History of the Miakka Schoolhouse
As settlers were accomplishing the task of survival in this area, they did not neglect the fact that the growing number of children needed a substantial education and the community needed a house of worship. To meet these needs, a house was built. Over the years different and improved buildings were used within the area. One of these locations, around 1875, was a one room log structure built just south of Rawls Road and just east of Lena Lane.
A good education was very hard to get in a common school. Students were not given grades, but rather their progress was gauged by the number of the books they were currently studying. If a student studied hard, when he/she finished the eighth book, he/she was eligible to take the teacher's examination. Some of the teachers were not much older than the students.
Any student that was unruly was dealt with harshly by the teacher, then again when he got home. Around 1896, Professor C. Curry, a local teacher in the area wrote, “The Miakka School was a splendid country school. Such methods of discipline were employed as to keep all pupils in perfect accord and yet secured the most efficient work. Both teacher and pupils seem to blend."
Children walked to school along the main trails, sometimes confronting a rattle snake. Unlike today, there were no drainage ditches, so when it rained, wet and muddy feet were common. For lunch, the children might bring sweet potatoes, salt pork sandwiches, citrus fruit and have some cane syrup handy for a sweet. Water was carried a half mile to the school for drinking and there was only one dipper used by all the students. The only bathroom was used by the girls and when that blew down, both the girls and the boys used the bushes until another bathroom was constructed. During the Depression, the students would bring fixings from home for a stew. The teacher would combine all the ingredients in a pot on the wood burning stove used for heat. By lunch time, they had a hot meal. This was the first school hot lunch program for the area.
School lasted five months of the year. Seven months of the year the children helped with the family crops and chores. Even when school was in progress, they took off for a wash day.
In the 1890's, a young man named Wm. A. Brush secured a professorship in the community after teaching in Venice for a year. So inspired by professor Brush, a student from Venice, Claude Theodore Curry, followed him here to complete his education. After four months of hard study, Claude felt qualified to teach. During the fall of 1894, at the age of eighteen, he took the teacher's exam, passed, secured a certificate and began teaching in Manatee County.
Professor Claude Theodore Curry began teaching in Miakka around 1896. June 5, 1901, Professor Curry married Mabel Wilson, daughter of Major Augustus Marion Wilson. They left the area in 1901, due to the death of Professor Curry's father.
October 7, 1913, Miakka was the first school district to petition the Manatee County School Board, located in Bradentown, Florida. The petition requested the issue of bonds up to the amount of $2,500 for the purpose of erecting a school building that would be a landmark and a credit to the community. Other smaller schools could merge with the Miakka school; the Maple Branch school located about two miles north was an example. Two acres would need to be deeded to Manatee Co. by Augustus M. Wilson. Two young men, Alzie Y. Carlton and Rodney Wilson, cleared these two acres by hand.
August 20, 1914, a contractor named J.B. Rogers, was hired to construct the school house. The building would face north for natural lighting. Typical Florida architecture included having the structure elevated in case of high water and to shelter domestic animals, such as chickens, that managed the termites. The school house was completed on September 10, 1914. Professor Lee Hall and his pupils moved into the school on September 24, 1914. It was a very proud time for the Miakka community. A back room was added to the school house by a contractor named Mr. Betts at a later date. A concrete sidewalk and modern outhouses were constructed in 1937.
A Miakka native named Jasper Crowley taught six grades in the school house in 1933. Each grade sat in a single row. He would call on each group to sit on a bench at the front of the class for their lessons while the rest of the class studied previous lessons. The
Miakka School closed In 1944. Jasper. Crowley and the students were moved to other schools.
The first meeting of the Miakka Community Club was held on September 24, 1948; and Mrs. Camille Parker was voted the first president. The Club voted to purchase the old School House and property for $50 on October 26. 1948; and, on December 3. 1948, the Board of Public Instruction of Sarasota County, Florida, deeded the land to the Miakka Community Club. The Miakka community has gathered here and maintained the building since that time.
The community has great respect and admiration for the settlers and the history of Miakka. Their hard work to raise funds to refurbish the old School House resulted in the Miakka School being officially listed in the National Register of Historical Places on July 3, 1986.
The community was awarded a State restoration matching funds grant of $7,000 in August, 1990. Thanks to the hard working restoration committee and participating members of the community; the school bell rang proudly for the restoration of the exterior on June 8, 1991.
The community continues to maintain the schoolhouse exterior and grounds. Current plans include restoring the schoolhouse interior.
