Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Public education has always been an important part of Apopka’s history. In 1879, Orange County held its first institute for teacher education in Apopka. In the early 1880s, the school in Apopka lacked a permanent building and was forced to hold its classes in rented spaces. Some parents sent their children to neighboring communities that had their own schoolhouses, such as Merrimack and Bay Ridge. This site marks the location of Apopka’s first public schoolhouse, built in 1885. It was a small three-room building that stood beside the original Apopka Baptist Church, west of the site known as the "Old Church Cemetery." The Reverend Lucian Drury, minister of Apopka Baptist Church, supplemented his income by working as one of the school’s teachers, and in 1889, was appointed its principal. At that time, the school had four teachers; most schools in the area had only one. In 1891, the schoolhouse at this site burned down, forcing classes to be relocated to another building for the remainder of the year. In 1896, voters approved the construction of a new schoolhouse on Fourth Street, later Main Street. The new school opened for the 1897 school year.