https://ghsfha.org/wiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Habersham_County%2C_GeorgiaHabersham County, Georgia - Revision history2026-06-10T23:55:42ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.37.1https://ghsfha.org/wiki/index.php?title=Habersham_County,_Georgia&diff=59666&oldid=prevLoren Maxwell at 17:06, 16 November 20192019-11-16T17:06:53Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgia, Habersham County}}<br />
{{County_page}}<br />
==School district history==<br />
Habersham Central opened August 31, 1970<ref>Tri-County Advertiser, Aug. 20, 1970</ref>, bringing together high schools at North Habersham (Clarkesville) and South Habersham (Cornelia).<br />
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High schools in Habersham had already gone through one round of consolidation before the current high school was formed. South Habersham was the first to open, doing so in an emergency situation. Attendance increased so much at the start of the 1950-51 school term that Cornelia High ran out of classrooms. Students were instead sent to Baldwin<ref>Tri-County Advertiser, Sept. 7, 1950</ref>. Cornelia already had an active football program at the time of consolidation and so the program was moved to the high school at Baldwin, which took on the name of South Habersham<ref>Tri-County Advertiser, Sept. 7, 1950</ref>. As Baldwin did not have a football team previously, games were still played at Cornelia. By the 1952-53 year, South Habersham High was moved to Cornelia<ref>Georgia Educational Directory, 1952-53</ref>.<br />
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North Habersham opened in 1951, combining Demorest and Clarkesville<ref>Georgia Educational Directory, 1950-51</ref><ref>Georgia Educational Directory, 1951-52</ref>. Plans were in place to consolidate North and South Habersham by mid-1965, when the board of education agreed to purchase land for the new school<ref>Northeast Georgian, June 3, 1965</ref> Plans were put on display for the new high school in 1969 as building began<ref>Tri-County Advertiser, June 12, 1969</ref><br />
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Cornelia Regional, the county's segregated high school, was never big enough for football, but it was a godsend for neighboring counties. Black populations in Georgia's mountainous region were never big. Several had one-room schools that served the whole school district, such as Rabun County's Ivy Hill. Cornelia became the regional high school for many of these counties.<br />
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Banks County switched its agreement with Commerce city in 1954 to Cornelia as the Commerce school (Johntown) could not accommodate them<ref>Northeast Georgian, Sept. 2, 1954</ref>. Cornelia Regional opened a new building as part of the Minimum Foundation Program on Sept. 5, 1955, which saw it take in even more high school children<ref>Northeast Georgian, Sept. 15, 1955</ref>. Besides Banks, White and Rabun counties were sending their black high school students to Cornelia. <br />
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Desegregation began in Habersham County for the 1965-66 school year<ref>Northeast Georgian, June 3, 1965</ref>. Eleven students integrated that term at Cornelia Elementary, South Habersham High and North Habersham High<ref>Northeast Georgian, Sept. 2, 1965</ref>. Rabun County also pulled its students from Cornelia Regional that year after its board of education decided not to risk losing federal funds<ref>The Clayton Tribune, May 6, 1965</ref>. Of 11 black students in Rabun, three were to be in high school. Habersham County closed Cornelia Regional in 1966 <ref>Northeast Georgian, Sept. 1, 1966</ref>, completing integration. <br />
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Georgia Industrial Institute, located in Alto, became the final landing place for incarcerated juveniles in 1953, after previous schools were located in Rome (Battey State)<ref>Rome News-Tribune, Oct. 9, 1951</ref>, Augusta<ref>Northeast Georgian, March 26, 1953</ref> and in Stephens County at Camp Toccoa<ref>The Toccoa Record, Oct. 11, 1951</ref>. Alto had previously been the site of a tuberculosis hospital, which converted to a prison school. Black youths were initially the only students<ref>Northeast Georgian, March 26, 1953</ref>. State representative Sidney Blackburn protested the use of Alto to house juvenile prisoners<ref>Northeast Georgian, April 2, 1953</ref>, calling it, "a social problem that we can't accurately predict at this time." Blackburn's protests went nowhere and the school moved in.<br />
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At some point after white juvenile prisoners moved to Alto, the black portion of the facility was referred to as Jack Forrester. Forrester was involved with the Georgia Department of Corrections. It is unknown if the name was ever official, or solely used to avoid confusion with the white prison school at Georgia Industrial Institute.<br />
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==High school football history==<br />
===Programs===<br />
<county_school_list/><br />
===Notable coaches===<br />
===Notable teams===<br />
===Notable players===<br />
==References==</div>Loren Maxwell