In 1901, William E. Geoffrey, a black man, donated land for a black school in Gifford. Funded with help from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, which supported hundreds of black schools across Florida and the Southeast, the Gifford School was built to serve grades 1-6. The school received donated used textbooks, furniture, and equipment, and on cold days students huddled around a fire on the outdoor basketball court. In its early years, parents and the local church operated the school, and classes ran for three months each year for blacks when there were no beans to pick. In the late 1930s, the school became a high school. Its principals were Professors W.A. Peck (1936-40), Lamar Fort (1940), Arthur C. Madrey (1941-45), Marcellus Goodwin (1945-50), and James R. Wiggins (1951-60). In 1938, three students graduated in Gifford High School's first senior class, and from 1938-51 approximately 68 students graduated. In 1971, the property's owners donated it to Indian River County as a community park, and Gulf & Western Sugar dedicated it to Hosie Shumann, a longtime employee who had worked for them from 1942 until his death in 1971.