Greenville, MS - On The Cutting Edge

Back in the late 1880s, Greenville, MS had quite the impressive school system. Mr. Eli E. Bass, the School Superintendent for Greenville City Schools, was fond of anything new and innovative. Due to his influence, Greenville Schools can claim:

• the 1^st science laboratories in Mississippi schools (1888)
• the 1^st high school library in Mississippi schools (1889/1890)
• the 1^st class to graduate from a Mississippi high school (1890)
• the 1^st health and physical education department in Mississippi schools (1899)
• the 1^st public school system in the Mississippi accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1902)
• the 1^st public kindergarten in Mississippi schools (1905)
• the 1^st public school music department in Mississippi schools (1905)
• the 1^st art department in Mississippi schools (1905)

Here's a fun side nugget: between 1925 and 1955, a Mrs. Carolyn Metcalfe Badow modernized the card catalog system by typing the information from over 3,500 handwritten cards onto new cards. That's a lot of typing, but I'm sure everything was much more orderly and legible after that!

Gaston, Mable. "GHS: Mississippi's Oldest School Library." Mississippi Library News 37.1 March, 1973: 29-30. Print.