Alachua Schools

Alachua Grade School

With many of the settlers moving from Newnansville into Alachua a decision was made to close both the Methodist Church and the school at the Newnansville community. A school house was built in Alachua in 1895 on South Main Street on the site where. Alltel Telephone building was located. That building met the needs of the community for only a short time. In 1899 construction began on a new schoolhouse to be located on a four acre site on the hill where the Alachua Elementary School is now located. This three classroom building with an auditorium on the second floor was the first brick school building in Alachua County. It was dedicated on February 22, 1901 by state and county officials. Later a two story wing was added to accommodate more students when Newnansville School closed May 3, 1904. Alachua then became an eight teacher school. In the years that followed schools from the communities of Haynsworth, Greenleaf, Hague, Gracy, Perseverance, Spring Hill, Santa Fe, Bland and LaCrosse were sequentially consolidated into the Alachua School. The old two story school buildmg built in 1889 - 1901 was torn down in 1933 and in its place was a long one story building that housed all grades one through six, with an auditorium large enough to seat all the students one through twelve. Who had Roger Wood, Ms. Ellis or Mrs. O’Dea as your teacher, K-4th grade.

Alachua Elementary School 1956

---

Alachua High School - now Santa Fe High

Alachua High School 1917

' On July 28, 1916, the Alachua County School Board voted to build a new two story building just west of the existing building at a cost of $12,600.00. This new building was completed in 1917 and served as a high school for thirty years. This is the one we all remember as Alachua High School, per H J Waters. In 1955 the high schools of Alachua and High Springs were consolidated into Santa Fe High. The school mascot was originally the Rebels, but was later changed to the Raiders in 1970 when integrated. In 1955 the high schools of Alachua and High Springs were consolidated into Santa Fe High School and the site became the Alachua Elementry School. 

 

 1938 Alachua High School: Back Row Mary Alice Thomas, Estelle Witt, Trumie Shaw, Ellen Emers, Front Row Ann Lewis, Nell Dole and Audrey Hardee 

 1948 Cheerleaders 

Go back' Go back! Go back to the woods'  You haven't, You haven't got the goods! You haven't got the rhythm, you haven't got the jazz, you haven't got the team that Alachua has!

Class of 1958 50 Yr Reunion 2008Vida Waters front & center

Class of 1963 - 2023 60th Reunion

Katherine Travers Barnes, Ellen Erwin, Bronease Dampier, Kay West, Tom Beaty, Tommy Collar, Robert Sutton, Sue Ann Enneis, Ray Woodruff, Nolan Smith. There were 3 former teachers Don McCormick, Ken Lee, and Tommy Harris.