The construction of the school building in Bruce was begun in 1929, and the 1929-30 term was first taught in the Bruce school district. When time came for school to begin the building was incomplete, so the high school students started to school in city hall, which is now a dwelling in the Bruce building. When the building was complete, many patrons and students met at the school building and spent the day cleaning the building and the campus.
Mr. A.F. Fugitt was Superintendent and there were approximately 300 students and 12 teachers. Two of the 300 graduated in the spring.
The first term there was only the main building. The two rooms on each end of the building have been built since that time. The Bruce-Houlka highway was the only road to the school building that a car could travel, and there was only a cow-path through by the Baptist church.
Bruce’s first schoolhouse constructed in the 1920s. The first classes met in the upstairs of the E.L. Bruce Company Store building on the square while this building was still being constructed.
By the next term of school the teachers’ home was complete and Mr. and Mrs. Fugitt and all single teachers stayed there.
For the first time, Bruce had a football team. Mr. J.I. Rankin was coach and for a new team it was very successful.
The road to town by way of the Baptist church was then open but was only passable during the dry seasons. The winter of 1930-31 was very rainy, and that year water covered the roads while the students were at school, and the boys got a thrill carrying girls across the water to higher ground. Because of the depression, there were only seven months of school and the last weeks were financed by contributions.
Mr. Q.T. Crowson was superintendent of the school during the 1931-32 and 1932-33 sessions. Under his leadership the two rooms on the north end of the building were added, because Bruce school was growing and had to have more room.
Mr. Charlie Mitchell Beckett coached the boys’ teams those terms and had winning teams. The basketball girls, under the leadership of Miss Lorene Jumper were outstanding teams, winning one county championship and entering the district meet at Duck Hill. The boys entered the district tournament in 1932 and played in the finals.
The boys, in girls’ dresses, played a basketball game at school one day and gave everyone a laugh.
None of the old teachers were back the next year.
This is a picture following a graduation in the 1970s not long before the auditorium in the background burned. The auditorium had the distinction of hosting Elvis Presley for a concert in the 1950s when the building was an auditorium and gym combination.
Mr. A.E. Strain was elected superintendent in 1933, and before the 1933-34 term of school he had added commercial work, home economics, and agriculture to the course of study at Bruce High School. But in order to do this Bruce had to consolidate, so the Blount school consolidated with Bruce.
During the 1933-34 session, the school raised almost enough money to build the gymnasium. Many methods of raising money were used; even hens and eggs were donated.
Mr. Strain was superintendent for four terms. During the 1933-34 session Bruce broke the county record for enrollment and continued to break its own record each year. The home economics building was begun by the federal government in 1934, and in 1936 the annex on the south end of the building was begun, but the school had to furnish the money to complete the building and it is just now being completed.
Bruce is now the largest school in the county and one of the best equipped.
Mr. R.E. Centers is serving his first year as superintendent, the ninth year of Bruce school. The enrollment has doubled, the number of teachers has been raised from 12 to 23, and the value of equipment, buildings and grounds has greatly increased.
Editor’s Note: We are indebted to Miss Christine Schuh for a number of Bruce Beacons printed back in 1938 as well as a school paper published then in helping to compile this history of Bruce School thru 1937.