The school at Cootes Store was one of the early consolidated schools in the county. Prior to 1913, students in the area of Cootes Store in Plains District were educated at four one-room schools: Glass (Pleasant View) to the south, Mountain Dale to the north, Valley to the east, and Chimney Rock to the west. All of these buildings were very old and in a poor state of repair. In early 1913, the Plains District School Board sought land at Cootes Store to build a two-room school which would consolidate these small schools. On May 17, 1913, a deed for two acres of land was conveyed to the Plains District Board by C. S. Estep and others and, at a meeting of the board on June 10, 1913, the following notation was made:
"If title for land for Cootes Store building is approved in time, the clerk is ordered to advertise for bids for erection of a two-room building on the lot, bids to be opened second Tuesday of July, 1913." Apparently the title was approved because on July 8, 1913, bids were opened and the contract was awarded to M. K. Sandy of Broadway for a building to be built at a cost of $1498. Construction began almost immediately and, on October 7, the school board inspected and accepted the completed building. W. A. Flick, who had previously been assigned to Mountain Dale and Annie Bowman, who had previously been assigned to Glass school were assigned to the new school at Cootes Store. In the 1914 History of Rockingham County Schools, the following information about Cootes Store is given:
"This school, in charge of Mr. W. A. Flick as principal and Miss Annie Bowman, assistant, has an enrollment of 80; and does work from the primary to the eighth grade. The school is still in its infancy, this being its first year of existence. Circumstances are such as we call for an addition of two rooms with a more advanced grade". Apparently the addition was built immediately because Cootes Store had three teachers for it second year, 1914-15. In the 1930s the school dropped back to a two-teacher school but returned to a three-teacher school in the late 1940s.

Teachers who taught at Cootes Store:

1913-14 W. A. Flick, Annie Bowman
1914-15 Annie Bowman, Effie Dove, Bertha Bowman
1915-16 Bertha Bare, Effie Dove, Bertha Bowman
1916-17 Ouida Wood, Effie Dove, Bertha Bowman
1917-18 Effie Dove, Dora Turner, Stella Hulvey
1918-19 Edwinia Furry, Beulah Geil, Stella Hulvey
1919-20 Edwinia Furry, Dora Turner, Evelyn M. Witt
1920-21 Mary Gochenour, Dora Turner, Grace Dove
1921-22 Mary Gochenour, Emily Baker, Grace Dove
1922-23 Mary Trumbo, Lela Pennington, Hazel Ball
1923-25 (two sessions) C. C. Turner, Lela Pennington, Mrs. C. C. Turner
1925-26 C. C.Turner, Ethel Hoover, Mrs. C. C. Turner
1926-27 A. J. Thomas, Ethel Hoover, Hazel Hillyard
1927-28 C. C. Turner, Ethel Hoover, Hazel Hillyard
1928-29 C. C. Turner, Flemmie E. Brown
1929-30 Zach Turner, Charlotte Hillyard
1930-36 (six sessions) Zach Turner, Charlotte Hillyard, Flemmie Brown
1936-47 (eleven sessions) Flemmie Brown, Charlotte Hillyard (Litten)
1947-48 Flemmie Brown, Marie W. Good
1948-49 Edna Turner, Marie W. Good
1949-50 Edna Turner, Marie Crider, Marie W. Good
1950-53 (three sessions) Edna Turner, Lois May, Marie W. Good

The school at Cootes Store closed at the end of the 1952-53 session.

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