During the 1800’s, the Linden community’s school house stood next to the Linden Mill Building on Main Street. The first grist mill, built in 1840, burned and was rebuilt about the same time the Union Block stood in what is now downtown, with L.B. Hyatt constructing both projects. His wife, Frances Hyatt, also known as Aunt Fannie, taught school and persuaded her husband and many other residents to move the school to S. Bridge Street. In 1871, the entire school building at the new site on S. Bridge Street was built by the people of the town without taxes or mills. Labor was donated, lumber and timbers came from the area where Linden Elementary School sits today, mortar for the bricks was made at the Linden Mill, and the bricks were manufactured at the site where 603 W. Broad Street, also known as McDonalds, is located today. The first school house had eight rooms and eight teachers, and it served the community for 40 years. In 1901, as the community grew, an addition to the structure on S. Bridge Street provided four more classrooms through the hard work of the community. In 1930, the community passed a millage to build a needed two and a half story addition that greatly changed the building’s historic ambiance, adding a gymnasium, boys’ and girls’ shower rooms, a cafeteria area, and indoor bathrooms with indoor plumbing. The money for this work was raised at the height of the Great Depression, and the addition served the community until the mid-1970’s, when it was converted to administrative offices for the Linden School District. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 for its historic significance as a central gathering place for community activities, events, and elections. During the 1950's, the community acquired additional land south of W. Broad Street for an athletic field and recreational areas, raising the money through volunteers and filling previously low, swampy ground with soil. In 2002, the Linden School Administrator and Board members chose to demolish the building and sell the athletic fields and adjoining land to a private developer despite opposition from many community members. Some bricks from the former building were salvaged for a nearby decorative planter, including four glazed yellow blocks from the gymnasium and red bricks in an upright soldier course from the exterior walls.