Reedy School by Brian J. Reedy May 20, 1995 (p. 37-38, Moultrie County Hertiage Vol. 29, Number 2 May 2001 published by Moultrie County Historical and Genealogy Society The Reedy school started in 1836. My great-great-great grandparents, Abraham and Ellen Reedy donated the ground on the eleventh day of February 1836. The cost was one dollar from the deed. Only one-half acre of land was given. The exact coordinates of the school are as follows:"Beginning at a point thirty feet due northwest on the southeast quarter of the northwest quarte of section number twenty in zone thirteen north range five east thence east to the line running north and south through the center of said section twetnty thence south with said line thence west thence north to the place of beginning so as to include one half acre of ground and no more." Where the orginal school stood is now owned by my grandmother, Irene Reedy. On August 22, 1891, James Kirkwood donated one acre of land for a new school hous to be because the district had grown too large for the orginal building. The Reedy School most people remember was built approximately one mile north, and across the road from the orginal log school house. Reedy School was district number fifty-three. Some of the teachers were: S. A. Cross, Kate Shaw, C. N. Farmer, Elizabeth K.(Gifford) MaBeoin, Vera Slover, Jessie C. Blumfield, Mamie Ellis, Kenneth Wooly, Elda White, France J. Kerwood, Freda Alumbaugh, Lorena(Wooley) Poole, Mary(Kirkpatrick) Neighbor, Vada Kirkwood, Mary Kennedy, Katherine Lehman, Bertha(Powel) Ping, Ertis Soup Alvey, Orval Powell, Willis Allen, Mildren(Alumbaugh) Vice, Wilma Cain, Helen Wacaser, Peter Ingers, Mary Fread, Verna Jeffers, Deborah Coombs, Olive Clark, Debbie Walk, W. K. Baker, R. C. Parks, and Fern Sickafus. Some of the orginal directors were Joe Bailey, George Bruce, and Elias Kidwell. In 1901 there were over 100 students in one room at the Reedy School, so another room was added. At one time they taught up to tenth grade at the school. In later years, they taught up to eight grades. All students had to come to Sullivan to attend hight school in what is now our Middle School. Some of the families whose children attended Reedy School are as follows: Beck, Donaker, England, Emeil, Frederick, Fultz, Floyd,  Graven, Greene, Hagen, Jeffers, Kirkwood, Kidwell, LeCrone, Matheson, Mode, Powell, Parks, Ray, Riley, Risley, Reedy, Shell, West, Wallace, and Woodward. As the population and technology grew, the need for many country schools became less and less. Reedy School offically closed in 1955. In 1956, Clyde Ray bought the Reedy School for one thousand dollars. The school became a dance hall and then a gaming hall. In 1972, it was raided by the police and closed forever. As I watched the old school burn down, I think my great-great-great grandparents would have been proud to see what such a small contribution, like a half-acre of ground, had contributed to in the education and enrichment of so many lives.

Picture taken when my mother, aunt and cousins visited the school around 1975