St. Augustine High and Grade School

Dublin Core

Title

St. Augustine High and Grade School

Alternative Title

Orange Street Elementary School
Orange Street School
St. Johns County School Board and District Administration Offices

Contributor

St. Johns County School Board

Date Created

1910

Date Modified

1981-1983

Type

This building was built to be the downtown for grades 1-12 for St. Augustine.
This building was repurposed to be the headquarters for the St. Johns County School System.

Description

The Orange Street School was built over remnants of the Cubo Line moat to the west of the City Gates.

St. Augustine High and Grade School opened in October 1910. For grades 1-12, there was an enrollment of 400+ students. The then mayor, W.S.M. Pinkham was the driving force behind trying to create the finest school in Florida.  Architects from Savannah were hired to build an "eclectic revival" building for $60,000.

The opening of this new school meant that classes were moved out of the 1857 building on Aviles Street where public education in St. Augustine/St. Johns County had previously been held. By the 1920s, the school was overflowing and a high school was built in 1924 down the street and called Ketterlinus High School. This "new" building has served as a high school, junior high school, middle school, and is now an elementary school.

The first graduating class for the Orange Street School was in May 1911 with six students. When the school closed in December 1981, it was known as Orange Street Elementary. The building reopened in 1983 as the headquarters for the St. Johns County school board and administration.

St. Johns County has prided itself on excellent schools with documentary evidence dating back to 1929.

Has Part

The Orange Street School is part of the St. Johns County Public Schools system.

Rights Holder

St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
St. Johns County School District

Relation

The Orange Street School is located on Orange Street.

Source

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (c.1910): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Photograph 2 (c.1929): Saint Augustine Florida: The Quaintest City in the United States; The Oldest City in the United States. Saint Augustine Chamber of Commerce, [1929].

Photograph 3 (1940s): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the 1930s and 1940s. Acadia Publishing, 2019.

Photograph 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Orange Street School." June 20, 2025.

Photograph 5 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Orange Street School Plaque." June 20, 2025.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Fillmon, Tim “Orange Street School.” Edited by Bernard Fisher. HMdb.org: The Historical Marker Database. January 2, 2019. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=93383.

Harvey, Karen. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1980.

Ketterlinus Elementary School. “About Our School: About Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Ketterlinus.” https://www-kes.stjohns.k12.fl.us/about/.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1st edition. The History Press, 2007.

Rights

Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.

Is Referenced By

The following St. Augustine Fiction books feature this building as a location:

One Summer in the Old Town

Date Submitted

This record was last updated on July 16, 2025.

Citation

Robinson & Reidy, Associate Architects, “St. Augustine High and Grade School,” St. Augustine Fiction, accessed May 17, 2026, https://staugustinefiction.omeka.net/items/show/368.

Geolocation