Atlanta Catholic Centennial

The originals constitution of the State of Georgia adopted in 1777 stated that schools should be erected in each county and supported by the State. It was ninety-one years later at the Constitutional Convention of 1868 that the establishment of public schools was made mandatory. Professor Gustavus J. Orr prepared the laws for the State School System and was appointed first State School Commissioner.

The City of Atlanta took under consideration the establishment of public schools in 1852, but due to divided opinion the project was not successful. Six years later on September 10, 1858, a public meeting was held and a committee petitioned the City Council to establish public schools. Again it was not successful.

On September 24, 1869, Alderman D. C. O'Keefe introduced a resolution in the City Council to investigate the establishment of public schools. A committee was appointed and on November 26, 1869, Council adopted the resolution to establish public schools. One December 10, 1869, a board of education was appointed and on July 22, 1870, a bill was introduced in the State Legislature to permit the establishment of the public schools in Atlanta. It was approved September 30, 1870. On December 8, 1870, the proposal was submitted to the vote of the people and was approved. Work was quickly commenced on school buildings and by January, 1872, three schools buildings were completed. Mr. B. Mallon, of Savannah, was appointed Superintendent. One of the members of the first board of education was John H. Flynn, a prominent Catholic. He was also a member of the first investigating committee appointed.

Seven public schools were opened in 1872. Ivy Street Schools was the first public school opened in Atlanta. It was opened on January 31, 1872. Boys' High School, then at the southwest corner of Whitehall and Hunter Streets, was opened on February 1, 1872. Girls' High School, near the same location, but occupying a separate building, was opened on February 5. Crew Street School and Walker Street School were opened February 21. Decatur Street Schools opened February 27, and Luckie Street School opened February 29, 1872.

Although this was by no means a bad beginning for a new undertaking, the public school system has advanced until Atlanta has now one of the finest public school systems in the state. We all have visual evidence of these institutions in every part of the city, schools for both white and colored children.

Many of the most efficient teachers and principals in the public schools of Atlanta have been Catholic ladies.

In 1870 a census of school children between the ages of 6 and 18 years gave the number as 3,345 white and 3,129 colored children. The initials attendance when the public schools were established in 1872 was 1,844 children.

In the early days of the public schools of Atlanta there were no diplomas given to those who completed their high school course. They just finished their school course, took their books and left the school. At the exercises commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the public schools in 1872 the surviving members of the first graduating class of Atlanta Boys' High School were presented with diplomas.