South River Elementary School opened in the fall of 1994 as a consolidation of the schools at Port Republic and Grottoes, an idea that had originated back in 1914 when Superintendent George Hulvey first made a proposal to built a consolidated school similar to schools that had recently been built at Bridgewater, Dayton, Linville-Edom and Timberville. Opposition from both communities to losing their school prevented the implementation of the consolidation proposal. By the late 1980s, the schools at Grottoes and Port Republic both needed replacing. The school at Grottoes dated from 1926 and the school at Port Republic had been hastily constructed in 1950 and was showing its age. The idea of a consolidation was again proposed and, this time, received little resistance. Using a design similar to that used at Lacey Spring, the new school was constructed at the northern edge of Grottoes. Gary A. Shell, who had served as principal at Grottoes since 1971 was named the first principal at South River. During the 1993-94 school year, while the new building was being constructed, Mr. Shell served as principal at both Port Republic and Grottoes. Mr. Shell retired in 1999 and Dawn Neumann was appointed principal, a position she held for two years. Mark Keeler, who had served as assistant principal, was appointed as the new principal at South River in May of 2001.

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