Construction on the Union High School campus continued in 1962 with a new superintendent’s home at 106 King Street.
Then the school went through another major building program in 1965. New additions were a Home Economics building behind the high school lobby, an octagonal band hall replacing the white wood frame band hall directly south of the gym, and a field house on the east end of the football field.
Union school added another building in 1968. Just north of the football field on Wood Street, an industrial arts center was completed, home of the field house today.
While Union High School had been progressively expanding its buildings on campus, the number of students continued to increase as well. Union school’s population leaped when a judge signed desegregation papers for Newton County schools in 1970. The next school year 1970-71, students came from C.H. Boler High School in Decatur and Carver Elementary School on James Street to join the Union High School student body on its campus.
That year, the former Carver school building was used as a materials and special programs center. However, to accommodate the overflow of students for the 1971-72 school year, the superintendent made the decision to move the fourth and fifth grades to that building. At that time, the wall between the cafeteria and the auditorium was removed so that one big room was formed. This move also allowed more room for junior high and high school students on the Forest Street campus. Finally, the school’s name was changed to Union Middle School.
After this combining of schools, the school board of Union High School made a request to the Union Board of Aldermen in July 1971 for a street to be built to connect the school’s two campuses. With the help of the Supervisors of Beat 2 and Beat 3, School Street was soon built between James/Hudson Streets and King Street to connect the middle school and the high school campuses.
In 1973, the school underwent another major building project when a new gymnasium was built on King Street. The teacher’s home that had been relocated there in 1950 was auctioned off and moved away from the campus to make room for the new addition. When the ‘new gym’ was completed, the ‘old gym’ was used for physical education classes. Also, a weight room was set up underneath the west side bleachers where dressing rooms had previously been located.
As the school continued to grow in numbers, in the fall of 1976, a mobile trailer was moved in between the first-grade classrooms and the junior high building to be used as an extra classroom for elementary students. Then in 1978, the school bought the Estelle Whittle house at 206 Peachtree Street. The SEEK class first used it as a classroom, and then the art program was moved there before the house was eventually razed and the area paved for a parking lot.
A building program continued in 1987 with the addition of four new kindergarten classrooms attached to the elementary school wing east toward King Street. A much-needed improvement came in 1989 when air conditioners were added to classrooms.
In 1990, another campus change was made. The seventh and eighth grade students in the junior high located in the classrooms attached to the old gym, and the fourth and fifth grade students at the middle school on James Street exchanged campuses. Hence, the James Street campus’ name changed to Union Junior High School. A cyclone fence was installed around the campus, and the junior high students nicknamed their new school ‘Alcatraz.’ Then, because the junior high students participated in high school activities, they walked from the new junior high campus to the high school campus on a gravel pathway. It was paved in the summer of 1991. In addition, the school provided a bus to transfer students in inclement weather. The fence in the front of the building was removed in 2015.
Still another addition took place in 1993 when the school bought the Brad Majors house at 208 Peachtree Street, remodeled it, and used it as the school’s central office. It was often referred to as the ‘White House.’
Also, beginning in the fall of 1993, Union High School chose to participate in the program at Newton County Career and Technical Center. Students who elected to take classes there were bussed to the center located on Highway 15 north of Decatur. This participation continued through 2016.
The final piece of the timeline will appear in next week’s paper. If you have memories to share, please contact me at teresablount26@yahoo.com or 601-774-5564.
