ARCHIVE

Tampa Rural High School alumni dedicate memorial after 75 years years ago

By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

A new high school building was dedicated in Tampa 75 years ago. It was built to accommodate students in an expanded rural high school district, including those from surrounding country schools.

The school was in operation for 35 years. The building was demolished in 2003.

On Sept. 18, alumni gathered at the high school site to dedicate the impressive memorial which was erected as a lasting tribute to its influence on their lives.

The 1930 facility had indoor toilets with washbasins and showers, luxuries previously not known by many of the students.

The school was in operation until the 1965-1966 school year, when its students became part of Centre Unified School District #397.

When the building was demolished, several unique features were preserved "in case somebody would be interested in them," according to one Tampa resident.

Some time later, the women working at Tampa State Bank conceived the idea of constructing a memorial to the school.

A committee was formed to solicit funds for the project. Members were Tom Duggan, Betty Mueller, Adeline Bernhardt, and Leona Kleiber.

The memorial, designed by Tom Leihy, incorporates limestone emblem, trim, date, slabs, and bricks.

Phillip Klenda, a stone mason from Hutchinson, was hired to erect the memorial, and Fred David of Hillsboro installed electric lighting for nighttime illumination. Others donated labor and supplies to complete the project.

Ed Costello of Marion has written a history of Tampa high schools.

The first high school, begun in 1910, was in a building constructed for all 12 grades.

In 1928, the board of directors of Tampa school district was notified the high school would lose it's accredited standing unless better physical facilities were provided.

The Tampa tax base was not large enough to finance a new building, hence the request for an expanded district.

County commissioners granted their request, and Tampa Rural School District was organized, although not without controversy.

The new building was dedicated Oct. 23, 1930.

Though Tampa Rural School District has been non-existent for 40 years, alumni continue to get together and renew friendships made during the years spent there.

As Costello says, "It is in high school that lifetime friendships are made; romances flower and often lead to marriage of 60 plus years; one grows and develops from a young teen-ager to early manhood or womanhood.

"It is when one starts to think of a career he or she may want to follow. It is the springtime of life, and we are just beginning to bloom."

The memorial is the one remaining visible link to Tampa Rural High School and the glory days of the Tampa Tigers.

Quantcast