Breaking ground this Summer at Mill Creek Elementary School will be a new two-story building housing 16 new classrooms.  The state-of-the-art facility will feature the latest in classroom technology and a flexible design plan that allows for functional breakout spaces.  The building is slated for completion in Spring 2011.

The expansion comes just in time.  Enrollment at A-rated Mill Creek Elementary now tops 1,000 students. The school grew faster than any other in the St. Johns County School District this past school year.  Explains Mill Creek Elementary Principal Mary Ford, “Parents seek out St. Johns County for its top-rated schools and that includes Mill Creek. We expect growth to continue in the North St. Johns County area and we’re planning accordingly.” 

Designed by Schenkel Shultz Architecture, the new building design was vetted by a diverse group of teachers, administrators, parents, school board professionals and design professionals. The result will be a customized two-story elementary house (based on district prototypes) that best meets the needs of the students, school and site.  

Mill Creek Elementary is located at 3750 International Golf Parkway and serves students who live in Kensington, Murabella, Palencia, Sevilla, Sumara Lakes and other nearby residential areas. The school’s long history started in 1879 when the original Mill Creek School was built of logs. When fire destroyed the log building, a second schoolhouse was erected in 1893. In the early days, teachers boarded with local families.

In 1914, a third schoolhouse was built. It was a one-room, one-teacher school heated by a wood-burning stove. The only source of water for this building was a hand pump in the school yard. A fourth building, erected in 1928, contained six classrooms, an auditorium, principal’s office, and an outside water fountain. Children brought sandwiches and ate them in a classroom where a big pot of soup was prepared daily. In the 1930’s, the children grew some of the vegetables for the soup in a garden outside. Electricity came to Mill Creek in 1948.

Mill Creek Elementary’s current building was open for the 1991-1992 school year. A 10-classroom wing was added in 2000 and relocatables have been added as needed.