Built 1941 VLR # 253-0070 Opened 1941 Added to NRHP 24 September 1992 | NRHP Reference # 92001274 Designated VLR October 8, 1991 Area 4 ha | |
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Built by Taylor Manufacturing Co. Architectural style Colonial Revival architecture Similar Thomas Balch Library, Morven Park, The Marshall House, The National Conferen | ||
Douglass High School was built in 1941 in what was then a rural area just outside Leesburg, Virginia as the first high school for African-American students in Loudoun County. The school was built on land purchased by the black community and donated to the county. It was the only high school for African-American students until the end of segregation in Loudoun County in 1968.
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Description
Douglass High School is a one-story brick building, originally of 9,400 square feet (870 m2). The plan is centered on a commons area that functioned as a gymnasium, cafeteria and auditorium, flanked by two classrooms on either side. Large windows light and ventilate the spaces. A large stage area is directly opposite the main entrance, which opens directly into the commons area from a vestibule. Classrooms were added on the rear of the building, followed by a gymnasium in 1960. A vocational wing lies to the west.
History
Until 1941, the only secondary educational facility available to African-American students in Loudoun County was the upper level of the Loudoun County Training School. The frame structure offered a limited curriculum in an unsafe building. During the late 1930s the black community in Loudoun County organized fundraiser events to purchase 8 acres (3.2 ha) of land on the east side of Leesburg from W.S. Gibbons. The property was conveyed to Loudoun County for $1 on December 16, 1940. After threats of legal action, the school board approved a measure to borrow $30,000 from the State Literary Fund of Virginia to build the school. A bid from the Taylor Manufacturing Company of Farmville, Virginia was approved for $35,438. The school opened in September 1941. The school was named for African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass at the request of the community organizers. Since a bare minimum of furnishings were provided by the county, more private donations were sought to more fully furnish the school. With desegregation in 1968 the building became a middle school, then a special education and alternative school.
Douglass High School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 24, 1992.