History of Carthage Elementary School
Information furnished by Phillip Day Brooks

In 1804, William Walton, the founder of Carthage, gave 50 acres of land next to the Cumberland River to the town of Carthage for a grade school which constitutes the first Carthage Elementary School.  (This is the plot of land where Citizens Bank stands today.)  It was run by the Tennessee state government through a private agency known as the Geneva Academy from 1811 to about 1907.

After the Carthage city council organized in 1901, Mayor J. A. Ligon and the Carthage council created a Carthage special school district and rented a building where the Community Bank of Smith County resides today for a grade school.  From 1907 to the 1914 period, Carthage Elementary was funded by the Carthage City Council with some state aid.

In 1914, the Smith County court and Carthage City Council, under Mayor Bill Read, started the Carthage Elementary and Smith County High School.  The meeting place was in the Smith County courthouse from 1914 to January, 1917.

In 1915, Mayor Read and the Carthage City Council bought 7 acres of land on Fisher Avenue for the Carthage High School and a Carthage Elementary School.  The Carthage High School building opened in January 1917 with Carthage Elementary in the basement of the 3 story building.

In 1940, Mayor John Ligon of the Carthage City Council and council members donated the 7 acres of land to the Smith County government. Smith County built a new high school in 1941 and a new Carthage Elementary School at the back of the high school.

In 1949, Smith County Board of Education, under Superintendent Woodrow Piper, bought land for a new Smith County High School football field and the old football field was used to build a new Carthage Elementary School for grades 1-8.  It is today the Smith County Junior High School for grades 7-8.  Carthage Elementary School opened in January, 1950. 

Carthage Elementary operated 1-8 from 1950 to 1979.  In 1979, the Smith County School Board, under Superintendent Joe Anderson, build the present Carthage Elementary which operated a 1-6 grade school.  Carthage Elementary was expanded in 1998 for a special education section.

With the opening of Smith County Middle School for the 2002-2003 school year, Carthage Elementary became a kindergarten through fourth grade school.  The 5th and 6th grades, along with the 7th and 8th grades from the Smith County Junior High, were moved to the newly constructed middle school.

Carthage Elementary School became a Pre-Kindergarten through 4th Grade with the start of the 2004-2005 school year.