Editing Pittman Center, Tennessee (section)

===The Pittman Community Center===
[[File:Pittman-community-center-tn1.gif|thumb|right|Pittman Community Center in 1938]]

In 1910, a survey of Tennessee found Sevier County to be most in need of educational facilities.<ref>Pearl Cashell Jackson, ''Pi Beta Phi Settlement School'' (University of Texas, 1927), 14.</ref>  In spite of the establishment of a [[settlement school]] in Gatlinburg by the [[Pi Beta Phi]] fraternity in 1912, education in the region was still appallingly lacking. To help remedy this situation, Dr. John Burnett, a [[Methodist]] minister who visited the Smokies in 1919, envisioned the establishment a large-scale school in the area that would operate with virtually no tuition rates. Later that year, the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] endorsed Burnett's plan at its annual meeting, and with the help of Reverend Eli Pittman of [[Elmira, New York]], Burnett secured $15,000 for the project. In 1920, Burnett purchased Garfield Scott's farm just above the confluence of Webb Creek and the Middle Fork of the Little Pigeon River. This {{convert|135|acre|km2|adj=on}} plot of land would become the core of the new school's campus.<ref name="Margaret Ann Roth 1977">Margaret Ann Roth, "Pittman Center," ''Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter'' 3, no. 4 (September 1977): 5.</ref>

In late 1920, Burnett's new settlement school, which he named "Pittman Community Center" in honor of Reverend Pittman, opened with an enrollment of 100.<ref name="Brief History of Pittman Center">[http://www.pittmancentertn.com/history.html Brief History of Pittman Center]. Pittman Center Official Website. Retrieved: August 10, 2007.</ref>  The school eventually expanded to include {{convert|1500|acre|km2}}, 15 buildings, and 240 students operating on an annual budget of $9,000. The buildings included a general store, post office, and a small hospital. The Pittman School supported itself by canning tomatoes and growing apples, with students doing all the maintenance work.<ref name="Margaret Ann Roth 1977"/>

In 1955, the Sevier County Board of Education purchased the Pittman School, and the school was combined with the [[Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts|Pi Beta Phi High School]] in Gatlinburg to form Gatlinburg-Pittman High School in 1963.   The only building remaining from the Pittman school is the Home Economics building, which the Methodist Episcopal Church gave to the town after its incorporation for use as its city hall.<ref name="Margaret Ann Roth 1977"/><ref name="Brief History of Pittman Center"/>  In 1996, the building was placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].