On Griffin Road, just a block away from Davie Road, sits the Old Davie School Historical Museum. It’s stucco walls have covered the same ground since 1918 — over 100 years ago. The schoolhouse has survived hurricanes, the Great Depression, the 1947 flood and almost becoming a bus loop. It has held decades of classes, dances and even the inauguration of Davie’s first mayor.
In its first year of classes, the Old Davie School saw roughly 90 children enter its doorway. Davie, known then as Zona, was a rural town of Canadian immigrants and Americans from states like Indiana and New York. Because of this, shoes were optional in the first years and agriculture was a class since children were expected to do manual labor at home from a young age. The school also boasted the first working toilet in Davie.
Later on, a “school bus” was introduced and driven by the eldest kids in school, usually 13-14, to take the students to class. The school had no cafeteria, but did include an apartment for the custodian who lived on the grounds. There was no AC, but the school’s architect, August Geiger, designed the windows and transom windows to allow air circulation at all times in the classrooms.
In 1947, two back-to-back hurricanes hit Davie and the town was destroyed. Crops were gone, livestock drowned and homes flooded. The town used the schoolhouse as a refuge while drainage and reconstruction efforts continued. The Griffin Brothers Boat Service would make rounds picking up any stranded citizens. The military base that NSU now sits on experienced minor flooding compared to the rest of the town and would host the children from the school for movie nights and popcorn during the flood.
In the late ‘80s, the school was almost demolished after years without classes, but the demolition was promptly halted and a grant was bestowed upon the building from the National Register of Historic Places. It has served as a museum ever since.
The Old Davie School Historical Museum is the place to learn about the town of Davie. It offers captivating displays and an expertly maintained building. Yet even with all of that, it would not be inaccurate to say that the majority of NSU students have never heard of the place. A quick jump over the canal not only provides an intriguing story of a town’s soul, but a deeper appreciation for Davie.
