The Ruddles Mill School is a former school in Ruddles Mill, Kentucky. It was dedicated on October 1, 1923, and closed in 1989.
The Ruddles Mill School built to serve Ruddles Mill and was dedicated on October 1, 1923. 1 The school originally housed grades one through nine because of a lack of high school students and graduated only 14 high school classes with 148 students between 1927 and 1940.
A teacherage that was initially built burned and was subsequently rebuilt in 1937. The auditorium was converted into a study hall, band room, and as classroom space for the agriculture department in the same year, 2 and a gymnasium was added in 1939. 3 4
Ruddles Mill was reduced to eight grades in 1940, with students in the ninth through twelfth grades sent to Millersburg, and grades seven and eight were sent to the new Bourbon County Junior High School in Paris in 1969. 1 The sixth-grade class was sent to Bourbon County Middle School in 1988. With only five grades remaining at Ruddles Mill, the school was closed on May 27, 1989. 1 5
We have come today to close the door.
The buses will return no more.
This class is the last.
An era is past.We’ll never all be here again,
but wherever you are, you have a friend.
This school is full of ghosts and memories,
cherished forever by you and me.We’ll join in singing one last song.
It is time for us to go on.
Did the children do their best?
They go now to meet the test.Did we always give them more?
The Closing of Ruddles Mill School, by Nina Welch
Too late to wonder:
Close the door.
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Sources
- Williams, Helen Hedges. History and Memories of Ruddles Mill School and Community.
- Watkins, Billy. Interview. History and Memories of Ruddles Mill School and Community. By Helen Hedges Williams.
- Fryman, L. T. Interview. History and Memories of Ruddles Mill School and Community. By Helen Hedges Williams.
- Guy, Julia Hicks. Interview. History and Memories of Ruddles Mill School and Community. By Helen Hedges Williams.
- Welch, Nina. Interview. History and Memories of Ruddles Mill School and Community. By Helen Hedges Williams.
9 Comments
Add Yours →Mrs Fields keep my desk an me in the coat room the entire 2nd grade year at this school. Thank Mrs Fields for an entire year of looking at coats. An that was the last year it was open.
The School has been purchased and completely renovated. It has been turned into multiple apartments for the family that purchased it. It is the pure definition of Gorgeous. Anyone that had seen it in its previous condition would be speechless.
Went by, about 10 cars parked out front and a blue light on in the basment. Not sure what’s up with it
I went to that school back in 1977-1978 I was just trying to find pics of the school to see if it was still open and found this page. I hate to hear that it closed.
I’m pretty sure the poem was by “Mina” Welch, not “Nina.” I have a copy of it somewhere, along with a drawing and final all-school photo from the last days in 1989.
Yes, it was written by Mina Welch! I have a copy too!
Is the School currently in use? is it for sale? Thank you.
Beginning around 2010, the Ruddles Mill School building was restored and apparently was being used for apartments. In December 2013, it appeared to be abandoned again. Does anyone know anything about these developments?
What ever happen to Mr Brown the principal he made my sixth grade year the best along with Mrs Gabler I want to thank them we were poor and they paid for me to go on the school trip