On September 8, 1908, J.B. Turner School, recorded in deeds as J.B. Turner Colored High School, was erected at this location on land purchased by the Santa Rosa County School Board as the first public school in Santa Rosa County established for colored students. It was named for School Board Chairman Dr. J.B. Turner of Bagdad, Florida, who designated a place where African American students in grades 1 through 9 could receive a formal education during the post-Reconstruction era. Before the land was purchased, these students received informal elementary education through community institutions known as church schools. The school educated students during the separate-but-equal Jim Crow era, and many traveled on foot to attend. It thrived under the leadership of its first principal, Mrs. R. Robinson, an African American from East Milton, and Superintendent L.C. Word of Jay, Florida. In less than 50 years, the school added grades 10 and 11 between 1950 and 1952, but 12th graders had to transfer to Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, to graduate. Later, T.R. Jackson High School added 12th grade to its curriculum, and the Class of 1953 became the first African American class in Milton, Florida, to graduate from that school under Principal T.R. Jackson. J.B. Turner School also expanded its curriculum and added facilities, clubs, and sports teams, and its graduates served the state and nation with academic and military distinction and as local leaders in Milton, Florida.