Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: This building was constructed in 1917 on five acres of land with $6,000 donated from the estate of Mrs. Mary Lily Kenan Flagler Bingham, (1867-1917), wife of Henry Flagler, the owner and promoter of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Kenansville School is the oldest known public school building in Osceola County. The two-story masonry vernacular brick building, of late 19th, early 20th century design, was erected by A.J. MacDonough, Architect, and Track and Nash Contractor. From 1917 to early 1920, the school housed grades one through 12 with as many as 100 students and five teachers. By 1922, only 29 students were enrolled in grades one through six and were taught by one teacher. The school closed in 1962 and sat empty for 30 years. In 1992 it reopened, serving students from pre-K to second grade and saving the younger children the 35-mile bus ride to St. Cloud. In 2003, the school closed its doors permanently. In 2005, the school was deeded to the Kenansville Community Association, Inc. with the help of the School Board of Osceola County and the Board of County Commissioners of Osceola County. For several decades, the school was one of the state’s outstanding rural schools.