School History

School HIstory

West Point was officially named and established as a community in 1918. The community was named by Mr. H. J. Jordan, Mr. W. A. Jordan, and Mr. Jim Lamb. It was first discussed as being "west" of the railroad. The men decided it need a more descriptive name and added "point" to the name, calling the community West Point.

The first school in the West Point community was built in 1908 and named Crooked Creek School. The Cullman County Board of Education did not have funds available to build the school so the community members decided they would cut logs from their own farms to build the school. They hauled the logs to Mr. Jordan's sawmill and Mr. Jordan cut the logs at no charge. The one room schoolhouse was called Crooked Creek.

In 1918, the school was moved to its present location where a four room building had been built. The school was then renamed West Point. The school was heated by wood heaters. There was no running water and the restroom facilities were outside.

In 1922, a combination auditorium/gymnasium was build onto the back of the original four room schoolhouse. In 1923, West Point became a junior high school.

All of the wood buildings had pot-belly heaters and pine floors which were kept oiled. Each student brought various vegetables from home to be cooked. The teacher gathered the vegetables, put them in a pot on the pot-belly heater and at lunch, each child was dipped a bowl of soup.

In 1929, the Vocational Agriculture Building was constructed. In 1935, the brick high school was constructed.

The first graduating class was in 1935 and consisted of eight boys and four girls.

The first lunchroom at West Point was an old barracks that was moved from an army camp and set up on campus in 1947. The tables were made of wood, something like picnic tables, and lunches were ten cents each. In 1948, the boys gym as well as an addition to the high school was built. In 1951, the old gymnasium was converted to a lunchroom.

In 1960-61, the original wooden schoolhouse was torn down and replaced by the present block/brick building still in use today.

In 1964, the pond across the road was drained and a football stadium was built. The first football season started at West Point that year. The first band at West Point was organized in June, 1967.

In 1964, a six room addition to the high school was added below the gym. In 1969, two additional classrooms and a new Vocational Agriculture and Home Economics Building were added.

A new band room and high school library were constructed in 1973. In 1976, several new classrooms as well as the elementary gymnasium were added. The new high school gymnasium was added in 1978.

In the fall of 1996, a large section of West Point High School was destroyed by fire. The high school attended classes in portable classrooms for the following two and 1/2 years while a new school was constructed. At the same time, a new middle school was built across the road behind the football field.

An addition to the WPE campus was added in 2002 with the opening of the seven classrooms that serve as third grade location beside the elementary gym.

In 2006 the West Point Intermediate School was built across the road from the main campus and adjacent to the Middle School. This school presently consists of 16 classrooms and a main office. The Intermediate School shares the lunchroom with the Middle School and the students are bussed across the road to the gym facilities at West Point Elementary.

Old School