General History l Photo Gallery l BRHS Alma Mater l BRHS Teachers l Short Story l Information on Allen Code
History
of Blue Ridge High School
Blue Ridge High School was constructed in 1955 on Perry Hill in Oconee County for African American students in grades seven through twelve. Mr. Allen L. Code served as principal from 1955-1966, followed by Mr. James H. Coleman in 1966-1969. Blue Ridge closed with integration. Beginning in the spring of 1969, African American and white students attended Seneca High School as one student body.
Blue Ridge High staffed 19 teachers, and was known for emphasizing what Principal Coleman called a "three track approach" to education. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades students attended career fairs to gather information on the opportunities available to them. Students then decided whether to take the college preparatory, trade, or terminal track of learning, according to their personal goals.
Blue Ridge was known for its family-like bond between students and faculty. "Our teachers have always been open to the students' problems," explained Principal Coleman in a 1969 press release. "If you show you care for the students, they'll do their best for you." Gail Johnson was a student at Blue Ridge from 1965 to 1969 before graduating from Seneca High in 1971. She remembers of that closeness, "Our teachers were like our mothers and fathers. They would keep track of us at home as well as in school. They would call our parents if we were out of place to make sure we…learned what we needed to learn."
From 1955 to 1969, the school afforded great athletic opportunities for both male and female students. Athletic uniforms were the school colors of garnet and blue, and proudly displayed the Blue Ridge High mascot, the tiger. Head coach Willie McNeill led the tiger football team to a victory in the state championships in 1965, and followed with the titles of 1966 state runners-up and 1967 district champions. McNeill also coached the boys' baseball team that earned a 1967 upstate runner-up trophy. Led by head coach Fred Golden, the boys' basketball list of achievements includes the 1957, 1958, and 1965 state runners-up, while the girls' basketball team compiled trophies as the 1958, 1964, 1965, and 1966 state runners-up, the 1967 and 1969 district champions, and ultimately, the 1962 state champions.
In 1956, The Seneca Journal described Blue Ridge High School as "a modern and well-equipped building." It included 11 classrooms, plus a home economics facility, cafeteria, library, agriculture and industrial arts facility, music room, science laboratories, lecture rooms, and physical education facilities, as well as an administrative area and teachers' lounge. This school building marked the change from, as The Seneca Journal described, "outside toilet facilities to the best indoor restrooms, from little or no teaching materials to the latest in teaching equipment." The athletic field was constructed at Blue Ridge in 1957, followed by the field house in 1959. In 1960, an outdoor tennis and basketball court were added to the campus.
The teachers' preparation was also improved at Blue Ridge High; all of the teachers had college degrees, and five of them earned masters degrees. The students' performance reflected these improvements, as Blue Ridge High School led all other African American schools in South Carolina in the percentage of graduates who attended college.
Gail Johnson describes the Blue Ridge High student body as an "excited, active, proud group of people" that "competed in everything they could across the country - the band, the choir, academically." She recalls, "I was growing up in a very popular high school…the football team was number one, the basketball team was number one, it was just an exciting time in my life. There were plays and all sorts of activities for the students to participate in, so we never had a dull day. We enjoyed coming to school everyday - it was always a new challenge for me."
Blue Ridge High School is now Code Elementary School. On February 26, 1994, a memorial marker was placed on the grounds of Code Elementary in memory of the faculty and student body of Blue Ridge High School. According to a 1994 press release, "The school is remembered as a vital force in the Seneca and Oconee communities." The marker is in the shape of a schoolhouse; on the top is an etched tiger, while the base reads, "Dedicated to the Faculty and Students of Blue Ridge High School, 1955-1969."
Blue Ridge Field will be constructed on the site of the former Blue Ridge High football field, which has remained vacant since the school's closing in 1969. The purpose of the park is to provide the Perry Hill community with inviting areas for play, exercise, gardening, and gathering with friends and family, while honoring the history and culture of this proud community.
