TRACING THE HISTORY OF OUR CURRENT SANGO SCHOOL
Who would have ever imagined that the history of Sango School was so complex and surprising? The research revealed some twists and turns. It seems that there were, in fact, two Sango Schools!
Let’s start at the beginning. We know that as early as 1899, there is record of a school in the Sango area. It was a five room, two story boarding school known as Montgomery Academy. Most likely, the school was named for John Montgomery, the man given credit as the founder of the City of Clarksville.
The funds for the school were raised by the community. The school had times when it operated for free and other times when payment for attendance was required. Since there is no mention of the Academy in Tennessee State recognized school listings, we believe the school operated outside of government control as a private institution.
However, in 1912, Montgomery County acquired the school. At or about that time, the school was renamed Sango School. Record indicates that two other schools consolidated into Sango School. They were Davis and Grant Schools. We struggled to find any other information on these schools except a notation that students needed to be transported to school each day. So, they must not have been within walking distance!
1925, the record indicates that a new building was constructed to replace the Academy building. The location was southwest of the Halliburton Crossroads across from the Sango Cemetery. It would have been right beside the original Sango United Methodist Church building. (If you remember the last newsletter, we established that the original SUMC was in a different location.)
Then in 1936, evidence indicates that Walton and Carmel (sound familiar?) Schools consolidated to this new building. This time, however, students were upgraded to a bus for transportation.In 1940, Port Royal School students also became part of the Sango School population with Shady Grove students to follow in 1942.
In the 1970’s, integration brought about the transfer of Pisgah School to Sango. However, the overcrowding eventually forced a movement of the Sango students and students from the Roosevelt School to a new location called East Montgomery.
The old Sango School building went on to have multiple uses. In the end, it was torn down and replaced with Cullom Grove Townhouses more recently.
Again, overcrowding forced the school system to purchase land off of Sango Road. for another new school. In 1996, an 85,000+ square foot building was constructed. We know it as the present day Sango School.
While we are all sensitive to rezoning in modern days, it appears as though consolidation and rezoning have been a very large part of the rich history of Sango School.
(citation: CLARKSVILLE-MONTGOMERY COUNTY SCHOOLS: PICTORIAL & HISTORICAL COLLECTION, VOLUME I, DISTRICTS 1-11, by Sandra J Martic Stacey, Gloria K Martin Davis, and Glenda D Martin Angus, pp. 330, 351, 357, 368. Compliments of Montgomery County Archives, Clarksville, TN)
