Country Connections By James and Ellen Perry
Horace Maynard (1815-1887) served as council when Union County was formed from five counties with only Knox County offering resistance. In the mid-1850s, there was no town of Maynardville. It was known then as Liberty, Tennessee. The Knox County injunction was resolved in 1855 with the assistance of Horace Maynard. In 1856 the town of Liberty became Maynardville because of the appreciation of the county fathers and citizens.
Until the 1920s, there were no public elementary schools or high schools in Tennessee. Education was offered through churches and by masonic orders.
In Union County there were about eleven academies scattered throughout Union County. Most academies charged a fee for children to attend that ran from $1.00 up to $2.00 monthly according to the grade attended. These academies only taught through the eighth grade.
The parents had to pay a lodging fee for students who needed lodging, and it was mostly in neighborhood homes and cost normally five to six dollars per month. I suppose this lodging fee included meals.
Today this seems a small fee for students, but during the late 1800s it was costly, especially if more than one student from a family attended. Only wealthy families could offer an education for their children.
In the early 1900s Tennessee created their State Board of Education, started levying taxes and worked with the Tennessee counties to start public school administrations and building community schools.
Sears Roebuck got involved, designing and selling school building kits from a single room schoolhouse to a two-story modern high school building kit. These kits were offered in Sears Roebuck catalogs and were built all over rural USA.
In 1920 the Union County Board of Education bought property in Maynardville from T.H. Kitts and wife, Ollie, for the sum of $600 to build a high school in Maynardville. It was named Horace Maynard High School in honor of the man who was responsible for the formation of Union County.
Up until the grand opening of Horace Maynard High School, students who wanted to pursue higher than an eighth grade education had to go to Knoxville, which had high schools.
There again, only a few students who came from monied parents could afford a higher education. Horace Maynard High School was completed in 1923, only one year after land was procured for the school. That school building was used until a new, larger and more modern school building was completed for the 1950-1951 classes.
This new school was also named Horace Maynard High School.
A portrait of Horace Maynard and his family Bible were placed in the Roy Acuff Union County Museum in 1994. Anyone interested in seeing the portrait and family Bible of Horace Maynard are welcome to stop by the museum in Maynardville on Sunday evenings from 1 to 5 p.m. or Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no charge but please log in when you arrive.
All people who work at the museum are volunteers, and by your registering it helps with funding to cover expenses.
There’s a movement to build a new middle school in Maynardville, but I think more studies need to be made. I’ve seen school buildings in the northeast states that were built in the late 1800s, and as time took its course, the school buildings were upgraded and sometimes enlarged for a lot less than buying new land, construction costs and seeing a landmark torn down.
A good example would be Ritta Elementary School in Knox County on Washington Pike. The school was originally named Shipe School and was built in 1905 on property donated by a local. Shipe School was later renamed Ritta as that is what the community is called. Ritta has been upgraded and enlarged three times since it was built. To go inside you will think it was built recently. It is one of the best elementary schools I have ever been in. Take a trip down to Ritta.
Reference material for this article came from “The Last Echo” and the information on Ritta School is from Sue Winnett.