This site is dedicated to all graduates of Baker School.

If you have any updates, comments or suggestions, please send an email to Mrs. Springle @ springlen@mail.okaloosa.k12.fl.us.

The first school that can be recalled in the Baker area was known as the Griffith School.  It was located three miles east of Baker near Yellow River on the Old Spanish Trail.  It was used from 1892-1898.  As more people settled in the farming area near Baker, Griffith School was closed.  A school was then begun at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in 1899.  It was known as school number "36" or Cobb of Santa Rosa county.  The Baker area was once in Santa Rosa County.  This school operated until 1910 when the new Jim Miller School was opened a short distance south of school number "36."  In 1915 Okaloosa County was formed from Santa Rosa and Walton Counties.  A two story brick building, with basement, was under construction.  It became known as Baker School.  The doors opened for school the first Monday of January in 1916.  This building was demolished in 1974.

In 1921 Baker was classed as a junior high school.  It had outdoor toilets and a chapel.  The students drank from an old hand pump using the same dipper.  Wood heaters were also used in the classrooms.  This meant that wood had to be carried in by the students.

Some of the classes offered were Agriculture, Home Economics, English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

In 1923 Baker High became the first school in Okaloosa County to become accredited.  Immediately, students began attending from Crestview, Munson, and other neighboring towns.  The first formal graduation exercises were for the students finishing the tenth grade in the spring of 1922.

Everyone carried a lunch.  If you were not careful where you placed the lunch, hogs on the school grounds would pick it up and then you went without.  The hogs learned quickly that the bell meant that children were to go in the building.  This was time for their early lunch, or breakfast, whichever came first for them.

The boys and girls had basketball teams that played on a clay covered court located north of the school.  The girls won the championship cup many times under the direction of Coach Opal Hogg Enzor.  The boys also won many championships.

Junior and senior proms were held upstairs in one of the classrooms.  The home economics class cooked the food and served the meal.

The year 1927 found a new building under construction across the street from the two story building.  It was paid for by the teachers, interested community persons, and students.  It was completed in 1929 with a graduating class of 21 students.  The new building had an electric pump, wooden basketball court, and a boxing ring.  The wooden gymnasium was built in 1948.  Rumor has it that many disputes were settled in the boxing ring.  Gloves were available at the school.

In 1950 a new lunchroom was built.  The first football stadium was built in 1951.

Baker School burned down in 1953.  It brought many fears of consolidation with nearby Crestview High School.  The principal, Glen Bates, went to battle with the school board and won.  The school board voted to build another building for Baker.

During reconstruction, the First Baptist Church opened its doors for classes.  Some of the classes were taught under shade trees with weather permitting.  The school grew again.  In 1963 the Milligan School students and building were moved to Baker campus.  In 1965 the Escambia Farms and Holt students were consolidated into Baker.  In 1966 the Drew Elementary School and Carver Hill School students became part of the school enrollment.  In 1970 Phase I of the master building plan for Baker School was completed.  Phase II brought new office space, classrooms, a multi-purpose room, and a lunchroom with it.

The 1995-1996 school year had 23 portable classrooms still in use.  A county-wide one-percent sales tax was voted on and supported with a solid 80% vote.  In 1997 the portables were replaced with two new additions.  There is a new Baker High School wing and a building that houses our band, choir, media center and auditorium.  In 1998 a new softball field was added.  Baker school is growing every day and tomorrow will bring new technology, new visions and many opportunities for our students, faculty, and administration to work together, grow and prosper.

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