It’s 1957: The 6th, 7th and 8th graders at Canton Elementary have moved into the old Canton High School building now that the new high school, Cherokee, has opened. They hang out on the front steps, goof off by the gym and have downtown Canton as their unofficial campus.
The video opens on the steps of the school, and then films students exiting the old gym. At about a minute in, the students play a game of baseball in Brown Park (across from the current City Hall, the old First Baptist Church). Then more scenes of students outside the school — including some girls who have traded skirts for shorts after school. A few shots of Main Street (including in front of the movie theater) end the video.
The video originated from 8mm film that was shot by Richard Gray’s family when he was a student at the school and originally shared with The Canton Times site. The old school building was used as school administrative offices and now houses city of Canton offices.
Walk around the area today in person or by using Google Street View
A version of this was originally posted by Canton Rewind March 2, 2014
Canton Rewind 