Formation of Caverna
Caverna is a story of two sets of integration. In 1950, the towns of Horse Cave and Cave City were integrated when Caverna Schools opened and students from both Barren and Hart counties had a shared school system. There were problems: some families didn’t like the loss of their Horse Cave or Cave City Schools and felt cheated out of their school identities. There were lawsuits: some citizens didn’t like that the Cave City students had to take a bus to the Horse Cave School and that Horse Cave Middle School Students had to take a bus to the Cave City School building. Many felt that their communities would be damaged. In the first year of its existence, the Caverna High School basketball team made it all the way to the State Championship–a phenomenal accomplishment. With the new school system established, the stage was set for racial integration which occurred in 1957.
Oral Histories
Clarence Glover
Asst Principal, Farnsley Middle School, Jefferson County Public School
Former Boston Celtics Basketball Player
Caverna Class of 1967
“Set in Two Different Counties”
Dr. Bill Braden,LPPC, NCC (Ret)
Kentucky Counseling Assn.,
Executive Director Caverna Class of 1951
“New School for Senior Year”
Tom Chaney,
Co-owner
“Wendell Cherry and the Caverna Basketball Champions”
Martha Rose Miller Turner,
Caverna Class of 1951
“We came up with Purple and White”
“Wait Wait, Hold the Bus, Here they Come”
“Some People Were Against It”
“I was the first Valedictorian”
“Each Town Trying to Outdo the Other”
“It took a lot of work”
Ann Matera,
Caverna Class of 1958
“A Caverna Family”
“The Name Caverna”
“Ralph Dorsey Was Caverna”
“Consolidation”
“My Father and the Lawsuit”
Seaborn Ellzey,
Caverna Class of 1957
“The Lawsuit”“Seventh Generation Cave Cityian”
“Our Identity was Scrapped”
“Horse Cave Yeah Yeah Yeah Cave City Nay Nay Nay”
“Cave City was a Focus in the Fifties”
“Cave City Achievements”
“1957 and the New School Building”