{"nrhp_refnum":"04000847","name":"Nansemond County Training School","other_names":["Southwestern High School","133-5065"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"9307 Southwestern Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Suffolk (Independent City)","county":"Suffolk","state":"VA","lat":36.639605052000036,"lon":-76.80410397199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Black","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick school building with a partial basement and a wood-frame cafeteria building at 9307 Southwestern Boulevard, Suffolk, Virginia. The main school was built in 1924 for the African American community of southwestern Suffolk.","why_significant":"It was built as the first public black high school in Nansemond County and was partly funded by the Julius Rosenwald Fund. It is significant under Criterion A for serving the county's African American population and its Rosenwald association, and under Criterion C for retaining substantial architectural integrity as an example of rural southern school architecture.","narrative":"Built in 1924, this brick school in Suffolk, Virginia, served the African American community of southwestern Nansemond County. It was a six-teacher school with a central auditorium, a recessed porch and two classroom wings, closely resembling a Rosenwald school plan, though with a hipped tin roof. Construction cost $18,000, drawn from community contributions, public funds and $1,500 from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. It became the county's first black high school and was certified by the state in 1931. Students studied academic subjects, home economics and agriculture, and its students won national judging contests in the late 1930s. Parents bought the first school bus in 1939. A 1950 addition provided classroom space, and a newer school was built beside it in the 1950s. The complex was renamed Southwestern High School in 1964 and closed as a high school after 1969-70. The old building now stands vacant, retaining much of its original layout, windows and tile floor, along with a wood-frame cafeteria building.","period_of_significance":"1924-1955","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The historic school building sits vacant and is used occasionally for storage. It is in slight disrepair, with boarded exterior windows and a buckling floor.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.92401-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/6789/41678954/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/04000847.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000847/fba926674a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000847/fba926674a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nansemond_County_Training_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nansemond_County_Training_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678954","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansemond_County_Training_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895691"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/suffolk/nansemond-county-training-school-04000847/"}