Ellen Woodside High School 1925 - 1965

    Ellen Permelia Charles Woodside was the daughter of Israel Charles and Pamelia Sullivan Charles.  Ellen, the third of eight children, was born on February 13, 1838 near Washington Church, on the road leading from the Ware Place to Pelzer.  Later, the family moved to the old Israel Charles place on Augusta Road - the two-story house with four chimney's, a mile north of the present Ellen Woodside Elementary School.

    At the age of nineteen, Ellen Charles married Dr. John Lawrence Woodside.  Ellen Woodside's eldest grandchild wrote that her grandmother had an orchard and that one particular apple tree had grown from a branch she used to spur her horse when she rode away sidesaddle on her honeymoon.  During the Civil War, when Dr. Woodside was away, Mrs. Woodside regularly treated patients who needed medical help.  Ellen and John Woodside had nine sons and four daughters.

    The project of building the Ellen Woodside High School building was conceived several years before the actual work began.  Several meetings of the citizens were held at different times and the building of a high school was discussed.  It was a long time before plans took concrete form and the district was able to finance the project.

    There was a consolidation of two schools districts, Sonoma and Oaklawn/Washington.  After the consolidation, bonds were sold to raise funds for the new high school.  The newly formed district acquired a bond for $13,000 but this was not enough to pay for the kind of high school needed in the community.  At this point Mr. John T. Woodside, son of Ellen and John Woodside, generously donated five acres of his home place acreage on Augusta Road and offered to pay one-half the cost of the first new school building.  With this money available the trustees felt they were ready to move forward with the construction of a building.

    Before construction began, a problem arose as to where to hold classes.  Again, Mr. Woodside came to the rescue.  Initially, classes were held in the Community Hall over the Woodside Store.  Mr. W. C. Hall of Iva, SC served as principal.  The first faculty consisted of three teachers: Mr. W. D. Hall, Miss Anna Prentiss, and Miss Ruby Badger.  Mr. Woodside was asked to serve on the building committee and rendered valuable service to making plans, awarding contracts, supervising the work, and advising the trustees in many of their problems.  Finally, 1924 the contract for the building of the school was let to Mr. J.R. Owen of Greenville, SC for the approximate sum of $30,000.  It was near the close of the first school year, about April 1925, before the building was ready for school purposes.  However, the first term of the High School was finished in the new building.