Public elementary and secondary schools, Schools and educational services, nec, nec, Religious school
Santa Rosa Christian School
SRCS History Santa Rosa Christian School was founded in 1962, by Dayton and Carolyn Hobbs. Dayton Hobbs, a native of Bagdad, Florida was founder and pastor of the Gospel Tabernacle located in the renovated Odd Fellows Hall on Forsyth Street. In addition, the Hobbs were well known as teachers and administrators in the public schools of Santa Rosa County. The year 1962 brought the landmark Supreme Court Ruling that prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. A year later, the Supreme Court would rule that public Bible reading in the public schools was unconstitutional. Over the years, the Hobbs had witnessed the increasing hostility to Bible reading and evangelism in the public schools. They knew that they could no longer stay within the school system and be active witnesses for Christ. After much prayer and seeking after the Lord's guidance, the Hobbs stepped out in faith and pioneered a brand new work. In the fall of 1962, in the tiny hamlet of Bagdad, Florida, the first Christian private school in Santa Rosa County opened its doors. Using the upstairs Sunday school classrooms of the Gospel Tabernacle, Pastor Hobbs, his wife Carolyn, and two ladies, Alice Ann Smith and Joyce Steadham served as the first faculty of a student body of forty children. Santa Rosa Christian School began to grow. The first year had forty students, the second year doubled to nearly eighty. In 1964 the school had grown to 120 students and by the following fall term, the enrollment reached 240. Portable classrooms had been added to the church to accommodate the children but soon there was no room to expand. In the fall of 1965, property was purchased at the present location of the school on Chestnut Street in Milton. At that time, the land was nothing but forest. However, after a year of clearing land and building, students filed into the main educational facility for opening day of school in the fall of 1967. One by one, buildings began to rise from the sandy soil and by 1974 all of the structures that are in use today were completed. Ninety acres of land with baseball and soccer fields, a junior-Olympic size swimming pool, a gymnasium and bathhouse facility, and three playgrounds are available to the students who attend. The campus, the facilities, and the faculty and staff of Santa Rosa Christian School are a testament to the providence and provision of God. To God be the Glory! Great Things He Hath Done!
