Public education was an important part of Apopka's history. In 1879, Orange County held its first institute for teacher education in Apopka. In the early 1880s, the school in Apopka lacked a permanent building and held classes in rented spaces, while some parents sent their children to neighboring communities such as Merrimack and Bay Ridge, which had their own schoolhouses. Apopka's first public schoolhouse was built in 1885 as a small three-room building beside the original Apopka Baptist Church, west of the site known as the Old Church Cemetery. The Reverend Lucian Drury, minister of Apopka Baptist Church, also taught at the school and in 1889 became its principal. At that time, the school had four teachers, while most schools in the area had only one. In 1891, the schoolhouse burned down, and classes moved to another building for the rest of the year. In 1896, voters approved construction of a new schoolhouse on Fourth Street, later Main Street, and the new school opened for the 1897 school year.