HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN PASCO COUNTY

Seven Springs School

The exact date on which the Seven Springs School opened is not known. In July 1913, school board minutes show Grace Gray appointed as the teacher at the Seven Springs School. (This is presumably Grace Leona Gray, b. 8 Apr 1887, Kent, Mich.; d. 16 Nov 1932, S. C.) In 1914 she married Floyd Archibald Gibson (b. 30 Dec 1888). She was living in Zephyrhills in 1916 according to her father’s obituary.)

On Jan. 3, 1914, the Tampa Times reported: “Zephyrhills, Fla., Jan. 3.—Miss Grace Gray returned to her school work at Seven Springs last Sunday after spending Christmas with her parents and friends here.”

On March 14, 1914, the Tampa Times reported: “Miss Grace Gray returned home [to Zephyrhills] last week from Seven Springs, Fla., after completing a six months school term of teaching.”

School board minutes of Sept. 22, 1914, have: “Board rejected bids on Seven Springs school and instructed it built in connection with the Elfers job.” On Nov. 27, 1914, it named G. H. Boring a supervisor of the Elfers and Seven Springs buildings. School board minutes of Jan. 4, 1915, show that the board voted to have W. I. Porter & Co. insure the Seven Springs building for $1500 for a period of five years. Apparently the school operated in 1913-14 in some other building, and the current building was completed in late 1914 or early 1915.

The school was located on the east side of Little Road, south of the Anclote River. According to Patrick Eddie Russ, the school was about two or three lots north of the Seven Springs Villas entrance. Doyle Frierson, grandson of Willie Maude Frierson, recalled that the school was “four or five hundred yards south of the Anclote River.”

According to Florida Cracker Days in West Pasco County, the school was built inadvertently on property owned by T. J. Witt.

School board minutes of Feb. 3, 1916, show that the board refused to allow the McNeal children to attend the Seven Springs School and live in the Elfers district.

School board records show Mrs. B. A. Baker as the teacher in 1915. A directory for 1915-1916 shows Mrs. B. O. Baker as the teacher, having a Sumter County certificate.

School board minutes of July 3-5, 1916, show Cephas Geiger (b. 1895) as the teacher at Seven Springs.

School board minutes of Aug. 19-20, 1918, as printed in a newspaper, indicate that Miss Felta Davis was appointed the teacher at Seven Springs.

On Sept. 13, 1918, the Dade City Banner reported, “The Seven Springs school began on Monday last with good attendance. Miss Davis of Tampa, with a splendid record as a teacher, is principal this year.”

School board minutes of Nov. 4, 1918, as printed in a newspaper, indicate that Julia Rae Baker was the teacher at #38 Seven Springs.

School board minutes show from April 1920 show payment to teacher Inez Roseborough at Seven Springs School no. 38.

On Aug. 8, 1924, the Dade City Banner reported, from school board minutes, “On account of the construction work on the road between Odessa and Elfers making transportation impossible between those two points for the time being, the school at Seven Springs was re-established and an additional teacher to take care of the high school pupils at Odessa was authorized.”

The Seven Springs school apparently closed in 1925.

In 1925 the school building became the residence of Thomas J. Witt (1871-1943). (The photo at right shows Annie and Sweetie Witt. The parents of the Witt students are shown as Henry Witt, and later, Mr. and Mrs. J. Bosely.)

In 1927 Ed Frierson bought the property from his mother and it became the home for Frierson and his second wife, Willie Maude Frierson, according to Cracker Days. Their children had attended the school.

In 1980, Mrs. Frierson sold the building to Alex and Dorothy Acey.

In May 1981, the Aceys donated the building to the West Pasco Historical Society and in October 1981 it was moved to Sims Park, where it now serves as the historical society’s museum. A library addition was built in 1992.

Teachers and Students