The first school (pictured at the top) was called Barker's Chapel. On Sunday it was used for religious services. It served Hixson for twenty years in the 1800's. It held about twenty students who used rough hewn benches, a pot bellied stove, tin dinner pails, a waterbucket and dipper.

By the 1880's several log cabin schools were operating in the area. The John Hixson School, The Sara Arnett Johnson Boarding School and the Gann School. Land was donated by Ephriam and Maragaret Hixson to build a quality larger school and the "Hixson School" was built from materials salvaged from the old courthouse at Dallas. Which was near what is now Chester Frost Park.

With the turn of the century, the Hixson School located on Old Hixson pike was overcrowded and a new structure was built at the current site of Hixson Middle in 1908 (pictured bottom). The cost of this building was $12,500 and was the first school in Hamilton County to offer High School coursework. It housed 135 students, 3 teachers and 12 grades. Students came from miles around and had no school provided transportation service. The first commencement was held in 1909.