DID Ep 8 - School Days: The Little Red Schoolhouse

For nearly a century, one small wooden schoolhouse has stood as a witness to the changing story of Dauphin Island.

Long before there was a bridge connecting the island to the mainland, children from fishing and oystering families gathered here to learn their lessons in a community that was still little more than a remote village along the Mississippi Sound at the mouth of Mobile Bay. Over the decades, the Little Red Schoolhouse watched as the island weathered the Great Depression, World War II, hurricanes, commercial development, and the transformation of Dauphin Island into one of Alabama's best-known coastal communities.

In this episode of Dauphin Island Diaries, we explore the remarkable history of the Little Red Schoolhouse, from its construction in 1931 to its years educating generations of island children, its dramatic relocations across the island, and its rebirth as the home of the Dauphin Island Museum and Welcome Center.

Today, the Little Red Schoolhouse is much more than a historic building. It is a museum, a gathering place, a lending library, and one of the island's most treasured landmarks. Step inside, and you'll discover not only the story of a school, but the story of the people who have called Dauphin Island home for generations.

Sources

Research for this episode was drawn primarily from:

• On-site research at the Little Red Schoolhouse Museum and Welcome Center
• Exhibits and interpretive materials at the Little Red Schoolhouse Museum
• Information provided by the Town of Dauphin Island
• The National Register of Historic Places plaque for the Little Red Schoolhouse
• WKRG News 5 reporting on the Little Red Schoolhouse (July 2024)

Special thanks to:

• Ms. Connie Roan, retired Dauphin Island teacher (and now a docent at the Dauphin Island Welcome Center), for sharing her memories of teaching on the island
• The volunteer docents at the Dauphin Island Welcome Center
• Former museum director David Graves for his work developing the museum exhibits
• Civil War historian Paul DeHaan for his contributions to the Battle of Mobile Bay exhibits
• Those who contributed to previous research compiled for earlier Dauphin Island Diaries and The Tennessee History Nerd episodes which informed this episode 

🎙️ Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Foley/Sound Effects recorded by Big John Summers

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Transcript

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Welcome to Dolphin Island Diaries. This is a podcast dedicated to the history of Dolphin Island, Mobile Bay, and the Gulf Coast that surrounds it. Twice each month we bring you a story about the people, the places, and the moments that have shaped this island, and the waters and coastline beyond it. Some of these stories are well known. Others have been buried by time and storms and shifting shorelines. But they're still here. So wherever you are, whether you're on the island, remembering it or discovering it for the first time, find a comfortable place, take a deep breath, relax, and settle in. Because this is one of those stories. One of the important objectives of any civilized society is the education of its youth. You see this in large cities, you see it in small towns, you see it in rural areas. You even see it in places like the hollows and mountains of Appalachia, although historically the latter has sometimes struggled in this area. And you also see it on Dauphin Island as well. That may not seem so extraordinary now. There's a causeway here and a magnificent bridge across the Mississippi Sound from Cedar Point to Dauphin Island. But before the road connected the island to the mainland, it was more of a challenge then. There was already a schoolhouse on the island in the early 1930s. It had been built in the late 1800s, but it burned. And so a new structure was built. And as we were saying, this was in the days when the community on Dolphin Island wasn't much more than a glorified fish camp, though there were several families permanently living on the island. Those families had children, and those children needed to be educated. And so when the old schoolhouse burned, a new schoolhouse was built to replace it. The new schoolhouse was a fairly simple and yet functional wooden structure built near the Indian shell mounds, but it was a structure built to last. Frankly, I doubt that anyone in 1931 could possibly have anticipated the changes that were just over the horizon, the storms the island would ride out, both natural and man-made, and frankly the island's longevity. And all this within the context of a period of profound transition that the Mobile Bay Area would experience over the lifetime of this building. So let's kind of set the stage here just a little bit. In 1931, which is roughly the time the school building was constructed, there was no bridge. The island was isolated. The families on the island were isolated. And the only access to the island from the mainland was by boat. No one came to the island or left it any other way. No supplies, no building materials, or any other items came to the island any other way. And maybe that's just a little bit hard for us to imagine today. The roads on the island, what few there were, were dirt roads. There was a small grocery store that also served as the island's post office. There was livestock, and I'm sure that perhaps there were also vegetable gardens, but the primary livelihood of these families was from the sea, or more precisely, the bay, Mississippi Sound, and the Gulf. They were fishermen. They were shrimpers. They were oystermen. But there was a desire then, just as there is now for their children to have schooling, just as parents today want their children to have schooling. Having a school on the island meant that families didn't have to leave the island just so that their children could go to school, or that they would have to send them to school off the island, at least not until they got to high school. So when the old school building burned, there was never any question about replacing it. It was simply a matter of the logistics of making it happen. And so it was made to happen. And inside that building, there had to be teachers. The value provided to the children must include both the building and the teachers providing instruction at the building. I wonder, and I'm sure you could get close to answering this if you knew where to look, but I wonder how many teachers have instructed the children of the island in the building that we now know as the Little Red Schoolhouse over all the years that it functioned in that capacity. Boy, if those walls could talk. Nationally relevant things that the building has been through. It's been through the Great Depression. It went through World War II, including when Dauphin Island was a coastwatcher site for anti-submarine warfare, as the Germans were engaging in attacking our shipping coming out of Mobile Bay. It was there during the Korean War. It was there during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. And it was there through 15 U.S. presidents, if I've counted correctly, including President Trump being president two different times. But it's also experienced a number of locally relevant things. It experienced the commercial development of the island. When it was built, that hadn't taken place yet. The mobile bankers and developers who had had in their mind turning this into a resort island, that hadn't come into play yet. And so as a result, there hadn't been the construction of the first bridge yet. The building has seen multiple hurricanes, and most notably that would include Frederick, which just absolutely devastated the island, but it survived that. And Ivan and Katrina and a host of others. It saw the creation of the Air Force facility on the island, and then later saw that to be closed. It saw Frederick destroy that first bridge and then the building of the current bridge. It saw the creation of the Dolphin Island Sea Lab, which was a lab that already existed, but it was moved to Dauphin Island and became known as the Dolphin Island Sea Lab. And that Sea Lab took over the old Air Force facility when they moved out. It's seen all but the first two Alabama Deep Sea fishing rodeos on Dolphin Island. And it's seen the automation and then subsequent closure of the Sand Island Lighthouse. That's a lot that has happened in the lifetime of this building that has, you know, become so iconic on this island. As of this year, that building has been here on the island for 95 years. And for the first 85, it served its original purpose. For the first 85, it was a school building. Interestingly, the little red schoolhouse hasn't always been red. I'm told that at one point in the past, I thought it was in the 1950s, but it evidently may have been later, that one of the principals made the decision to paint the schoolhouse red, stating that she'd always wanted to work in a little red schoolhouse. That's the local tradition, anyway. In my research, I found that the person who made that decision may have been someone named Tina Brown. I haven't been able to definitively confirm this, and that it was actually in the early 1970s. Again, no solid documentation yet. And nevertheless, that personal desire of that particular educator ended up creating, or at least providing, some of the character for one of the more iconic structures on the island. In the 1950s, it was decided to relocate the Little Red Schoolhouse, perhaps then still just the little schoolhouse, down near the Middle Beach where the current elementary school is now located. While I don't know this for a fact, given that this roughly corresponds to the time when the island was being developed, I strongly suspect that the 1950s commercial development of the island was a driver behind the relocation of the schoolhouse. Those who were here for the moving of the schoolhouse in 2016 would probably have found the 1950s relocation rather familiar because when it was moved in the 1950s, it was cut into three pieces, just as it was in that last move in 2016. Then by 2016, given the growth of the population of the island, the little red schoolhouse was no longer sufficient for the number of students being served by the school. 85 years to serve in that capacity is quite long-lived for such a schoolhouse. And so then a new school building was built to take over that function. But the little red schoolhouse was by then such an iconic structure on the island that when the new school was built, while it was considerably larger, it was designed to look like a larger version of the Little Red Schoolhouse. And then when that new modern schoolhouse was built, Mobile County made the decision to tear down the Little Red Schoolhouse. Now, as already noted, by that time, the Little Red Schoolhouse had served several generations of islanders and had been in service for about 85 years. One just simply does not tear down a structure that has served its community and its children for eight and a half decades. At least one should not tear down such an historic structure. And so the people of Dauphin Island protested the planned destruction loudly. Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier, I'm sure, saw the historic significance, but I also strongly suspect that he felt a personal connection to the building as well. He's a native of the island and is of one of the generations whose elementary school years were spent in that very building. And the great thing was that the county listened. And so the people of Dauphin Island were able to keep their little red schoolhouse, but it couldn't stay where it was. And so once again, the building was sawn into three pieces in preparation for transport. To be completely honest, I wish I could have seen the building being moved. I'm told that its journey from the Middle Beach area down Bennville Boulevard to its current location across in the city hall created an electric, almost party atmosphere. If I understand correctly, it was moved during the school year and the children were allowed out of school to follow the building on its journey down Bennville Boulevard to its current location. I'm also told that for the spectators, the arrival of the building at the bridge over the canal created a great deal of concern because it was quite evident that the building was wider than the bridge. But for the movers, this wasn't their first rodeo, and they were prepared for what at first appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle. The trailer or carriage for the building transport had hydraulic lifts that enabled the operators to tilt the building just enough so that one side of the base of the building was able to clear the bridge guardrails. And then, once on the other side of the bridge, the building was returned to its normal upright orientation. And then it was set up in its current location. Of course, it had to be reassembled, but it was given new life by virtue of having a new purpose. It became a true multipurpose building. It's now a museum, a welcome center, a lending library, and in a lot of ways a community center. Plus, it has a small gift shop inside as well for visitors to purchase souvenirs. When you enter the front door, to your right is the gift shop. This area is where the principal's office used to be when it was a functioning school building. Like a lot of other former school buildings that have been repurposed after they've outlived their usefulness as a schoolhouse, the little red schoolhouse has maintained a lot of the flavor and feel that it had as a school building. One of the other things that I wanted to point out is that as far as small town museums go, Dauphin Islands Museum that's housed in the Little Red Schoolhouse is among the better ones that I have been to. And I've been to many. I believe the man who was most responsible for this in the beginning was David Graves, who used to be the museum director. I never have had the pleasure of his acquaintance, but I have been the beneficiary of the fruits of his labors. For one thing, because it's tied to the welcome center, and because a welcome center on an island with a strong tie to tourism needs to be staffed regularly and consistently, the museum is always staffed. And for many small town museums I visit, that just simply isn't the case. In fact, for many small town museums, you have to make an appointment to see them because that's the only way they'll have staff there. It's not that they're not proud enough to want people to see their museum, they do. They just don't typically get enough regular traffic to justify having staff there on a regular basis. That is not the case at the little red schoolhouse on Dauphin Island. It's open Monday through Saturday from 10 to 4 every day. And much of the time there's a steady stream of traffic in and out of the building. But the exhibits are not only relevant, they're also very well done. The museum isn't just a collection of artifacts from life on the island that has no context or interpretation. Every exhibit, every photograph, every map, they all have interpretive panels to explain what they are, why they're there, why they're relevant in Dauphin Island's story. Graves also engaged Civil War and David Farragut artifacts collector Paul DeHon when he was assembling Civil War exhibits in the museum. Mr. Paul is incredibly knowledgeable about Farragut and about the Battle of Mobile Bay, and his guidance in those particular exhibits have been of great benefit. And people love lighthouses. I found that especially to be true with my reels on Facebook about the Sand Island Lighthouse. That has been among my more popular podcast episodes as well. Well, if you're one of those kinds of people, you're in luck. They have a robust collection of artifacts and exhibits tied to both the Sand Island Lighthouse, which is at the mouth of the bay and is what I would consider a more traditional style of lighthouse. And they also have exhibits for the Middle Bay Lighthouse, a cottage-style screw pile lighthouse midway up the Bay to Mobile. They also have souvenirs in the gift shop that are associated with both lighthouses. But there are also exhibits that are tied to the colonial history of the island, to the commercial development of the island, and to the way of life that was lived on the island before there was a bridge from the mainland to the island. I appreciate the convenience of the bridge, but I will confess that I wish I could have seen the island before it was developed, when it wasn't even a small town yet. It was barely a fishing village. There are several photographs which are captioned with contextual information that give that feel, as well as the tongs and other tools that oystermen used in plying their trade. Speaking of the bridge, there are several pictures in the hallway of the old bridge, the one that had a drawbridge at the Mississippi Sound Channel for the passage of maritime traffic, and some especially revealing photos of what it all looked like in the aftermath of Hurricane Frederick. And there are also pictures of the construction of the new bridge, which is now actually older than the old bridge when it was destroyed. But one of my favorite exhibits in the museum is the corner of the main museum room where a replica classroom has been set up. The desks that are on display actually were used by students in that very building in its past life as a schoolhouse. One can almost imagine children in that area practicing their multiplication tables or learning how to spell in that area. It certainly takes one back to their school days, especially for those whose school days were spent in that actual building. I mentioned earlier that the facility is open and staffed six days a week. The docent that work there are knowledgeable and have a great love for the island. But with regard to this particular topic, one of the docents is a bit more special, Ms. Connie Roan. There are a number of adults on the island today who can remember being students at the Little Red Schoolhouse and remember Ms. Connie Rohn as one of their teachers. I had the good fortune several weeks ago of sitting down with Ms. Connie, actually at the teacher's desk in the museum and picking her brain as she reminisced about her time as a teacher on the island. But today, not only is the Little Red Schoolhouse a great resource for visitors to the island, it's also the home of a lending library that sees quite a bit of traffic from the locals. And not just books, another very popular item in their library are puzzles. But one of the most popular functions at the Little Red Schoolhouse each week happens on Friday afternoons. Local musicians bring their instruments and set up in the round and jam a couple of hours every Friday afternoon, and there's always a crowd gathered to enjoy the music. Even though there's already another building called the Community Center on the island, the Little Red Schoolhouse also serves as a de facto community center for events such as these. The islanders have known for years that the Little Red Schoolhouse is historically significant. In June of 2018, the federal government officially agreed. At that time, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hopefully that'll ensure that it will always get the funding it needs to maintain and preserve it. We're already at a point where few alive, if any, can remember when it was built. But everyone who's a part of the island today can ensure that she continues to stand, to support, to inspire. I don't know exactly who it was that built the schoolhouse in 1931, but whoever it was, they surely built it to last. And last it definitely has. So that's going to do it for this episode of Dolphin Island Diaries. I hope you've enjoyed as we've taken a look at one of the favorite structures on the island for a great many of the people who live here or visit here. And I hope you'll join us next week when I share that interview that I did at the Little Red Schoolhouse with retired teacher Ms. Connie Roan. I hope you'll be watching for that to drop next week when we again explore where memories mingle with the sand, waves, and the wind. Until then, I'm Big John Summers, and these are Dolphin Island Diaries. May you enjoy fair winds today and a beautiful Dolphin Island sunset. So before I close everything down for today's episode, I wanted first to let you know that this episode has been recorded in my field studio, which is my tent at the campground on Dauphin Island. So you may occasionally hear the sounds of the campground, such as the people talking, birds in the background, and so forth. And there is the constant sound of wind in the trees now that wasn't there for some of the recording that I did earlier. I also wanted to take a few moments to acknowledge those folks whose work made my preparing for this episode possible. Sources for today's episode include exhibits and interpretive materials at the Little Red Schoolhouse Museum, information provided by the town of Dauphin Island, the National Register of Historic Places plaque for the Little Red Schoolhouse, which is there just to the side of the entrance of the Little Red Schoolhouse. Also, reporting from the WKRG News 5 July 2024 story on the Little Red Schoolhouse, and also my previous research for several earlier Dauphin Island Diaries episodes as well as some of my episodes for the Tennessee History Nerd, the sister podcast. I'd also like to express my appreciation to the docents at the Little Red Schoolhouse, especially for this episode, to retired teacher Ms. Connie Roan for sharing her memories of teaching on the island. Also to former museum director David Graves, whom I've never had the good fortune to meet, for his work in developing the museum exhibits that I've found so valuable and so enjoyable. And also to Civil War historian Paul Dehan for his contributions to the Battle of Mobile Bay displays there. And I did have the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mr. De Haan back in February of 2026. Without these people and others like them, preserving the history of institutions like the Little Red Schoolhouse, I couldn't do what I do. And so I'm profoundly thankful to them and for them. And thank you so much for listening.