Clover Ridge School

According to Miss Zereda Green, in one of her 1966 newspaper columns, "These Things I Remember," there were 77 schools in Itawamba County for the 1919-1920 school term - 70 schools for white students and 7 for "colored" students. The majority of these schools had only one or two teachers, most just one. Laura Wallace shared the above teacher's contract for F. D. Wallace, her husband's grandfather. Mr. Wallace was employed for the 1924-1925 school year at the Clover Ridge School at a salary of $72 per month, but note that if the number of students at the school went below 35, his salary dropped to $68.

Where was the Clover Ridge School? Probably close to the location of Clover Ridge Cemetery which is today located just off of the Clay-Tilden Road. I found this description in the July 30, 1908 issue of the Itawamba County News:

"We have a good school at Clover Ridge, average about 70 scholars. A good school is a great blessing to any community. We should keep our boys and girls in school all the time that we can spare them from our business at home."

I don't know when the school at Clover Ridge was closed down. During the early 1920s, officials began to consolidate the number of schools in the county. By 1930, there were "only" 50 schools. It wasn't until 1959 that we got the number of county schools down to its present number, with the exception of the school at Houston which was subsequently consolidated with Mantachie.

Thank you, Laura, for sharing this bit of Itawamba history with us. If anyone has any history of the school or community at Clover Ridge, please add a comment.