The Yorkville Enquirer reported on March 4, 1891 – “The Blairsville School will open under the direction of Ms. Drucie Deal.” The paper in the same issue stated, “A new school house has recently been erected near the residence of Wm. Ross, and Ms. Mary Moore of Guthriesville is the teacher.” (Blairsville News Section – Unknown Location)
City Directories and History: There is no structure remaining here to be photographed but there is a simple marker stating that the old Blairsville School house once sat at this location however, there is a handsome marker at the intersection of Wilson Chapel and Lockhart roads.
Ralph Henry Cain graduated from high school in 1914 with only two others in the class: Elizabeth Allison and John Rainey Saye. Cain addressed the audience with a speech entitled “The Emigration Question” favoring restriction. He declared immigrants on a whole were “ignorant, vicious and wholly selfish, coming to the USA for sake of gain, taking their gains back to Europe.” His audience was in complete agreement as he described them as dangerous to America as “bearers of disease, and anarchistic doctrines.” Amid trying times, a world war, sluggish economy and Spanish flu, soldiers began returning home in 1917. In May J. Clyde Plexico and Ralph Cain returned home. That same year, Ralph’s sister, Stella, penned a poem entitled “To Our Hero” when word was received in Sharon that one of its own sons, Samuel Hope Byers had died in Portsmouth, VA. This poem is in the archives of the York County Historical Center in York. J. Clyde Plexico help found the Hope Byers American Legion Post #99 in Sharon. On the evening of its organization Cain spoke on “What the Legion Means to Me.” Ralph was elected treasurer, but with only eleven members the post soon closed.
Baseball was a popular sport among Western York County people in 1920. That year the season opened with a game at the field near Youngblood’s Sale Barn. One of the first games played was at the Blairsville School where batter W. Lon Plexico was momentarily blinded by the sun and was clobbered by pitcher Ralph Cain. Cain was described as a superb pitcher and later in the summer a pitching duel developed at a game with Cotton Belt between Sharon’s Cain and Cotton Belt’s Leon Smith. Sharon was victorious over Cotton Belt 1 to 0 in eleven endings. Cain struck-out five men while Smith struck-out ten. Cain was rehired as Blairsville School principal in 1922 assisted by Mrs. S. A. Mitchell. Because the enrollment was large, Stella Cain was hired as a third teacher. That same year, teacher, farmer and unsuccessful candidate for Probate Judge, Ralph Cain produced eighty-one bushels of wheat on eight acres. He said he would like to eat bread made from his own wheat, but he could sell it for more than he bought flour for his family.
A number of college students were home for the holidays in 1924. Ralph was home from Clemson. Nine years later Ralph Cain was living in Tamassee in Oconee County, teaching and managing a school for deprived children of 115 students from the local mountains. [Contribution by J.L. West]
Click on the More Information >link found below the picture column for additional data or pictures. (Article by Jerry West on the Blairsville Academy)
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