About SES

Special thanks to Andy Wallace from the Springville Historical Society for the historic photos.

Springville, Alabama is a town rich in history and the same holds true for it's schools. 

Many of the first settlers of Springville migrated from Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Tennessee.  They traveled over paths and Indian trails and oxcarts and covered mule-drawn wagons. When a settler reached this section, he followed the usual custom of all pioneers. He staked off a plot of land and constructed a cabin of logs. Often the cabin consisted of only one room. The house was usually built beside the road, and most of the time, by a sparkling stream. The settlement here was known as Big Springs.

The railroad was built about 1870, largely by Chinese and Slave labor. Workers would die and they would dig a hole and bury them by the railroad.

The school was called Springville Academy. The students wore uniforms and stayed at the school in dormitories. The boys wore uniforms of blue, trimmed in braid and buttons. The girls wore blue suits and blue caps.

Around 1904, a group of boys decided to slip away from school and play hooky. The principal learned of the plan and before the boys got away, he called them to his office. He told them they were going to take a walk in the woods. He asked each boy to find a small elm tree. When each one had made his selection, the principal announced that the trees were to be dug up and carried back to the school to be planted. That was their punishment for just talking about skipping school. These are the trees that now surround Springville Middle School, which was formerly the old high school.

Springville also had its own college. It was colled Springlake College and the building was destroyed by fire in 1912.