Formal education began in 1897 on land from J.C. Hudspeth and Mrs. Elizabeth Freeman. A petition in 1924 halted a new school at Waters Ford. In 1925 a spacious masonary school opened one mile west for students from Freeman, Hilton, Rock Hill and Sowhatchee, and the name was changed to Hilton Consolidated School. In 1932 students came in from Byrons Academy, Centerville and Lucile. Vocational classrooms, canning plant, lunchroom and gymnasium enhanced the complex before the high school closed in 1955. An elementary school continued until 1960. Many lives and destinies were shaped here.