Students gathered in front of the new Parker Consolidated school. c.1915. Douglas County History Research Center #666.02

Parker High School Sophomores 1938. For Class List click image. Douglas County History Research Center #97023.003

.....The history of the Parker Schools is one of great change. As school population grew and their parents and other community leaders searched for ways to make education practical for their children.

.....When school district #10 was formed sometime prior to 1868, Parker was known as Pine Grove. Around 1875, James S. Parker donated the land on which the Pine Grove School was built. Before the Pine Grove School was built, students probably attended the Allison School. The school stood south of the old West Parker Road, present day Main Street, across from the 20 Mile House, to the west of Highway 83. The school was a brick building with three windows down each side, a bell tower and a vestibule. The school acted, as did the 20 Mile House across the road, as the center of social and business activities in the small community of Pine Grove. Church services were held there as well as some community meetings.

.....Completed in 1915, the Parker Consolidated School was formed to combine the districts of Pine Grove (District 10), Allison (District 18) and Plainfield (District 29.) The three smaller schools closed, and the Pine Grove School became a private residence. The bell tower was removed, and the property was purchased in 1992 and was torn down. The land on which the school stood is now under the parking lot for K-Mart.

.....The new Parker Consolidated School (District 37) was a two story brick building on Main Street in Parker. The school held elementary grades on the lower floor, high school classrooms, an auditorium and an office on the second, and a lab, home economics room and utility rooms in the basement.

.....Parker High School, which met on the upper floors of the Parker Consolidated School, was accredited in 1936. Their colors were green and white and their mascot was the buffaloes. they had a newspaper and a yearbook.

.....The 1940's saw overcrowding of the elementary grades at Parker, and they were forced to put three grades into each classroom.

.....In 1958, Parker Consolidated went through another big change. The high school students were sent to Douglas County High School, and Hill Top (District 30) and Rattlesnake (in Elbert County) rural schools joined the elementary and junior high grades. The school district was re-numbered Joint District 75.

.....In 1960, the school was remodeled for its new use as a primary and junior high school, but the Douglas County School District RE-1 closed the school in 1966. Students were transferred Northeast Elementary Schools.

.....The Parker Consolidated School building was sold to the Parker United Methodist Church in 1970, and when the church moved in 1996, the school was part of the sale to the Town of Parker.