MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE, HAY LONG SCHOOL, MT PLEASANT 1894 - 1969

Hay Long School was founded in 1894 on lands  given for that purpose by William Hay Long, and named in honor of his daughter, Hay Long. The new high school shown above was built in 1922. The unusual name of the school was always a subject of interest as long as it was used, and never ceased to cause comment. When the cornerstone was removed as the building was being torn down in 1980, several items of that period were removed and preserved. Among them were photographs of Mr. W. H. Long, signatures of many of the students at the time who were attending both Hay Long grammar and high schools, a listing of courses available to students at the schools, local newspapers, etc. 
The Daily Herald’s headline in the year 1922 proclaimed “Daughter of Donor of School Land to Place the Stone”; Mrs. Hay Long Wall to officiate at imposing exercises at Mt. Pleasant. Many persons prominent in education work will be heard at 3 o’clock Monday - large crowd to attend.” “Imposing ceremonies will mark the laying of the cornerstone of the new $75,000 high school building. ”Patriotic readings about the American flag concluded the ceremonies. 
There have probably been many ceremonies just as important to the participants over the years held in the auditorium of Hay Long High School. The Class of 1962 was no different. We had Stunt Night festivities and presented Jane King as our May Queen; our Senior Play, “Me and My Shadow”, the alpha and omega of many of our acting careers, on April 27, 1962, starring Tommy Bassham, Linda Edwards, Polly Colagross, Lillie Howell, David Boyd, Donna Boshers, Mary Jackson, Gene Craig, and Johnny Allen. Other Graduates for the 1962 year were Ronnie Tyler, Adaline Barton Armstrong, Thomas Prince, Pat Nicholson, Nan Johnson, Larry Keltner, Mary Hagood, Sue England, Charles Hinson, Jimmy Smith, Eura Faye Attkisson, Howard Braden, Linda Workman, Jerry L. Kennedy, Gayle Morgan, John Wayne Potts, Mary Sue Irwin, Lewis Holt, Barbara Alexander, Billy Gail Matlock, Jimmy Holtsford, Helen Marie Finerty, Howard Tice, Linda June Oliver, Austin Adams, Carlos Adams, Patricia Eddleman, Claude Lemay, Margaret, Boshers, Richard Hayes, Linda Carol Edwards, David Wallace Chapman, Donna Joyce Boshers, Charles Anderson, Mary Evelyn Davis, Calvin Boshears, Linda Gail Davis, Jim Davis, Beverly Ann Bassham, Paul Edward Marshall, Sandra Sue Knowles, Dwight J. York, Linda Massey, Bobby Cummins, Betty Jane West, Judy Gale Cothran, Don T. Stewart, Mary Frances Howell, Thomas McCormick, Jane King, Roger Hedrick, Wilma May Beckum, Barbara Jean Sutton, Jimmy Caton.    
We the class of 1962 sat in that auditorium and listened to our Baccalaureate Sermon on June 3, 1962, delivered by the Rev. Gordon Van Steenberg, and anxiously awaited the next morning, Monday, June 4, 1962, when Mr. Smith would call our names and we could walk across the stage for the final time. Our school name was unusual - our class rings were unusual - (how many class rings have you ever seen with a dragline pictured on the side?) - but we were not unusual. We were just special. Special to our parents and friends. Special to each other. We were the Class of 1962.We had made it. Time has not dimmed that special feeling, nor has it dimmed the desire to gather again. After twenty years, will bring together that ole Hay Long spirit one more time. We may not have a school to visit, but I don’t imagine it will slow down the memories for a moment! 

The school building that stood for 46 years and cast so many memories for many persons was abandoned at the end of the 1968-69 school year, Hay Long High School is now just a memory.  After many years of usefulness, the building then sat idle until November 1980, when the first walls were pulled down. Shown at right above s a mini-photo of the result of the the first stages of the wrecking ball. Now (1982) only a vacant lot and a few of the supporting buildings stand to remind us of the many hours and days we spent at Hay Long, and of the goals we sought, and met, as the Class of ‘62. Sources of the above information was mostly taken from a booklet prepared for the twenty year reunion of the Hay Long class of 1962.

The above house is located on Hay Long Ave. It was built in 1858. An old historical photo of a group having a CSA Reunion on the front lawn is in the possession of the family of Mary Bob McClain Richardson. These reunions started occurring after prosperity of the 1890s (Roaring 90's) spawned celebrations of life and Americans finally began to seriously heal the wounds of the Civil War. CSA reunions continued to occur around the south until something around the time of the World War I when there were no longer enough old soldiers living to command a gathering.