About Jere Whitson

In the late 1920’s, north Cookeville was in need of a new school because the only school in the area, Freehill School, was in extreme disrepair. Mr. J.P. Jackson, a local resident, approached the school board to ask for a new school. Mr. Jere Whitson was serving as school board chairman at the time and asked for a public meeting of interested citizens of the area. The meeting was a productive one. It was decided that a new school would be built on what is the present site, the property donated to the county by Mr. Jere Whitson. The area residents helped by supplying the money and much of the labor for the project, truly making it a community undertaking. The school was a two room frame structure and was named after Mr. Jere Whitson because of his involvement in the process and fact that he donated land on which the school was built.

The school was enlarged in 1952 to include a cafeteria, gym, office area, library, and fourteen classrooms. In 1975, the “lower end” of the building was built to add a larger cafeteria and kitchen, additional bathrooms, and six new classrooms. A renovation in 1989 was undertaken to paint, replace carpet, and partition some areas to better utilize available space.

In 1994, we occupied our most recent addition to Jere Whitson Elementary. This is the new part added to the back of the building and includes two first grade classrooms, one CDC resource room, a multipurpose room, a new library, custodial closets and a staff restroom. The old library was converted into the office located at the front entrance to the building and includes the main office, reception area, conference room, textbook storage room, and principal’s office.