Washington Academy

(1894 – 1899)

When Putnam County was reestablished in 1854, the county provided for an academic academy to be constructed.  Land for the academy was purchased in 1858 and 1860, but construction was delayed by the Civil War.  After the conclusion of the war, an academy was set to be built by contractor David Dow called Washington Academy on Broad Street.  It was a brick, two-story building with two large classrooms on the first floor.  The fraternal organizations of the Freemasons and Oddfellows contributed to the construction and were given the second floor for their meeting room.  Washington Academy was a four-year subscription high school where parents paid tuition.  The school provided both elementary and secondary grades.  

In 1894, the Tennessee General Assembly transferred the Washington Academy property to a new school and incorporated it as Cookeville High School.  Primary, intermediate, and advanced courses were offered.  In 1894, Washington Academy had 175 students. 

Cookeville Collegiate Institute 

(1901 – 1914)

In 1899, the Washington Academy school building was torn down and Cookeville Collegiate Institute was built.  Constructed in 1900, Cookeville Collegiate Institute was an eight room, two-story, frame building of Victorian design.  Later simply called the "City School," the building sat on a four-acre shady lot in downtown Cookeville at the present site of City Hall.  When it opened in 1901, it offered eight years of primary and four years of secondary education.  Teacher-training was later added to the curriculum.  

During the early 1900s, school attendance was not required.  In 1905, the Putnam County Herald reported that Putnam County received $4,694.30 from the state treasury for the education of the 7,222 children in the county.  However, school enrollment figures for the combined county and city schools showed that less than half of this number attended school.  

Although the building was only 21 years old, the "old City School" was torn down in 1922.