Cayce School / Lexington District Two Learning Center, Lexington Avenue Cayce: 1990s(?) 25 comments
I don't really know anything about Cayce School. I'm guessing that given the name, it was the school in Cayce at one time. The (Guignard?) brick architecture could easily go back to the 1940s I suppose. The pictures don't really make it clear, but as this aerial view from google maps shows, the school is really just one building with several different wings:
Of course it's a building that takes up a block of its own, being bounded by 3rd Avenue, Lexington Avenue (on which it fronts), Poplar Street and 8th Street.
At some point it appears that it stopped being a "school" as such and was taken over by Lexington District Two as a "Learning Center". (I have to say that the picture with the sign indicating such would make a good funny email to forward around Mississippi education circles..).
The building has obviously been out of use for a good while, and I think only the fact that it is in the middle of a residential area has kept it from being vandalized and tagged to a fare-thee-well. Certainly it is decrepit, which can be seen in the google view (which can be zoomed) as well as my pictures. Signs around the school indicate that the lot is to become luxury townhomes in a gated community, so I suppose the building will be demolished at some point, though with the current real-estate market, I doubt the developers will be in a big hurry.
(Hat tip to commenter tonkatoy)
UPDATE 23 July 2011 -- Adding the entire 26 June 2011 photoset below.
UPDATE 20 January 2021 -- Most of this campus has now been razed:
Also adding map icon.
25 Responses to 'Cayce School / Lexington District Two Learning Center, Lexington Avenue Cayce: 1990s(?)'
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Cayce School / Lexington District Two Learning Center, Lexington Avenue Cayce: 1990s(?)'.
-
tonkatoy
22 Jul 11 at 6:39 am
-
Cayce School was a school for developmentally disabled children. My brother used to go there in the late 70's and early 80's. I'm not sure when it shut down. It's kind of sad to see these pictures of it falling apart.
It was a really good place for the kids to be able to go back in the day.Tafi
24 Aug 11 at 8:05 pm
-
I didn't know this, but apparently that place has a basement.
tonkatoy
25 Aug 11 at 6:46 am
-
It was called "Cayce Grammar School" in the 1960s and was for first through fifth grade. I went there; academically it was a reasonably good school with a much more diverse student mix than you might think. Drove by recently and the front entrance has caved in :( The little shoebox annex on the 3rd street side was the principal's office. The long narrow wing on the 8th street side was the cafeteria. First grade was at the Poplar Street entrance and the grades progressed as you went up the hall. It didn't have a real basement -- it had a coal cellar though. When I was there it had coal-fired steam heat (radiators in the classrooms), and no AC.
Former Student
8 Nov 11 at 9:01 am
-
This was also an Elementary school back in the mid 1940s that my Dad attended. He told stories about walking through the woods from "O" Ave. to school and back.
Former Student's Offspring
9 May 12 at 4:07 pm
-
Wow! Thanks for putting these photos out. I wish I could see more. Each one contain childhood memorys. I attended Cayce Grammer School, 1st - 6th grade from 1961 to 1967. The school opened about 1930. I seem to remember a stone marker in the side walk at the front door to that effect. I guess it is covered up now by the ramp leading to the front door. At the time it was built this area had onlt two schools, Cayce Grammer and on the other side of town Brookland Grammer. In the 1960's the windows were not bricked up and there were no doors leading into every classroom. We had hard wood floors, wood ceilings, radiators and big wood frame window to keep cool by in the warmer months. I could tell you so much about this place. Thanks again.
WC Smith
10 Aug 12 at 3:14 pm
-
You're welcome! Feel free to share any stories..
ted
10 Aug 12 at 10:04 pm
-
Found out the school opened in 1925.
WC Smith
27 Aug 12 at 3:05 pm
-
Wow, I hate to see the old grammar school is such bad condition. I started 1st grade there about 1964 and went thru 5th grade, when they started the middle school concept. I remember the hugh wall of windows in each room, and the beautiful wood floors. Tthe custodian was always sweeping the halls with a wide broom and using the rubbery dusting compound. No airconditioning - you opened the windows and let the breeze blow through and had radiator steam heat in the winter.
Steve F
31 Aug 12 at 2:24 pm
-
Got to looking at these pics again today and remembering some names. My teachers from 1st to 6th grade (1961 to 67) were Graham, Hook, Barnes, Threat, Parrish and Austel. Our principal was Rast. Some classmates I remember included Susan Adams, Susan Davis, Buster Bundrick, Jimmy Elliott, Mary Ann Diamond, Diane Dixon, Bobby Lorick, Wayne Howard, Randy Summers, Bobby Minnick, Cindy Shuford, Crystal Kimberland, Joey Ballew, Janice Williams and Melodie Meetze. Sorry if I spelled one wrong. It's been a long time.
WC Smith
27 Feb 13 at 4:28 pm
-
I attended 1st Grade here starting in Aug of '73. My dad went to school here in the late 40's and 50's, and my great aunt went to school here when it first opened in the 1920's.
SJeffcoat
16 May 13 at 2:52 pm
-
Looks like the townhouse project may be moving forward. I see two zoning appeals items for this location on Cayce's website.
tonkatoy
17 May 13 at 6:57 am
-
Please follow this link for drone footage of the Cayce school.
Tyler Proctor
21 Feb 16 at 10:19 am
-
I attended Cayce Grammar school, in the early 50s, grades 1-6. Could fill a few pages with the memories.
The small addition that was noted as the principal's office was, originally, the supply room. Got the paper and powdered paint there to make the posters and bulletin board paintings so essential to early education 60 years ago. The original principal's office was down the entry hall, and on the right, on the north side of the main front corridor. Teacher's lounge was down the same main front hall to the left, same side, just before the corridor running right to the first 3 grades and the the only two rest rooms. Library was the first room on the left of the front corridor, on the south side. Cafeteria was a separate building. running as an extension of the front, to the west, reached by a breezeway. Auditorium was directly opposite the entry hall, between the principal's office and the teachers' lounge. Demolished long ago. No basement that I recall, but a small boiler room with an exterior entrance, below the east corridor.
Comments on the windows are correct. Originally they were double sash, and had roller shades, which were lowered or raised with a pole. Interior doors shown look like the ones from my day.
I recall a number of the teachers mentioned above, from my day.
Endless details in the memory bank.
J. Clark
25 Feb 16 at 8:57 pm
-
I was wondering if you could tell me when the Hardees in Lexington @ I-20 closed.
P Gordon
25 Feb 16 at 9:20 pm
-
@P Gordon it depends on which I-20 exit you speak of...
Andrew
25 Feb 16 at 10:05 pm
-
Maybe the one on Lexington Ave where the school used to be?
JBL
26 Feb 16 at 3:59 am
-
I don't think so...this is a Cayce school, the Hardees in question is in Lexington...but as I see it there are 4 Lexington interchanges along I-20:
- Longs Pond Road
- SC 6 (Red Bank)
- US 1
- US 378I know there is a former Hardee's at SC 6 near I-20 that has been closed a good 8-10 years (at least) that I wish someone would do something with but at the same time I can't dismiss the possibility that it's at one of the other interchanges and predated me...
Andrew
26 Feb 16 at 1:44 pm
-
I was just trying to use humor, although smartass humor, to hint to P Gordon that he was asking about a Hardees in Lexington right smack dab in the middle of a Cayce school thread. Sorry for being a smartass.
JBL
27 Feb 16 at 2:28 am
-
This was my 1st school-I am 82yrs old now-i've never forgotten Cayce Grammar Sch. I believe we moved to NC around the early 40's. I remember my friend Victoria. I think we lived on AXEL DR in W. Columbia. My Dad was William Ashton Bowser & he worked with Jim Hardin who, I think owned an office supply store in Columbia. I would love to hear from anyone who was at this school during the early forties! Thanks so much for the school memories! ( i now live in Greensboro NC)
29 Aug 16 at 1:35 pm
-
This was also my first school--called Cayce Grammar School at the time--started first grade in fall 1973--(kindergarten not required then)--walked 4 blocks--felt like a mile at 6 years old--Miss Bruce was my teacher--I still remember her giving us 3 worksheets a day to do--it seemed so much bigger then (to a kid) --and yes I do remember leaving my class and going out that poplar street door at the end of the day--I also remember chasing my first "girlfriend" on that playground to the left of the class wing from poplar street--that is where I learned to read and write (at least the basics)--lots of memories--one final note--it was turned into an adult education facility for a while as I actually know someone who went there for adult ed, but that passed as well--sad to see the shape it is in, but I guess it has served its purpose if it has been around since the 1920s--the only building left when I rode by a couple weeks ago was the grade wing.
RIP Cayce grammar.Bobby Taylor
20 Sep 19 at 8:21 pm
-
I am 84 now and started 1st grade at Cayce Grammar in 1942 and went there until Christmas break in 1949 when we moved to Florida. It's so good to see all these photos of the old school but it is sad to realize how things have gone by the wayside in all these years but as they say that's progress. GOD bless and be kind.
jackie eugene morrison
17 Oct 20 at 11:35 pm
-
I went there in first grade 1957. Sure wish I could remember my first grade teachers name. She was an elderly lady. Think her room was the first or second room on the right after going in the entrance off Poplar Street. We lived in the Hill View Apartments up the road and walked to school.
Johnny H Stroman
14 Jul 21 at 3:28 pm
-
I also went to this school in 1960 & 1961. I remember all too well walking from the other side of Frink street and over the tracks and then on to the school. WC Smith I also remember a few of these names. Susan Davis, Buster Bundrick, Mary Ann Diamond, Diane Dixon are the ones I recall. I went to BC High with them also. Wow so long ago! And it is sad when you see buildings from your early years that are fading away. Also a few years after this my grandmother/grandfather on my mother's side lived on 8th st right across the street from the school in one of the white houses.
Beth H
7 Nov 21 at 9:17 pm
-
I went to Cayce Grammer in 1946 to 1950 along with my sister and brother the same years! I was in 1st, Ann in 3rd and Buzzy in 5th. We walked to school ! I remember the swings on the right side in the back!
Patsy Holland
19 May 24 at 9:55 am
Lots of large windows have been bricked up, which leads me to believe it was still operating as a school in the seventies, as this was commonly done to schools after the first energy crisis. Shame, really, but that opening windows was a design feature meant for the days before AC. When they added AC and closed the windows, they just got a lot of heat gain.
I vaguely remember a Snior Center sign up there in the late ninties, but the sign was old.
I believe the developer gave up on the condos.