Jefferson Davis School (No. 10) - a city school on South Limestone, named after the President of the Confederate States. The school opened in the fall of 1923 as a joint elementary and junior high schools. The school contained 23 classrooms, with elementary and junior high students educated on the first and second floor, respectively. Original enrollment was 650 and costs were $188,937. The school was partly destroyed by a fire in December 16, 1926. The school was reopened in September 1927. During the reconstruction, the elementary students were temporarily housed in Porter Memorial Church and Woodland Christian Church, while junior high students were transferred to Morton. At Morton, the two schools used split sessions (Morton students attending in the morning and Davis in the afternoon). The school was closed in 1972.[i]
In 1926, the school board constructed a football stadium on Rose Street, near Limestone, behind Jefferson Davis School. In 1929, the field was named Cassidy Field, in honor of Superintendent M. A. Cassidy. In October 1959, the field was renamed Heber Field, for John G. Heber, football coach at Lexington (later Henry Clay) High School, from 1923 to 1958.[ii]
[i] Lexington Herald-Leader, November 5, 1972, page 5, columns 3-5.
[ii] Lexington Herald, April 9, 1958, page 8, column3 and October 30, 1959, page 1, column 1 and page 5, column 1.
