Yesterday: Early 1900s class

Published 12:00 am Monday, May 2, 2011

Frances Rufty Barnhardt submitted this photograph and says it may represent children from Nazareth Children’s Home who were attending Crescent Academy. Her father-in-law, M.C. Barnhardt Sr., is the teacher in the middle of the group of boys and girls. He was a 1905 graduate of Crescent Academy, and the photograph was probably taken a few years later. Crescent Academy was a typical forerunner in its day to public high schools and junior colleges, hitting its peak in 1906-07 with a paid enrollment of 250 students. About 2,000 students would attend the Crescent Academy from its beginning on Aug. 9, 1896, until the increase in public high schools by 1913 made it unnecessary. The Rev. J.M.L. Lyerly and his wife were founders of both the Crescent Academy and Nazareth’s Children Home, which dates back to 1906.