Blevins, Arkansas · 1939–1969
Keeping the connection.
From farmers and educators to lawyers and doctors, the students of Blevins Training School built lives that carried the school far beyond Blevins. This is where we remember our history, honor the teachers who shaped us, and gather again.
BTS news
Our history
A school a community built
Long before there was a Blevins Training School, Black families in and around Blevins kept finding ways to teach their children: in a log cabin, a church, borrowed classrooms and a Rosenwald school. This history comes from “A Historical View,” the account provided by Mrs. Evelyn Cross-Burton.
- The beginning About twenty-five children gather in a one-room log cabin half a mile south of Blevins. One teacher, a desk, a chair and rough benches; reading, writing and arithmetic from the Webster Blue Speller and McGuffey Reader. The term lasts two months.
- After the fire When the cabin burns, classes move to Emmanuel Methodist Church, then to the Williamson School four miles east, and on to the Iron Spring School, with two classrooms, two teachers and a four-month term.
- 1928 The Iron Spring District builds a four-room Rosenwald school four miles southeast of Blevins on the Hope road, near Shorter Chapel A.M.E. Church. Blevins children ride a bus owned and operated by Mr. W. M. Cross.
- 1932 The Blevins Board of Education rents a room from the Iron Spring District and hires its first teacher, Evelyn Cross Burton.
- 1940 Under Superintendent A. B. Wetherington, a new building rises two miles south of Blevins on the Washington–Blevins road. Mt. Moriah, Oak Grove, McCaskill, Shiloh, Nolen, Antioch, Green Hill and Iron Spring schools consolidate into the Blevins District.
- 1939–1969 The years carried on the BTS emblem. Education grows under principals J. L. Taylor, E. D. Robinson, R. L. Wiley and A. M. Evans.
Let us pause not, nor falter, our faith is in our hands.
Quoted by Mrs. Evelyn Cross-Burton in “A Historical View”
1999 reunion · class by class
The class roll
At the 1999 reunion, graduates posed with the year they finished. Find your class, or someone you remember.
Reunion news
July 9–11 2027
The next all‑school reunion
Mark your calendar. Location, schedule and registration details will be posted here as soon as the reunion committee confirms them.
How we gathered in 2025
- Friday, July 25 Registration, welcome and class mixer at Hempstead Hall in Hope
- Saturday, July 26 Parade, cookout and Teen Summit in Blevins
- Saturday evening BTS Banquet, class photos and an anniversary salute to the classes of 1974–1975
- Sunday, July 27 Worship and memorial service featuring the BTS Choir, then the reunion business meeting
BTS Scholarship Program
Opening doors for the next graduates
Each year the Blevins Training School Historical and Scholarship Foundation awards a scholarship to a deserving high school senior who is headed to college. It is how the BTS family keeps opening doors for young people.
Stay connected
Questions about the reunion? Send the committee a note, and follow the News page for dates, scholarships and announcements from the BTS family.