Boston Avenue School – DeLand, FL

Boston Avenue Elementary School was the school I attended from Kindergarten through the end of third grade, when the Volusia County School Board decided to close Boston Ave and Dempsey Brewster, another elementary school across town, and transfer us to the new Blue Lake Elementary School, which was just a few blocks north of my house.  However being a School Board they of course didn’t do this in the most direct route; no, for my fourth grade year they combined the two schools a year early, making Boston Ave K-3 and Dempsey Brewster 4-6 (this was before the shift from Jr High to Middle School, so 6 was still in elementary, where it should be…).  So for my fourth grade year I had to schlep all the way across town (for DeLand that was like an extra mile), and was subjected to having to co-mingle with those kids from that other school (which was of course the point).  But all that’s another story for another post.

Boston Avenue Elementary was opened in 1926 and closed at the end of the 1981-82 school year, at least in its first incarnation.  My older brother had also attended BA as did my father before us back in the early 1940’s; both had at least one of the same teachers, who also happened to be Walt Disney’s cousin!  I’m pretty sure that while my brother I didn’t have any of the same teachers, we probably did have the same principle, Ms. Hodges, who retired around 1980/81 to be replaced by Mr Staples, who was brought in to meld the two schools together.  Boston Ave has gone on to have at least two additional lives, first as a special education school, and most recently as a (failed) charter school.  The last I heard is its vacant again, but “developers” are looking at turning it into a high-priced apartment complex (remember, to developers there are only high-priced properties…).  But for now enjoy the few pics I snapped on a Saturday afternoon back in 2013.