In 1951 a union school to serve students from the first grade through high school was established for all black students in Henderson County. For the first time, there was a high school for the black community. The schools at East Flat Rock, Brickton and the Sixth Avenue School in Hendersonville closed. Black students from Transylvania County and some sections of Polk County were also transported by bus to the school on Ninth Avenue West.
In May of 1950 a grant for “ninety-six thousand, six hundred dollars and twenty-nine cents from the School Plant Construction and Repair Fund of the State of North Carolina” was requested to fund the building of Ninth Avenue School.
The high school was on the second floor and the elementary grades were on the first floor.
Students were bused to the school from distant communities in Henderson County, such as Bat Cave, Fletcher, Edneyville and Etowah; and from Polk and Transylvania counties. These were long bus rides from long distances. Again, many families chose to not to send their young children on these long bus rides.
John Marable served as principal until 1959.
For more information on the segregation of schools in the area, the book “School Segregation in Western North Carolina: A History, 1860s-1970s” by Betty Jamerson Reed is recommended.
Also visit http://www.ninthavenueschool.org/ for more information on the Ninth Avenue School.
Fassifern School for Girls in Hendersonville had closed in the mid-1950s. Private schools still included the Blue Ridge School for Boys, Immaculata School and the schools of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Naples.
A total of 510 people were employed in education in 1960 in Henderson County.
In 1952, the Henderson County Public Library began a Bookmobile that traveled to outlying areas of the county from the library in Hendersonville. It was in 1957 that the name of the library was changed from the Hendersonville Library to the Henderson County Public Library.