Built in the Spanish Mission Revival architecture popular with school houses of the 1910s and 1920s, this structure consolidated several smaller area schools. Thanks to Shea Browning for the history.

Cecil Maine writes: I attended Kirkland School in 1940 and 1941. (I transferred from the Harmony Grove school upon their consolidation with the larger schools in the county, and completed sixth and seventh grades there before going on to Pearson for high school, 8th thru 11th grades). At that time there were only 11 grades to complete high school. So I graduated from Pearson High School in 1946.

Bill Musgrove recalled his mother attending here, and Sharon Darley remembers: I attended 2nd through 5th grade then the school shut down. It became a chicken house for years. It had a huge auditorium that held many community events, keeping our community united like a family. Great teachers worked there….they kept us in line.

I’m guessing this structure was either a lunchroom or shop building, probably added not long before the school closed.

Here’s a photo of the 7th grade class at Kirkland School, 1947-48 term. Courtesy of the Days Gone By: Atkinson County Facebook page. Jimmy Brantley writes: My Dad, Harry Brantley, is the principal and teacher in the picture with the children. The school year was1947-48. I was born in 47. My sister Jean could tell more about those years