A History of Our School

The community of Gray’s Creek, according to legend, gets its name from the Creek on the banks of which occurred a human tragedy.  The legend goes that two men fought a duel on the bank of a stream down by the Cape Fear Baptist Church.  One of the men was named Gray, presumably the weaker, for he was killed by his antagonist and buried beneath a cedar tree beside the creek.  Thus, the creek became known as Gray’s Creek and became the name of the township and eventually the school.

 The community began as a scatter group of homes on the banks of the Cape Fear River.  As the area grew in population, it was divided into precincts.  To educate the children in the area, one-room school buildings were constructed by the people in each precinct.  Due to the limited travel in the early years the people residing in one end of the township did not really know those living in the other end.  Each school served its own area and the communication between the schools was limited.  The township voted to tax themselves in order to raise the funds necessary to begin construction on the new school.  They also sold bonds and devised other methods of fund-raising.  Though such efforts, the citizens of Gray’s Creek were able to construct the school without any outside help.

 After discussions about various sites, it was finally decided that the school would be built on the exact center of the township.  While the building was being constructed, classes were held in three frame buildings.  These small buildings used potbelly stoves for heat and many students would use "getting firewood" as an excuse for getting out of class.  There was no running water; therefore, buckets were filled in the mornings before classes began and carried it to the schools for use with a gourd dipper which was shared by all.

During their available time, with the varying skills that they possessed, the people of the township worked on the construction of the school.  After approximately one year, there were sufficient classrooms completed for the students to begin school and the building while workers continued to complete it.  Gray’s Creek was the first consolidated school in North Carolina to serve an entire township.

 The first session in the new building was the 1922-1923 school year which was seven months long at that time.  In the early years, the principal assumed many roles including teaching, keeping records, housekeeping duties, discipline and overall supervision.  The teachers, as well as the principal, held blank certificates which enabled them to teach any subject.

 Debating an athletic competition, which included basketball, softballs, and tennis, were activities in which students took part as well as plays in the glee club.  In 1931, the boy’s basketball team thrilled everyone when they won the county championship.

 Between 1938 and 1942 the school was furnished with electricity.  In 1944 the PTA opened a lunchroom under the Federal Feeding  Program.  Also, an electric period bell was installed which replaced a small handheld bell that was used to announce the change of class periods.

 Ms. Ruth Nowell, the first woman to serve as principal in the history of the school, served as principal from 1944 to 1948.  The class of 1947 was the first class to graduate from the 12th grade.  It was also the first class to publish a yearbook.  Unfortunately, the yearbooks were in the Hope Mills Post Office when the building burned down.  After informing the publisher about situation, additional yearbooks were printed and on the last day of the school the yearbook staff was frantically assembling the books for distribution.  In 1954, the gymnasium was completed which provided much better facilities for the basketball teams.

 Tragedy struck in the fall of 1957.  Everyone watched their dreams go up in smoke, as a raging fire of undetermined origin destroyed the main classroom building.  More than 100 volunteer firemen employed 15 trucks from almost every fire department in the county in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the blaze.  The fire displaced 180 high school students who used the main building.  Chiefs of the various fire departments estimated that they used a total of 50,000 gallons of water as they worked throughout the night with trucks and pumpers moving back and forth between Long Branch, Rainbow Lake, and irrigation ponds to refill their tanks.  The only things of value saved from the building were school records and trophies.

School resumed the following Monday with classes being held in the gymnasium, elementary building, the new agricultural building, and the community building.  The one bright spot was that the first time ever, the girl's basketball team won the championship.

 In the spring of 1959, the new school was completed and contained eight classrooms, a lunchroom, a library, an auditorium, teacher lounges, offices, and equipment rooms.

 After two years of hard work, the school was accredited in 1964.  In 1965, the first African-American students enrolled at Gray’s Creek.  Total integration went into effect in Cumberland County in 1970, in 1972, Southview Senior High School opened and the doors were closed on Gray’s Creek... until the 2003-2004 school year.  THE CREEK IS RISING again!

Gray's Creek High School Yearbook, 2004, Vol.1, pg4-5