Our current Tramway Elementary School opened in the 1998-1999 school year.  However, the history of Tramway Schools dates back to 1860.  In fact, this is the fourth Tramway School.  The earliest record of a committee name recognized as Tramway was in the Moor County School Board Minutes. James Coggins moved his family to the Pocket Township in 1872 because “he knew of some good land at a good price.” He purchased several hundred acres all within a one mile radius of Tramway for a whooping 3 cents per acre.  James Coggins was a strong believer in education and sent his children to school on a regular basis.  

From 1860-1884-A little schoolhouse was standing in the Tramway area; the church people began holding services here until they built their church in 1884.  This was the first Grace Christian Church.  The first Tramway School was a small one-room log building with 2 windows and 1 door.  The men of the community sawed shingles to cover the schools.  Water for use came from a spring behind now Jack Coggins home.  

From 1884-1908-Not a lot is known about the second Tramway School.  It was still one room and located near the Chesire house off of Jefferson Davis Highway.  It was at this time that Tramway got its name and even had its own post office, which was actually the corner of Willett's store and people from miles around came to get their mail.  Tramway was named for the Old Tram Road that ran along the Ridge Road from Tramway to Jonesboro.

From 1908-1929-The county of Lee was ratified in 1907 and sometime after 1908 the third Tramway School was erected near the now home of Ronald and Betty Sue McNeill.  To start, there were only 2 rooms and as pupil numbers grew, the school was remodeled into a 4 room school.  There were living quarters in the middle of the school for the principal and his wife which were petitioned off with curtains and little oil stove that was used for cooking.  Many students recall long walks to school, how cold it was inside the school, how each teacher usually taught 2 grades at a time, and that teachers boarded with families in the community.  

There are many stories about the bell.  Some past students recalled that there was a 5 minute bell and you must run to “march in” to school.  And if you were late, you had to stay in from recess.   One memory is that Zelah Caldwell Foushee had to jump up to ring the bell and when she came down, her leg went through the board in the floor.  The school closed in 1929, and the bell was given to Grace Chapel when they rebuilt their new church in 1936 since they first met in the first Tramway School.  Since then, that same bell from the third Tramway School was donated and sits in our courtyard today.

1998-until now-The land for this school was purchased from the descendants of the Coggins family that owned the land for the third school.  We are located on the right next door to the Jack Coggins home, where the first Tramway School was located.   The administrative discussion of our current school began in 1995.  This building was not quite ready for the 1998 school year so the year began in the old Warren Williams and St. Clair buildings and staff and students moved into this building in January of 1999 with 503 students.  Again, there have been 3 principals during this time and we have remained the only single track year round school in Lee County for 25 years now.  Our motto from the beginning “Success in all seasons” is still in tact, at one point we were the Tramway Trailblazers, and then students and staff voted on our  Tigershark mascot in 2015.