What's in a name?

McLane Middle School

Eldridge McLane was its longest-serving principal, almost 34 years. He started when it was Brandon School.

By MICHELLE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 21, 2003

McLane Middle School was named after Eldridge Franklin McLane, the school's longest-serving principal. He served as principal at the school for almost 34 years, dating back to when it was called Brandon School.

The school was renamed McLane Junior High in 1972 when Brandon High School was built. McLane was converted to a middle school in 1997.

Dick Stowers, a successful Brandon businessman, who graduated from Brandon School in 1947, remembers that McLane paddled the boys and read the Bible to the girls for discipline.

Mr. McLane came to Brandon following a tour of duty in France during World War I and after graduating from the University of Florida in 1921 with a degree in education. He met and married his wife, Laura, in 1923. McLane's career took him to Palatka and Lake City before he came to Tampa to teach in the late 1920s.

He became principal at Brandon School in 1930. He also served as the dean of boys and girls and as a counselor. He taught part time until 1936.

McLane was a third-generation Floridian who grew up on a farm in Greensboro, in Gadsden County. His expertise was in history, literature and religion, said his son Ted McLane, an attorney in Largo. McLane died in 1970, but his legacy endures at the middle school at 306 N Knights Ave.