Ensley School

Ensley School (later Ernest F. Bush School) was founded at the corner of Avenue G and 23rd Street by the city of Ensley in 1901.

The school was financed under the provisions of the newly-ratified Alabama Constitution of 1901. A $7,000 loan for school construction was repaid from a special tax on saloons.

The cornerstone of the new building was laid on August 14, 1901 and construction was completed in October of that same year. The two-story brick schoolhouse was designed for 600 pupils. It featured a hipped roof with towers marking the inside corners where the wings joined the central building. Tall arched windows punctuated the thick walls at regular intervals. One thing the school lacked was a lunchroom. Students brought their own lunches and ate in the classrooms or outdoors. The opening of a candy shop across the street provided an opportunity to supplement their lunches with sweets.

By 1903 it was renamed for Ernest Forrest Bush, the first superintendent of schools for Ensley. Ensley School became part of the Birmingham City Schools system in 1910 when Ensley was annexed as part of the Greater Birmingham consolidation. The high school grades were transferred to the new Ensley High School the same year. A new school building at 1112 25th Street Ensley replaced the older Ensley School completely after the 1928 school year.

Principals

• A. A. Lyons, 1901
• W. H. Bowen, 1903

References

• Ensley City Directory (1903) Birmingham: Ensley Directory Company/Roberts & Son, Printers
• Prince, A. G. (1982) Landmarks of Ensley: Past and Present. revised edition. Ensley: Best Printing Service