Archives Closed Schools Q-S: Roy School

Other Name: Richard VanHoose Education Center; Shady Side School; St. Thomas Orphanage

Last Address: Bishop Lane and Newburg Road

Year Opened: 1898, prior to

Year Closed: 1955

The Roy School was originally housed in a one-room school.  It may have succeeded the Shady Side School, which operated in the 1894-1895 school year.  A new school building was opened in 1912 on two acres from the Southern Brick and Tile Company at Buechel to Poplar Level.  In 1920 the school relocated to the Miller Grocery at 2222 Dundee Road.  A new school building at Bishop Lane and Newburg Road was opened in 1922.  The Roy School may have provided education for students from the St. Thomas Orphanage (for boys) which was located in Preston Park (now the site of Bellarmine University on Newburg Road).  The school was closed in 1955 and razed.  The Central Administration Office Building for Jefferson County Public Schools was erected and opened there in 1962 (JCPS offices were previously located at 612, 616, and 522 West Jefferson Street.)  In 1975 the administration building was renamed the Richard VanHoose Education Center for the longtime JCPS superintendent.