Hattie C. Warner Elementary: A Brief History
Submitted by Former Secretary Barb Sundrup
Warner Elementary School was built in this location in Nicholasville KY in January 1987. It was actually established as a school in 1971 and became part of the middle school -- Jr. High (7,8,9) on one side and elementary K-6 on the other. This building was occupied for most of the school year by the sixth graders from Jessamine Middle School. It had been decided the year before that Warner would no longer be a K thru 6—it would now be a K thru 5 and we would move to the new building. As a result, the building that now houses Warner Elementary School was dedicated on December 6, 1987 and the Principal was Richard C. Williams.
Our school was named in 1971 for a lady who was in education for 46 years in Jessamine County. Her name was Hattie Catherine Warner and she was known to everyone, including her students, as “Miss Hattie”. She was born March 3rd 1886 in Richmond Kentucky. She lived on Maple Street all her life. She was a very intelligent business woman and loved to travel and collect diamonds. Her students loved to tease her about her hair. They thought since it was fixed the same way everyday that it had to be a wig. Not so. It was her natural hair.
Miss Hattie had always wanted to be a teacher. She received her teaching certification from Eastern Kentucky University on May 23, 1913. She continued with graduate degree work while she was teaching and received her Master of Arts degree. She also did two years of Graduate work at UK and was a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority.
Miss Hattie's favorite saying was: “I don’t care if you are made of gold or set in diamonds, in my class you are all the same to me.” She lived and taught by this adage. She was awarded a plaque for 46 years of service to Jessamine County Schools and on October 31, 1971 Hattie C. Warner Elementary School was named in her honor.
Miss Hattie was an important part of her students' lives. She died on June 11, 1963 and was laid to rest in Maple Grove Cemetery in Nicholasville--just down the road from the school that now bears her name.
The building that we presently occupy was built without a gymnasium because of budget restraints. The cafeteria was used as our multipurpose room. This meant that we had PE and assemblies in the cafeteria--as well as lunch.
When the building was first built, we worked on the courtyard for months until it was beautiful. We had fish in the fish pond---huge goldfish. For a while we had people bringing stray pets to our courtyard. Percy showed up at some time early in Warner's history. She is a wild duck that has made the Warner courtyard her home. Percy has had many many many ducklings. Warner gives the ducklings to local farms. We also have a resident wood duck who comes back during the summer but disappears in the winter. We have grown vegetables, flowers, had weather stations, and built birdhouses for the courtyard.I can’t remember when the gym was added but it was a great addition to our school. The multipurpose room could be used for a cafeteria and there was a lot more room for the classes to eat and they did not have to be in a hurry so we could get the floor dried in time for gym.