Oak Grove, what we now know as West Homewood, was annexed into the city of Homewood in 1955. This brought Hall-Kent Elementary into the Homewood Family of schools. Schools in this area go all the way back to the 19th century and includes the Zelosophian Academy which I mentioned earlier.
Hall-Kent originally began as Oak Grove Elementary School in 1908 at the corner of Oxmoor and Greensprings. In 1927 Oak Grove Elementary School burned to the ground and before Jefferson County could rebuild, some of the teachers started teaching in the Odd Fellows Hall which was at the junction of Oxmoor Road, Oak Grove Road and Gillon Drive. This would have been about where the Briary pipe shop is, across the street from GM Pizzaria.
Raleigh Kent, Sr. and his wife, Edna Mae, donated four lots in the neighborhood and county school officials purchased a fifth lot and rebuilt where the school stands now. The school was completed in 1928 and had outdoor plumbing and water.
The school was named in honor of the Kent family and for Dr. James Hugh Blair Hall who was founder of the Zelosophian Academy and established the roots for this school.
Children came from the communities of Oak Grove, Green Springs and Shades Mountain. Once bus service was established, students came from Spaulding, Shannon and Oxmoor to the west.
Listen to the episode at https://dev.shadescahabahistory.com/podcast/homewood-elementary-schools/
The photos are from the Jefferson County Board of Equalization Appraisal Files, which are located in the basement of the LIn-Henley Research Library.
