{"nrhp_refnum":"05000962","name":"Mars Hill High School","other_names":["Mars Hill School","Mars Hill Elementary School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"734 Bailey St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mars Hill","county":"Madison County","state":"NC","lat":35.835017838000056,"lon":-82.55232317799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story native stone school building at 734 Bailey Street in Mars Hill, Madison County, North Carolina, built by the Works Progress Administration between 1936 and 1938 and designed by the Asheville firm S. Grant Alexander and Associates.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant under Criterion A in education as an example of a consolidated school built under New Deal building programs. It is also significant under Criterion C as an intact WPA-built Rustic Revival stone school, the largest facility built in the county's late 1930s building campaign.","narrative":"Mars Hill High School is a one-story native stone building on a ridge top at 734 Bailey Street, northwest of Mars Hill College. The Works Progress Administration built it between 1936 and 1938, using local workers, field rock and horse-hauled stone. Asheville architects S. Grant Alexander and Associates designed it in the Rustic Revival style. The building has an L-shaped classroom block with a stepped parapet and round-arched entrances, plus a gymnasium wing with stone pilasters and steel bowstring trusses. Its exterior has changed little since construction. It served high school students until 1973, then middle and elementary students until a new elementary school opened in 2001. Today the gymnasium is still used by elementary students, and the classrooms hold offices, storage and after-school programs. The school was recognized for its role as a consolidated school built under New Deal programs and as the largest facility from Madison County's late 1930s WPA building campaign. The period of significance runs from 1938 to 1955.","period_of_significance":"1938-1955","architect_builder":"S. Grant Alexander & Associates, architect","architectural_style":"Other: Rustic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Apart from the gymnasium, which elementary students still use, the building is no longer used by students; the classrooms serve as offices, storage and after-school programs.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:53.018628-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/63/7211/47721163/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/05000962.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000962/3c5d53515f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000962/3c5d53515f-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Mars_Hill_High_School,_Mars_Hill,_NC_(39716791883).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Mars_Hill_High_School,_Mars_Hill,_NC_(39716791883).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721163","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Hill_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19817691"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/madison-county/mars-hill-high-school-05000962/"}