Capshaw Elementary School has one of the richest histories of any school in Putnam County. It was founded in 1939, as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. The school was named for Robert Byrd Capshaw, whose farm, the school was constructed on. Capshaw was a prominent attorney in Cookeville, and was also one of the men responsible for the founding of Dixie College (now Tennessee Tech University). He died in 1928, so he never got to see the school bearing his name. The original school was constructed in 1909, and served as the home of the school for seventy-two years. The mascot was a cobra, later changed to a cougar. In 2002, a new school was constructed behind the old one. The original school was then razed, but the front entrance was left standing. Capshaw Elementary's history is second to none, and the legacy of Robert Byrd Capshaw continues to live on through the school named in his honor.
The original Capshaw Elementary School building, constructed in 1939.
Robert Byrd Capshaw, namesake of Capshaw Elementary, and prominent Cookeville attorney.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about tales from Tennessee and beyond. Be sure to check out the section of the blog on Moore Historical Consulting.
I grew up in this school during the 80’s, so many fantastic memories !!!
ReplyDeleteI attended Capshaw for 1st through 4th grade in the late 80s/early 90s. I have very fond memories of the school. The older section of the school had cross flow vents in the interior walls of the class rooms. They were boarded up when I was there, but my teacher in 4th grade explained that they used to open the cross flow vents and the windows the cool the building before air conditioning units were installed.
ReplyDeleteI went to school at Capshaw from 1972 to 1980. K-6TH. I lived right around the corner and spent a lot of time on the playground and basketball court. The transoms over the doors still opened and closed. In the 76-77 school year, Ms. SANDRA Dowell's 4th grade class, we left for Christmas break and were out about 5 weeks for snow. The 1st day back it started snowing at 8am during roll call. After only being back for two hours, school got out at 10am and we were out another month. We had to go to school an extra month and on Saturdays that year to make it up. Mrs. Lenore Qualls was the secretary. She was a really great lady. Gail Hughes & Sandra Dowell were really great teachers.
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