Dana Elementary commemorated the historical events of the school in an assembly held earlier in April.
Students gathered in the school’s gym (built in 1950) to watch a skit depicting a typical school day for students in the early 1900s at the Blue House Academy (one of 10 schools that were combined in 1928 in the Dana area when a new modern school was built near the center of Dana). Rita Stepp and Brenda Harvey, former teachers at Dana School, wrote the skit using information they’d compiled as part of their research on the Dana School for Henderson County Education History Initiative (HCEHI).
In 1915 at the Blue House Academy, the teacher not only taught lessons in a one-room schoolhouse to students in grades 1-5, but she also had to stoke the fire in a wood-burning stove and sweep the floor. Students had to walk long distances to one-room school, sometime without shoes. They had to outside to go to the bathroom and drink water from a bucket, with everyone using the same dipper.
Students in Mrs. Lindsey’s class sang songs from the era. Another group of students in Mrs. Clark’s class and Mrs. Tackett’s class sang the original Dana School alma mater, from the early 1930s. The assembly program concluded with a short slideshow highlighting some of the events in Dana School’s history; such as the lunchroom was built in 1957; with the consolidation of the high schools in Henderson County in 1960, Dana contained grades 1-8; a fire destroyed the main building in 1971, but the library books were in another building and were not destroyed; and a new facility was constructed in 1974. The present facility is named Dana Elementary School and contains grades K-5.
The HCEHI sponsored the dedication of a historical marker, recognizing Dana School as one of Henderson County’s historical schools on April 5.