Laboratory_School_2

Comment

Comment by Steve D.Bailey on February 18, 2011 at 11:13am

That great information, Thanks Gary!  I know that Richard Smith will like the information too.

Steve

Comment by Gary Rudisill on February 18, 2011 at 10:51am

Hey Steve,

I have a friend by the name of Nick Coffee who lives in Laboratory, I sent him a link to the picture of the old school and asked him a few questions about it and he responded with a lot of info, I thought you might be interested, I pasted his email below. He also sent me a picture of the Baptism pool from the old Riverview Baptist Church which he talks about in his email, I will post the picture on the website.

 

Here is his email:

Hello Gary,
Thanks a lot for sending me the link to the Laboratory School pictures. I've been trying to find out when that school was built but had no luck. That newspaper article answered my question - it was opened in 1921. My dad would have been 4 years old then so he started school there I guess about 2 years later and I started school there in 1954. The last year I went to school there was the 1960-61 school year and I was in the 7th grade along with your uncle Roger and aunt Gail. Your aunt Martha was in the same room with me but she was in the 5th grade! That was the final year the school was open. That year there were grades 1-7 at the school with 3 teachers and 65 students. My dad helped open it up and I helped shut it down along with a little help from a tornado back there in the 30s or 40s! Riverview Baptist Church bought the property and built a new church there after the building was demolished. The original Riverview church was build up on a hill between Laboratory bridge and Southside bridge on the Lincolnton side of river. It overlooked the river and thus it got it's name. Years later they built a new church across the road from the Laboratory School. Then when the school was closed Riverview bought the property and built yet another new church in 1967. This church sits in the fork between Laboratory Rd. and Riverview Road - no longer in view of the river. Attached is a picture of the baptism pool the first church used for baptisms. You can get to it from the rail trail that runs beside the river at Laboratory.