Historic Schools of Huntington Trail

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1. Buffington Elementary School (1898-1976)

Huntington's first school opened in 1872 to meet the needs of a growing population. The original school building was constructed at 720 4th Avenue, near the Cabell County courthouse and Huntington City Hall. In 1897, a larger school was built on 6th Street and 5th Avenue to replace it. Both buildings were named Buffington School, after one of the earliest families to settle in the Huntington area. The new Buffington School operated until 1976, when it was purchased by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Twenty years later, the John Clark Oil Company purchased the building and demolished it, making way for a gas station and convenience store.

2. Huntington High School (1916-1996) / Renaissance Center

During the first decades of the twentieth century, Huntington lacked the educational facilities to accommodate its rapidly expanding population. In response, Huntington High School was built in 1916 on the then-undeveloped south side of the city. Designed by prominent architect Versus T. Ritter, the school was an impressive example of the Neoclassical Revival style in Huntington. Although it could accommodate over one thousand students, Huntington High was overcrowded by the 1930s, leading to the construction of Huntington East High School in 1939. After nearly eighty years, Huntington High closed in 1996 when it was consolidated with Huntington East High. The old Huntington High School building sat vacant for several years before it was reopened as the Huntington Renaissance Center, a multipurpose community building. Today, the Renaissance Center houses the Phil Cline Family YMCA, performing and fine arts facilities, and residential units for senior citizens.

3. Douglass Junior and Senior High School

Constructed in 1924, Douglass Junior and Senior High School served the African American community of Huntington during the era of segregation until its closing in 1961 and now serves as the home of a variety of community organizations. This school was the second in Huntington to be named after Frederick Douglass and remained open until 1961, a reflection of both Huntington's reluctance to integrate and the Black community's desire to maintain what had become an important institution for them. As an academic, social, and cultural center for Black families in Huntington, the school had a profound and enduring impact on the city’s African American community over its seventy years. Notable graduates include Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained scholar known as the father of Black History, and NBA All-star Hal Greer, the first African American athlete at Marshall University. The building, which currently houses a community medical outreach center, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

4. The Simms School

Named after local attorney Henry Clay Simms, Simms School served the first through sixth graders of Huntington’s Fairfield West neighborhood from 1899 until its closing in 1982. In 1919, the school purchased an adjacent lot and hired architect Richard Bates to design the addition, which would become a distinctive Neoclassical structure. The school was expanded again in 1964, adding a gymnasium and a cafeteria. The school closed after the 1981-1982 school year. In 1997, it was renovated into apartments and placed on the National Register of Historic Places for the significance of its architecture. The former school, which is owned by the Huntington Housing Authority, currently holds twenty apartments for low-income residents.

5. Barnett Elementary School (1891-1960s)

During segregation, Barnett Elementary School served the African American elementary students of Huntington. Located at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Sixteenth Street (now Hal Greer Boulevard), the school originally opened in 1891 as Douglass High School, the city’s first high school for Black students. The school grew substantially over the ensuing years, from a graduating class of just three students in 1893 to an enrollment of over four hundred students in 1919. As demand grew for better educational facilities for Black students, a new Douglass High School was built on Tenth Avenue in 1925. With the construction of the new school, the old Douglass High was renamed Barnett Elementary School after the Reverend Nelson Barnett, the founder of First Baptist Church and a prominent figure in the city’s early Black community. Over the years, Barnett Elementary became a fixture in the community alongside Douglass High. While the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. Board of Education legally ended segregation in education in 1954, integration in Huntington was a slow process. Barnett Elementary ultimately closed during the 1960s, and its students were transferred to existing white schools. After sitting vacant for many years, the former Barnett Elementary was demolished in 1994.

6. St. Joseph Central Catholic High School

St. Joseph Central Catholic High School is a private secondary school in downtown Huntington, West Virginia. Father Thomas Quirk, the first Catholic priest in Cabell County, founded both the church and parochial school in the early 1870s. Originally located on 8th Avenue and 20th Street, the church and school relocated to the corner of 6th Avenue and 13th Street in 1889 under the leadership of Father John W. Werninger. By the 1920s, as the Catholic population in Huntington was rising, the church purchased a lot across from the church to become the site of a parochial high school. The high school, which was rebuilt in 1932, has been remodeled over the years, including a major modern addition in 2000.

7. Oley Elementary and Junior High School (1888-1979)

The Oley School, located on 5th Avenue at 13th Street, was one of Huntington’s first schools. Completed in 1888, the school was named in honor of General John Hunt Oley, a Union officer who moved to Huntington after the Civil War and helped establish the city’s school system. In 1904, Huntington’s first high school was built adjacent to the Oley School. The two school buildings were eventually joined together to form a single large structure. When a new high school was completed in 1916, the original high school was renamed Oley Junior High. Oley Elementary and Oley Junior High served the community for many years, but after the construction of newer buildings, both schools were both closed in 1977 and demolished two years later to make way for a hospital parking lot. The property is currently owned by St. Joseph Catholic High School.

8. Old Main, Marshall University

Now the central administration building for Marshall University, Old Main dates back to 1838 with the construction of a small, four-room brick building to house Marshall Academy. The original structure was expanded with the addition of new sections in 1856, 1870, and 1896. The 1838 and 1856 portions were demolished in 1898 to allow for the construction of a much larger building that reflected Marshall and Huntington's growth. The final, major addition to Old Main was the distinct, Gothic section built on the western side in 1907. Old Main originally housed various facilities for Marshall including dormitories, classrooms, a library, auditorium, dining hall, and chapel. Today it is home to administrative offices and spaces for certain organizations. Old Main was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

9. One-Room School Museum, Marshall University

This historic one-room schoolhouse, which houses the Ovie and Jesse Cline Museum, preserves the legacy of rural education in Appalachia. The building dates back to 1888, when it served as a schoolhouse for a rural part of Cabell County. It remained open until 1955, at a time when one-room schoolhouses across the county were closed in favor of larger, consolidated school systems. After being used as a storage shed for many years, the schoolhouse was relocated to the campus of Marshall University in 1995 thanks to the efforts of Paul Lutz, a History Department faculty member. The museum was named after the parents of Phil Cline, who attended and taught in one-room schools. The interior presents a recreation of a one-room schoolhouse, with Peabody-style desks, era-appropriate books, and a pot belly stove. The museum is open by appointment.

10. Ensign Elementary School (1904-1981)

Located at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-First Street, Ensign Elementary School served students in its East Huntington neighborhood for almost eighty years. Completed in 1904, Ensign Elementary was built to replace another school located at the corner of Third Avenue and Twenty-Second Street. The older school, which was built in 1875, had become too small to accommodate the city’s rapidly growing population. Ensign Elementary was named in honor of Ely Ensign, one of early Huntington’s most prominent business and civic leaders. Ensign was the founder of Ensign Manufacturing Company (later ACF Industries) as well as a longtime city councilman and mayor in 1896. The new school, to which an eastern wing was added in 1907, was an impressive stone and brick building with eight well-lit classrooms. Ensign Elementary was closed in 1981 and demolished a few years later to make way for Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium, which was completed in 1991.

11. Enslow Middle School (1917-2013)

Enslow Middle School (formerly Enslow Junior High School) served students on the east side of Huntington for almost a century. Erected in 1917, the building was designed by architect Verus T. Ritter and named in honor of Alice Blanche Enslow, a teacher who died tragically in an elevator accident at the old Huntington High School. Enslow Junior High became a middle school in 1989 and was the first school in West Virginia to adopt the Invitational Education model the following year. The school operated for a total of 96 years before it was consolidated with Beverly Hills Middle School to create Huntington East Middle School in 2013. The building sat vacant until 2017, when demolition began to make way for the construction of the new Highlawn Elementary School, which is slated to open for the 2020-21 school year.

12. Huntington East High School (1940-1996)

Huntington East High School served thousands of students over the more than fifty years between its construction in 1940 and the school's closing in 1996. The school was built in response to overcrowding at the old Huntington High School, which had become so severe that students had to attend in shifts. The need for two large high schools reflected Huntington’s dramatic rise in population during the early twentieth century and stood in contrast to the city’s first high school classes which were held in the prayer meeting room of a local church. After Huntington East High opened on September 26, 1940, several additions were made to the school as the student population grew and the building aged. Over those years, the Huntington East “Highlanders” became rivals with the Huntington High “Pony Express” both on and off the playing field. In 1996, the two schools were consolidated when the new Huntington High School opened. After the move, the Cabell County Board of Education relocated its offices in the former Huntington East High School.

13. West Virginia State Industrial Home for Colored Girls (1925-1956)

Located on Norway Avenue behind the current Huntington Walmart Supercenter is a vacant field that was once home to the West Virginia Industrial Home for Colored Girls. Erected in 1924, this building was home to a reform school operated by the state and located next to the West Virginia Home for Colored Children. While the Home for Colored Children served as a traditional orphanage for young children, boys who had run afoul of the law or were older and had no place to go where usually sent to the Lakin Industrial School For Colored Boys in Lakin while older girls were sent to this reform school. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation violated the 14th Amendment in Brown v. Board of Education and the reform school for girls closed two years later along with the orphanage. In the early 1960s, Marshall University acquired both the school and the orphanage and used the buildings for student housing for several decades. The land and buildings were demolished despite efforts local preservationists and are now home to a middle school.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

Historic Schools of Huntington Trail

Created by Emma Satterfield on July 29th 2020, 7:13:25 pm.

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Description

The history of education in Huntington is as old as the city itself. This tour explores the community’s historic schools, from elementary schools to Marshall University. While most of these facilities have been closed and replaced with more modern schools over the years, and many have been demolished, several remain standing today. Some, such as the old Huntington High School and Douglass Junior and Senior High School, have even been added to the National Register of Historic Places for their historic architecture and significance to the community.

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Historic Schools of Huntington Trail

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