South Brevard Historical Society

MELBOURNE'S LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE

At the break of day on one of those perfect days in 1883, Mr. John Goode, living a short distance south of Fountain Heights, South Melbourne, put plans into motion for our first public school by donating the land. Not long after this donation, a one-room school house was erected about 300 yards south of Fountain Heights.

The school house served children of the earliest families living in the Melbourne area. The two teachers were Miss Maude Goode, daughter of John Goode, and Miss May Valentine. The school term was only about five or six months during summer time of the year, but during that time white children attended in the morning and black children in the afternoon. The morning students were Annie Goode, Edith Valentine, Isabella Clohecy, Grace Goode, Fred Valentine, Alexander Goode, Helen Valentine, John Clohecy and Jessie Goode. The afternoon students were Willie Brothers, Susie Allen, Lizzie Trot, George Washington Blaine, Baalam Allan and Lafayette.

A hand-operated water pump stood outside the door and inside long benches served as desks for the students, who wrote on slates. No screens kept the pesky mosquitos and other Florida wildlife from joining the students.

In 1896 Mr. W. T. Wells built the first high school on the west side of U.S. 1, after having used the upstairs of RW. Goode's building on New Haven Avenue and Front Street. Then, about 1916, a new school building was erected in what is now downtown Melbourne. So the little red schoolhouse was not used anymore, and it sat empty near the river at Fountain Heights. In the early 1940s, the city of Melbourne moved it to the grounds of the Melbourne Elementary and High Schools on New Haven Avenue. It was painted red, a picket fence was built around it and, after a while, it was forgotten by all. Thanks to the efforts of the Abigail Wright Chamberlin Chapter of the DAR, the Melbourne Rotary club and the South Brevard Historical Society, the school was restored and placed on the campus of Florida Institute of Technology, where it stands today.