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Looking to the past, forward to the future
By Todd DeFeo
When it came time to name the newest elementary
school, Henry County Schools looked to the past.
"We get information and name suggestions for
all new schools from (county historian) Gene Morris," Henry County
School spokeswoman Cindy Foster said.
Choosing between two recommendations, the Board
of Education opted to name the county's newest addition, set to open
for the 2006-07 school year, Walnut Creek Elementary School. At a
meeting last week Board of Education members and Henry County Schools
Superintendent Jack Parish agreed has a nice ring to it.
However, the Board of Education could have
chosen Camp Creek Elementary School instead.
But Morris, in a written statement, told the
Board of the Education that name might have a sense of "melancholy"
associated with it. After all, the Camp Creek Train Wreck of 1900,
when a Southern Railway passenger train crashed just outside of
McDonough, left dozens of passengers dead.
But this naming process isn't new to Walnut
Creek Elementary School. "Other schools have historical names," Foster
said.
Many schools, like Walnut Creek Elementary, are
named for geographical locations, such as rivers. Cotton Indian
Elementary School, for example, is named for creeks n the Big and
Little Cotton Indian creeks n running near the school.
Other schools n Oakland Elementary School, as
one example n are named for communities that have seemingly been
engulfed by a growing metropolitan area.
Flippen Elementary School, which has only been
open for a couple of years, is named for Flippen School, which dates
back to at least 1894, according to Henry County Schools.
Similarly, the Dutchtown schools are named for
a mid-19th century settlement created by several German families. The
high school today stands on farmland once owned by the Ahls family,
one of the original Dutchtown settlers, according to a profile by
Morris posted on the school system's Web site.
Unity Grove Elementary School's name may have
some of the oldest significance of any school in Henry County, even
though it only opened in August 2002.
Unity Grove was originally a black settlement
that arose after the Civil War. A school in Unity Grove dates back to
at least 1891, according to a profile by Morris posted on the school
system's Web site.
Published Nov. 14, 2004,
in the Daily Herald of McDonough, Ga.
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