2023 Reunion SCHEDULED For Saturday, August 12, 2022
White Oak School marker
WHITE OAK SCHOOL -A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY
The school began its existence as an educational institution in 1878. Three years later (1881) White Oak Academy was built by the people of the community, a large, one-room, wooden building. An extra room was added to the south side of the academy in 1901 to house primary students.
In 1902, the first typewriter for the school was purchased for the business department and a library was established with 500 volumes. Two years later another wing was added to the east side and two additional rooms were built onto the front in 1905. White Oak Academy was the only high school in Bladen County for many years.
Enrollment in 1902 totaled 131 and increased to 175 by 1904. Boarding students paid $6.00 to $7.00 per month to reside in private homes. Tuition fees per term were set at $5.00 for primary, $7.50 for intermediate, $ 10.00 in the common school department and $12.50 in the academic department.
In 1908, Principal W W Woodhouse’s dream of a dormitory for boarding students was realized. Melvina Cain was the first housekeeper and cook for the residents.
The academy burned in 1918 and a movement got underway to consolidate some of the nearby schools with White Oak. A new brick building was to be erected on the site of the destroyed academy. Brick were made by D. M. Tatum from clay at a location near the present Post Office. Classes were conducted in the dormitory until the fall of 1922. Schools known to have been consolidated included Ammon, Live Oak, Central and Lake.
A gymnasium and agriculture shop were added in the 1940’s and a new cafeteria in the early 1950’s. Educational facilities and organization remained basically unchanged until 1967. White Oak High School students began attending Tar Heel High School and New Light Elementary was consolidated with White Oak, with the facility housing K-8 students and renamed White Oak Elementary. The school ceased to exist as such in the spring of 1977. Kindergarten through Sixth grade youngsters enrolled in the fall at Bladen Lakes, a new facility located near Jones Lake. The seventh and eighth grade pupils began attending Tar Heel.