This postcard was published by the Shropshire Book Store of Rome, probably between 1905 and 1915. It is a view of downtown Rome between the rivers, taken from Myrtle Hill. In the foreground are riverboats on the Etowah river at the base of Myrtle Hill. In the upper right is the clock tower and Neely School. The Second Avenue bridge over the Oostanaula River at the left is a precursor to the current concrete bridge. One of Rome's lost railroad depots is in the foreground just across the Etowah.Neely School, first known as Tower Hill School, was built in 1883, adjacent to the iconic Rome Clock Tower. It was renamed later Central Grammar School, and then named Neely School for Benjamin Neely, Rome's first superintendent of schools.
Here is a closer view:
Neely School was closed in 1958 and torn down in 1962.Click on one of the labels below to see similar posts.
My great-grandmother attended Neely school in the early 1900s
ReplyDeleteI was an 18 year rising high school senior at Cartersville High School in the summer of 1962 and had a summer job with a demolition company who won the contract to demolish the Neely School building. I Will never forget the morning we arrived to begin our job and there were gathered about a hundred former students and teachers throwing rocks and bricks at us in order to delay or stop us from tearing down their beloved school. Our boss and company owner, Lyman Autry, summoned us off the job and called the police. When they arrived, the rocks and bricks were then directed toward them! After numerous citizens were arrested and taken away, we were notified that a stop work order had been issued and we had to pack up and drive back to Cartersville without ever having removed our tools from the trucks. A day or two passed before we returned after the order was lifted and we began the complete demolition of what I can remember being one of the most beautiful buildings I'd ever seen. I thought at the time that it was a huge mistake for this building not to have been saved by the citizens of Rome. After just finding pictures of that beautiful structure 51 years later, I know it was a mistake.
ReplyDeleteI attended this school from 1947 thru 1949 and it was an unforgettable memory, but I was not aware of the "trouble" that happened during the demolition. I am 77 yrs old and lived in Rome all my life and do not remember this event.
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