Ocala's Eighth Street Elementary turns 100 this month, making it the oldest school in continuous use in the state.

Teachers have been centering lessons and projects around the school's history leading up to a Centennial Celebration Saturday.                    

A cornerstone of the brick building remains from when it opened in 1914 as Ocala High School. It became an elementary school in 1965.

 “Our school opened with no electricity. There were no electric lights until the late 1920s," current Principal John McCollum explained. "It was also interesting to find out we didn’t have air conditioning until the late 1970s.”

Students have been assembling photos and collecting report cards dating as far back as the 1930s as they prepare for the celebration. Some were shocked to find out the modern amenities students 100 years ago did without.

“There were no smart boards. They worked everything out by hand. They didn’t use computers,” nine-year-old Peighton LaBaugh explained.

After being built at a price tag of just over $46,000 the school underwent a $2.6 million renovation in 2000, the same year it was placed on the National Registry for Historic Buildings.

Both students and faculty are proud of the school’s history being passed down from generations.

“To know it was the oldest school in Florida made you feel like you were really special,” LaBaugh said.

“It just gives a little more meaning to being a principal on a campus that’s been here so long," McCollum said. "Many quality leaders have either come through our hallways or served as principals of this school.”

McCollum plans to retire at the end of the year, meaning another name will be added to its long list of leaders.

The Centennial Celebration is at Eighth Street Elementary in Ocala at 9 a.m. Saturday. Florida’s Commissioner of Education is scheduled to attend. Anyone who attended the school the past 100 years or knows people who did will then be free to have a look around until noon.