The first school building in Sheffield, a four-room frame structure called "The Academy," was located on Atlanta Avenue between Ninth and Tenth Streets.  It served not only as the first school but as the first house of worship as well (so much for separation of church and state).  This building was built in 1885 on land donated by the Sheffield Sand, Iron and Coal Company under the management of Captain Alfred H. Moses who had five children.  Financing of the building was also arranged by Captain Moses' company. The first teacher was a Mrs. J. S. Goodwin from Virginia.  She taught 52 white children who were enrolled in the 1885-86 school session.  This was the only public school of Sheffield until the completion of the Alabama Avenue school in 1892.  High school classes were held in this building until the new high school was built on the adjacent lot seven years later.

In 1885, the City of Sheffield was incorporated by an act of the state legislature, and one of the first acts of the new government was the planning of a twelve-room school on Alabama Avenue at an approximate cost of $30,000.00.  Construction was begun in 1888, but came to a halt when the bond agent embezzled the funds.  After a delay, the building was completed in 1892.  The new school was one of the finest in the state and boasted central heating and electric lights, both novelties in public buildings.  This school is still in use as the home of the Sheffield Board of Education.  The cast iron school bell which once called the students to classes now rests on a pedestal in the lobby.

Until 1889, all matters pertaining to the operation of the city schools were in the hands of a committee headed by a member of the City Council.  On February 28, 1889, the Legislature approved an act providing for the appointment of a fife-member Board of Education.  The first Board included Major James R. Crowe, president, and members H. H. Brumbach, Earl Doud, W. L. Chambers and A. J. Moses. 

In 1917, the development of Muscle Shoals caused by the Army Corps of Engineers construction of Nitrate Plants Nos. One and Two caused such a growth in population that a new high school building was erected on the site of the first school on Atlanta Avenue at a cost of $77,000.00 (This was the junior high in 1956 when the history in our Student Handbook was written.).  The federal government built plant cities, called "Village One,"  "Village Two," and "Nitrate City" to house the builders and workers at the nitrate plants.  A school was built at Village One for the children of Nitrate Plant No. 1 employees.  The Sheffield School Board acquired the property and built an addition to it in 1966.  Known first as the Village School, it was renamed the C. M. Brewster School in 1974 to honor Mr. Brewster who was Superintendent of City Schools from 1933 until his retirement in 1970.  The population explosion of 1918-1925 associated with the building of Wilson Dam piled 15,000 to 30,000 workers with families on top of the 2,000 residents of Sheffield.  This led to massive overcrowding—every empty space was rented out and tent cities were erected.  Schools were provided by the federal government for these transients, and none of these made the transition into use by the city governments after the workers left.

In 1922, a junior high school, consisting of fifteen class-rooms was constructed on Annapolis Avenue at a cost of $65,000.00.  In 1923, a new and modern school for Negro children was built on 19th Street at a cost of $25,000.00.

The burning of Sheffield High School on April 21, 1938, presented an opportunity to the Sheffield Board of Education to analyze the needs of the school program and make plans for future growth.  Classes were dismissed for the remainder of the 1937-38 school year, and when schools re-opened in the fall of 1938, the high school students were assigned to attend classes in the Annapolis Avenue Junior High School.  Junior high school students were assigned to makeshift classrooms in churches and theatres.  Since I attended Grades 1-5 in the Atlanta Avenue Elementary School that looked exactly like the photos of "the old High School," I assume it was rebuilt after the fire.

The new building for the Sheffield High School in its present location was completed in 1940 at a cost of $180,000.00.  When it accepted high school students in the spring of 1940, it was the largest school in northwest Alabama, and its architect, Howard Griffith, Jr., received national recognition for its monolithic concrete design.  "Concerts, shows and public meetings were held in the large auditorium since it was the best around."  The school then employed fourteen people, and the enrollment was 303.  The stadium, now named the Walton Wright Stadium, was also completed in 1940 at a cost of $75,000.00.  The next annexation was the field house, built in 1947 costing $19,546.00.  The newest building on the campus, the gymnasium, was completed in 1950 with a total cost, including equipment, of $188,775.35. 

The property, consisting of sixteen acres, was valued at $15,187.62 in 1956.  The total value of the buildings and equipment at that time was $623,321.35.  The school, in 1956, employed a staff of more than twenty people and had an enrollment of 409.  Currently, the SHS and SCS websites list 8 administrative staff, 35 faculty members, 6 cafeteria staff and 5 custodians for a total of 54 employees at the high school.  They serve a student body of 385.

Sheffield High School has continuously been on the list of accredited high schools since 1920.

Mr. Jesse G. Wilson served from 1917 through 1947 on the Sheffield Board of Education;  this is a longer continuous term than that served by any other member.  These members have also given long terms of service on the Board:  Dr. W. H. Blake, Sr., Judge J. H. Nathan, Dr. E. G. Rhoads, and Mr. J. H. Blake.

Old Sheffield High on Atlanta Ave.

In 1888, a free public school for black children was erected on East Twentieth Street and South Atlanta Avenue.  Henry Hopkins was hired to teach the 45 children enrolled.  Classes were held there and in several different churches until the new brick school on East Nineteenth Street was finished in 1923.  The school was later named Sterling to honor Benjamin Sterling who had served as principal for 25 years.  Sterling School was both an elementary and high school until Southeast elementary school was built on East Seventeenth Street in the 1950s.  Sterling High School was closed at the end of the school year in 1968, and all students were transferred to Willson School and Sheffield High School.  New class rooms were added to Sheffield High School which now serves as the only high school for Sheffield students.

Benjamin J. Sterling was born on a plantation near Whiteville, Georgia, in 1847, the son of slaves.  After the Civil War, young Sterling went to a school operated by the Freedmen's Bureau, attending irregularly depending on weather and work requirements.  He learned to read and write and soon began teaching other blacks to do so.  Sterling came to Chambers County, Alabama, in 1876 to teach and to study at Alabama State Normal and Industrial School.  About 1898, Professor Sterling came to Sheffield and spent the next forty years teaching in the black school.