy Elementary School.” The design of new wing of the building reflects architectural elements in the original wing.
Students occupied the new wing of the building in stages during the school year 2001-2002. When students were fully located in the new wing of the building, each individual who was at Lucy that year painted a tile and a tile wall was placed in the front entrance. Every student and staff member decorated a tile.

Large windows and wood floors remain as a reminder of earlier times in the original wing of the building. Prekindergarten classes and classrooms are maintained in the original wing. The area of the original “auditorium” and later the library has been transformed into a highly modern art room.

Lucy Elementary has continued to increase student numbers due to unsurpassed growth of the community and due to redistricting to include additional areas of the community.

Lucy has always been and remains a source of pride in the community as well as among its stakeholders. From the time when neighbors came to the school and shared their crops in the kitchen for lunch to the present day, stakeholders are proud of Lucy Elementary and the education provided by the team parents working together with the school.

Lucy Building Timeline

1875	Two room building (on original playground)
1912	Original brick building opened (built in 1911-probably opened in the spring of 1911) Three classrooms and an auditorium
1938	Indoor plumbing--indoor restrooms (downstairs in original building), outside drinking fountains
1954	Second addition cafeteria, additional restrooms, office, classrooms, front porch
1960	Third addition completed (four classrooms, teacher’s lounge, two restrooms
1967	Gymnasium was opened
1987	Renovation (ceilings lowered, handicapped accessible, central air-conditioned, stage removed, offices moved)
1992	School Road closed to through traffic; playground installed by PTA.
2001-2002	New Lucy Elementary School opened

Student Popualtion Distribution

1912	High School Grades
1920-1928	1-8
1928	1-6
1940	1-8
1967	Kindergarten-8
1986	Kindergarten-4
1989-2000	Kindergarten-5
2000-Present	Pre-Kindergarten-5

Year	Principal	Number of Students
1912	Professor Wolf
1919	Otis H. Jones
1927	Frannie Bell Wilson
1935	Bertha Forest
1948	Rachel Burrow
1951-1952	Esther Kelley
1955-1960	Launette Owen
1960-1966	Mary Morris
1966-1967	James E. Hayslip	189
1967-1968	James E. Hayslip
1968-1969	James E. Hayslip
1969-1970	James E. Hayslip	350
1970-1971	Snowden Carruthers
1971-1972	Snowden Carruthers
1972-1973	Snowden Carruthers	277
1973-1974	Connie Johnson	261
1974-1975	Connie Johnson	233
1975-1976	Connie Johnson	231
1976-1977	Connie Johnson	240
1977-1978	Connie Johnson
1978-1979	Connie Johnson
1979-1980	Robert Steele	328
1980-1981	Robert Steele	320
1981-1982	Robert Steele	340
1982-1983	William Kinard	370
1983-1984	William Kinard/ Marjorie Bradford
1984-1985	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	420
1985-1986	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	414
1986-1987	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	172
1987-1988	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	182
1988-1989	Dr. Evelyn Jewel
1989-1990	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	181
1990-1991	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	264
1991-1992	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	268
1992-1993	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	255
1993-1994	Dr. Evelyn Jewel	263
1994-1995	Rebecca Flow	270
1995-1996	Rebecca Flow	320
1996-1997	Rebecca Flow	326
1997-1998	Rebecca Flow	353
1998-1999	Rebecca Flow	323
1999-2000	Rebecca Flow	321
2000-2001	Rebecca Flow	368
2001-2002	Rebecca Flow	464
2002-2003	Rebecca Flow	510
2003-2004	Rebecca Flow	518
2004-2005	Rebecca Flow	530
2005-2006	Rebecca Flow	642
2006-2007	Regina Payne
2007-2008	Regina Payne

compiled by Rebecca Flow
October 2005

References
Millington, The First Hundred Years by Faye Ellis Osteen
“Once Upon a Yesterday” a memoir by Jean Fox Holland, 1980
oral history school records including 1974 SACS report,
preliminary reports 1972 - 2005

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