Mountain Brook Elementary To Celebrate 90th Anniversary

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — Friday marks a momentous occasion for the city of Mountain Brook and its school system. One of the oldest schools in Jefferson County, Mountain Brook Elementary, will celebrate its 90th birthday Sept, 20.

Students and their families, faculty, staff, alumni, community partners and supporters are all invited to a celebration Friday, which will be held on the front lawn of the school beginning at 2 p.m., weather pending.

When the school opened in 1929, MBE was a Jefferson County school, built on 11 acres of land donated by the Jemison Company. The original 8-room building accommodated 143 students from grades 1-8.

The City of Mountain Brook was incorporated in 1942 and created a separate school system in 1959, and by then Mountain Brook School had been expanded with an auditorium, a cafeteria and two additional classrooms. Four more classrooms and a gymnasium were added soon later.

However, the school almost did not make it through the system's rapid expansion in the 1960s. The Mountain Brook Board of Education considered closing the school due to its age, but neighbors rallied to preserve the building and raised funds to install air conditioning and other improvements.

Recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School, a Common Sense Media School, a Lighthouse School through Leader in Me and an Alabama School of Character, MBE is consistently ranked as one of the top elementary schools in the state and beyond.

"While transformations of the physical plant and curriculum may have changed over the last 90 years, what remains the same is the strong sense of community whose collective efforts have continued to result in a school of excellence," said MBE principal Ashley McCombs. "The most valuable investment has come from the hearts and minds that have come together in authentic relationship so that each and every student can discover and develop his/her unique purpose in life."