WRIGHTSBORO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HISTORY
 Prior
to 1924, the Cape Fear Township Had three separate schools: Acorn
Branch, Castle Hayne, and Wrightsboro. Acorn Branch, the oldest of
the three schools was composed of one room and one teacher for eight
grades. Acorn Branch was located off Morris Road in the vicinity of
the New Hanover County Airport. The Castle Hayne School was located
on a side road in Castle Hayne near McClure Presbyterian Church, approximately
ten miles from the city of Wilmington. The third school, Wrightsboro
was a two room school which was build adjacent to the Wrightsboro
Baptist Church. The land for the school , which was donated by Mr.
Moses Horne, was located on Rock Road, which is now the Castle Hayne
Road. The name Rock Road was so named because it was unpaved and made
with rock and marl. Wood fires kept classes warm, oil lamps supplied
the light, water was drawn from a hand pump in the yard, and two outside
buildings served as restrooms. There were two teachers and two rooms
in this school, one for grades one through four, and one for grades
five through eight. There was no bus service at this time, so students
walked four to six miles to and from school every day. |
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A few years prior to 1924 the Acorn Branch School
was closed, and those students were transferred
to the Wrightsboro school, which now had two teachers and ninety
students. In 1924, the New Hanover County Board of Education purchased
three acres of land from Mr. Horne and erected a one-story brick
building. At this time, the Castle Hayne school was consolidated
with the Wrightsboro school, now having five teachers and one-hundred
fifty-five students. By 1930, Wrightsboro school had eight teachers
all of whom were single and were paid $70.00 a month for eight months.
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In 1939, the second story was added to Wrightsboro School, and
the cafeteria was built in 1953. In 1963, six additional classroom
were built behind the first building and six more classrooms were
build in 1968. Wrightsboro school continued to serve students in
grades one through eight until 1952 when the seventh and eighth
grades were transferred to Chestnut Street Junior High School (now
Annie H. Snipes School). In 1971, Wrightsboro began serving only
one through four, and the first kindergarten class was added to
Wrightsboro in 1973. In 1982, the fifth and sixth graders returned
to Wrightsboro school making it the fifth largest elementary school
in New Hanover County (fifth out of twenty elementary schools) |
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In 1997, a new fifteen room addition was opened which also included
a new cafeteria. The old 1924
Wrightsboro School currently serves kindergarten through fifth grade and has an enrollment for approximately 575 students. There are twenty-seven general classroom teachers, two Title I Remedial teachers, and two cross-categorical teachers for exceptional children.
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building
was renovated with the auditorium converted into a modern Library.
The old cafeteria was converted into a multipurpose room.