The now-demolished Greenbrier High School consisted of two distinct properties in Ronceverte, West Virginia.
The first district school, a white-only one-room schoolhouse, was constructed on Greenbrier Avenue in 1875. 3 It was replaced with a more substantial brick school for white children on a different site in 1882. The original building was re-purposed for the town’s first school for black children. In 1887, the Maple Grove Colored School, a two-story facility, was built and the county’s graded school system was instituted a year later.
The Ronceverte High School was established in 1896. 1
On January 24, 1917, a new two-story, Neo-Classical Revival-style complex was constructed on Ronceverte Avenue (today’s Academy Avenue) for the Fort Spring District. 1
It was replaced with a two-story, Neo-Classical Revival-style building on Ronceverte Avenue in 1923. 3 The original high school was reused as an elementary school.
A fire in the men’s locker room, on January 31, 1938, necessitated the reconstruction of the high school. 1 A $99,000 bond issue passed and a new two-story school, designed in the classical revival architectural style and constructed of yellow brick with concrete embellishments, opened.
Consolidation of the county’s high schools resulted in the construction of Greenbrier East High School and the closure of Greenbrier High School in the fall of 1968. 1 The high school building was reused as Greenbrier Junior High School until the fall of 1992. 2
Both school buildings were demolished in 2017.
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Sources
- “2012 Commerative Ornament Offered for Sale – Main Street Ronceverte.” 2012 Commerative Ornament Offered for Sale. Ronceverte Development Corporation, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Article.
- Wright, Jonathan. “Officials Propose Closing Bolling-Lewisburg School.” Mountain Messenger 21 Jan. 1992. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. Article.
- United States. Dept. of the Interior. Ronceverte Historic District. Comp. David L. Taylor. Washington: National Park Service, Aug. 2004. West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. Article.
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Add Yours →[…] Ronceverte’s hay days may have begun and ended with the timber industry, but the town didn’t wither away because of the railroad and a diversified economy. Many of its intricate historic structures were built in the 1910s and 1920s, such as the old Greenbrier High School. […]
Your photos and locations are off. Ronceverte Elementary WAS on Academy Street. Greenbrier High School was on Ronceverte Avenue and became Greenbrier Jr High when county high schools were consolidated.
The school was demolished late last year
can anyone give me some more information about the former Greenbrier High School? Was it ever called, Fort Spring High School? My e-mail address is kibmeister@casinternet.net
Thanks
I wish they could have save them instead of tearing them down…. They should have someone gone inside to take picture of them before tearing them down and I would love to been that person….. I wanted to write a story about both school. And had it published someday.. But that going to happen now:(
I went to elementary school there. Love that school many good memories there .
It is such a shame that a piece of our city’s history, and mine for that matter, is sitting up there crumbling away. I attended that school in the early ’90s and it was a fun time in my life. I loved every single teacher from K-6. I hate to see it go, to be honest.
Such a shame a piece of our history is now more or less falling in around it’s self..i attended GJHS in the 80’s…. It was by far the best school days I remember.
This is Ronceverte Elementary–not Greenbrier High School.