Upper and Lower Rush Schoolhouses, A Bit of a Mystery

Who knew that Rush, KY once had two separate elementary school districts?  And, the schoolhouses for these two school districts were located less than one mile apart.  One was “Upper Rush” and the other “Lower Rush”.  Both were one room, wooden structures.  These two districts were consolidated in the fall of the 1920 school year into a district called just “Rush” when a school at a new location was constructed to replace both Upper and Lower Rush.

Before the spring of 1908, Upper Rush School (District 40) and Lower Rush School (District 32) both existed as totally independent school districts each having their own multi-member and totally independent school boards.  Via the “Sullivan Law” of 1908,^{Clark, p860} the Kentucky Legislature mandated the creation of County School Boards with large districts.  Boyd County was divided into only four districts.  Each district was subdivided into sub districts.  One sub district for each school and each sub district had one trustee that sat on a countywide board of education.  This centralized administration was radically different than each individual school having their own independent school board.

After the Boyd County School board was created in 1908, both Upper and Lower Rush Schools continued operation and both became part of the new Boyd County School Board District 3, with Upper Rush being Sub District 1, and Lower Rush Sub District 2.  The other 9 schools in District 3^{Boyd 1905 Ledger, p242} with Upper Rush and Lower Rush were Coalton, Wheatley (Straight Creek area), Princess, Big Run, Laurel, Cannonsburg, Meads, Goldenrod (Kirby Flats area), and McCormick (Summit area).^{Boyd 1905 Ledger, p178}

The consolidation of Upper and Lower Rush was precipitated due to the declining number of students at the Lower Rush district.  By 1920 there only 18 students and at least 25 were required to support a school.^{School Board 03-21-1920}

From Boyd County School Board Minutes March 24, 1920:

“Therefore it is hereby ordered that Lower Rush and Upper Rush be consolidated as one district and the Supt of Schools shall design a School house suitable and modern as to be spacious and comfortable.

This house is to be built from the material of the houses in each district namely; Lower and Upper Rush.”

This “consolidated” Rush school was used from the fall of 1920 until the spring of 1958.  In the fall of 1958 Rush area students were bused to Cannonsburg Elementary in a much larger countywide consolidation initiative.

The Rush consolidated school constructed to replace both Upper and Lower Rush Schools in 1920 was evidently initially a one room school.  But, it did not remain that way very long.  The Boyd County school board minutes indicate that in 1922 a second room was authorized to be added to the school making it a two room schoolhouse (used until 1958).  Here is the Nov 11, 1922 board meeting notation.

“The board awarded a contract to Paynter Davis to construct an additional room to the Rush school house, for his – lowest and most responsible bid – of $250.  Materials were to be furnished by the Board.”

Look very carefully at the lower edge of the consolidated Rush school building in this later image (below – click on image for larger view).  About midway along this bottom edge, between the front and the back of this schoolhouse you can see a break with a “step up” in the floor line.  This “step up” likely marks where is second room was scabbed onto he original 1920 schoolhouse in 1922.  Note also the different construction in the front and back of the schools.  The back room has much more window area.

But where were these Upper Rush and Lower Rush Schools located?  This has required a bit of detective work that has stretched over a few years.

In 2012 I interviewed my friend, Raymond Whitley (1930 – 2013).  Raymond grew up in a row of former mining company houses in Rush called “New Row” and lived there or around there for all but a few years of his life.  Like most kids from the area Raymond liked to roam around the general area of his home playing.  This involved playing on a hillside behind New Row and just across Rush Creek from his house.  But in addition to having fun, Raymond was evidently also very observant and had a keen memory.  Raymond would have started playing on this hillside in the mid to late 1930’s.

Raymond indicated this hillside had a small flat spot gouged in the hillside with only building foundation stones still in place.  Raymond evidently inquired about this spot and the older people in the community indicated that at one time a school occupied that unusual spot on the hill.  Raymond could identify that spot “pretty close”^Whitley in 2012 and marked it on an aerial view of the hill.  But by 2012 that flat spot was long gone due to several episodes of bulldozer work on that hillside over the years.

Since the school was gone and the foundation stones remained Raymond had theorized that this school had possibly burned and a replacement school constructed at the two room school location at Rush that he had attended.

I asked several other older Rush residents about this school and nobody else had any idea that a school was ever located on the hillside behind New Row.  So, I just filed my notes regarding this “other” Rush school and moved on.

In the late spring of 2015 I met Curtis Crye at the Boyd County Board of Education Building.  Curtis has done a lot of research on the history of the Boyd Country School System using the files at the Board of Education.  Curtis had agreed to kindly show me the types of material that were available at the School Board.  After Curtis showed me the various filing systems we chatted a bit.  Curtis was aware that I had a focused interest in the schools in the Williams Creek Basin.  He had transcribed some of the earliest Boyd Board of Education notes from early in the 20th century and had found notations regarding schools called Upper Rush and Lower Rush, and might I know where they were located?

I remembered my conversations with Raymond Whitley and realized that his cited location was likely one of these two schools.  But which one, and if this was one of the locations where was the other school located?

Curtis later located some additional school board information that indicated one of these schools was located in the Black Leg Hollow area at Rush.  But again which one?

I spied the final necessary clue in a batch of school board accounting entries that Curtis relayed to me recently.  Note that Division No. 3 Sub 1 is school board shorthand for the Upper Rush School.

“May 5, 1910 – Division No. 3 Sub 1 – Bowl for stove, coal house, two privies, lumber for bridge across Rush Creek”

The location that Raymond Whitley had described in 2012, that flat spot on the hillside behind New Row with the foundation stones, would have required a bridge across Rush Creek for efficient access.

So, Upper Rush required a bridge over Rush Creek for access, and a school located at Black Leg would not require any such bridge, because Black Leg Hollow is after Rush Creek has emptied in to Williams Creek.  And, in that area the other side of the creek is Carter County anyway.  William’s Creek is the Boyd / Carter County line there.

So, it is highly likely Upper Rush School was located on that flat spot on the hill behind New Row, on the other side of Rush Creek, that Raymond played on as a kid.  And Lower Rush School was located in or around Black Leg Hollow.  These locations also accommodate the reasonable accepted use of “Upper” being upstream, and “Lower” being downstream.

Also note that both Upper and Lower Rush Schools were disassembled and the materials from these two existing schools used to construct this new consolidated Rush school.  Since the schools were disassembled and moved, this is why the foundation stones at the Upper Rush School remained.  Raymond did not indicate that he had been told the school burned, he indicated he theorized this because the foundation stones remained.  Raymond was playing in the abandoned location in about 1937, this would have been only 17 years after the Upper Rush School was removed in 1920.  It is easy to understand how the older people around Raymond were keenly aware of a school being there in their very recent past.

The distance between Upper Rush and Lower Rush Schools was only 0.8 miles.  The consolidated school later used at Rush was located almost perfectly halfway between the former Upper and Lower Rush Schools.

So this illustrates several good points.

1) Just because you do not get a complete picture initially does not mean things might not work out eventually.  Hey “patience grasshopper”.

2) Information that is factual fits together in a reasonable manner and forms a coherent story.  But it may take a bit of time and a sufficient number of facts to determine what is the actual story, and what is not.

3) Second hand knowledge is often, but not always unreliable.  With a keen observer, like Raymond Whitley, buttressed by other facts that link together nicely, secondhand information can be very helpful.

I was able to take the interview information from Raymond Whitley, the nice research of the school board records by Curtis Crye, and my reasonably good understanding of the geography of Rush and come up with what I think are very plausible and reasonably precise locations for the schools of Upper and Lower Rush.

What were the school district boundaries for the Upper Rush and Lower Rush?

The school board had a narrative description of both the Upper and Lower Rush school district boundaries.  I have analyzed these narratives carefully and despite not understanding all of the narrative way points.  I think I have a good enough knowledge of the local geography to come up with a reasonable approximation of estimates of these gross boundaries.

The Lower Rush district boundary started at about the intersection of SR 854 and SR 1654, locally known as “the forks of the road”, and extended north along the Boyd / Carter line that follows Williams Creek.  It extended all the way to what is now considered Coalton and almost to I-64 (the Bailey Mine area) then east to Day Hollow, near Badgett Lane, then south to include Blackleg Hollow and surprisingly east over the hill at Blackleg to include all the “Left Hand Fork of Trace”, now called “Old Trace” (CR-1231).  Then back to the stating point at the forks of the road (SR 854 / 1654 intersection).  If you are interested in seeing the School Board boundary description just click on this link for the Lower Rush Boundary.

Not surprisingly the Upper Rush district boundary started at about the intersection of SR 854 and SR 1654 and extended south on both sides of the hollow formed by Rush Creek.  With the Carter County line being the western boundary to the top of Rush Hill on SR 854.  If you are interested in seeing the School Board boundary description just click on this link for the Upper Rush Boundary.

I have attached interesting lists relating to Upper and Lower Rush Schools.  Just click on these links to see these lists.

1) Teachers at Upper and Lower Rush 1906 to 1920

2) Lower Rush school board members and later school trustees from 1906 to 1918

4) Upper Rush school board members and later school trustees from 1906 to 1918

5) Upper and Lower Rush Enrollment Totals for 1906 to 1913

The locations of both Upper and Lower Rush Schools have been added to the Williams Creek Basin Interactive Map along with about 150 other important locations.  Click here for an article on the interactive map and a link to that map feature.

If you have pictures, other materials, or information related to any of these schools they would be of great interest and help, so please contact me.

All of the Boyd County School Board research for this article was accomplished by Curtis Crye.  Without his dedication and focused effort this article would not have been possible.  Thanks Curtis.

Next article – “That Marshall Woman” In a Lonely Grave

Previous article – The New Row Water Pump

References:

Boyd County School Board Records. General record books and other material.

Clark, Thomas D., and Terry Birdwhistell. “Sullivan Law.” Edited by John E. Kleber. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. The University Press of Kentucky, 1992.

Whitley, Raymond. “Raymond Whitley Interview – Rush, KY Places & People”. Interview by Lon Coleman, 2012.