Leon County Schools

In 1901, land was bought from P.T. Tickler for $350.00, and the Griffin Normal and Industrial Institute (for Negroes), supported by the State Primitive Baptist Convention, was completed in 1907. The school had four rooms, two downstairs and two upstairs.

Since the West Florida Seminary had a high school department, the establishment of a public high school for Whites came later to Leon County. On August 22, 1903, The Board of Public Instruction of Leon County passed a resolution establishing a 12-grade school known as the Leon County Graded and High School, “open to Leon County students, free of tuition...on the 28* day of September". The old Academy building was renovated and the first kindergarten in the State of Florida began in 1905, at the Leon Graded and High School.

The Board elected the school’s first faculty, which included Miss C.M Brevard, and Miss Kate Sullivan, among others. The Board also appointed Professor H.W. Demilly, former Principal of the Leon Academy, as the school’s first principal. As the number of White students increased, a need for a new school became evident and the Tallahassee Woman’s Club canvassed every property in the district to gain support for a new high school. In 1906, Leon High School was located in the Wilson Apartment Building. The first graduating class from Leon High School was in 1907 and had three graduates: DeWitt Clinton Dawkins, Everett Lewis, and Horace Van Brunt.

In 1906, a third Lincoln School, a two-story white frame structure, was built on the north side of Brevard Street between Boulevard and Macomb streets. The original site and building were taken over by The Florida State College for Women to be used as a music building. This third wooden structure located at 438 West Brevard Street also burned to the ground.

By 1910, trustees, appointed by the Tallahassee Woman’s Club, notified the County Board of Education of their decision to purchase property on West Park Avenue as the site of the new Leon County High School. The Park Avenue Leon High School opened its doors in 1911. Today the Lenny Collins Leon County Public Library stands on that site at the southwest corner of Park Avenue and Duval Street. (Governor Leroy Collins was a Leon High graduate).

In 1920, a second Griffin School building was constructed at the cost of $10,000. The number of rooms increased and included boarding facilities and office space. The Griffin Normal and Industrial Institute was located on Alabama and Woodward Streets. The school was named in honor of the Reverend Henry Griffin who served as the Pastor of the Primitive Baptist Convention in the State of Florida.

In 1922, the first school bus began operation in Leon County.

Caroline Brevard Elementary School, named after esteemed educator Caroline Brevard, opened in 1925, at 727 S. Calhoun Street. Miss Brevard was the granddaughter of Florida Governor Richard Keith Call She was the author of several books about Florida history and was one of a first teachers at the Leon Graded and High school in the early 1900s. Caroline Brevard School was renamed the Bloxham Building by the State in 1966, and today serves as offices for the Leon County School system.

In March of 1926, a fire destroyed the second Griffin School. Later that year the destroyed building was replaced by a white masonry two-story structure. The number of boarding students decreased after 1939. A third Griffin structure was paid off in June of 1944, and by that time there were no longer any boarding students. The County negotiated with “Professor” Perkins transfer some of Lincoln High School’s students to Griffin. Grif6n graduated many students before the school closed in 1954.

In 1929, a brick school, the fourth Lincoln, was erected on the Brevard Street site. The teaching staff consisted of two persons employed by the Freedman’s Bureau; one male and one female, both of whom were White. The male served as the head teacher. A few years later, the first African-American teacher, John G. Riley, was hired to be head teacher md his title was later changed to Professor. Mr. Riley served as Principal at the all Black Lincoln School from 1892 until he retired in 1926.