For more than 140 years, Holt students have attended school on the site where Bernard L. Hope Middle School now stands.
The original Holt School (pictured above left) was built on the site in 1875. But in 1914, tragedy struck: the school burned to the ground. While displaced students continued to attend classes in temporary locations, the community moved quickly to rebuild.
The new Holt School was completed in 1915, and served as Holt’s only school for 34 years. In 1949, it became the high school — and, successively, the junior high and middle school, with numerous additions and renovations along the way. In May 1982, the historic building was razed to make way for the construction of Hope Middle School, which welcomed its first students in the fall of that year.
Historical photo courtesy of the Holt-Delhi Historical Society, holtdelhihistoricalsociety.webs.com.
Hope Middle School is at 2020 Park Lane, Holt.