{"nrhp_refnum":"10001110","name":"Perry School (Additional Documentation)","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2226 Laurel Mill-Centerville Road.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Centerville","county":"Franklin County","state":"NC","lat":36.19166984750004,"lon":-78.12609852968643,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Black","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural African American school campus in Centerville, Franklin County, North Carolina, with a 1941 frame Colonial Revival school, a 1949 concrete block wing, a 1952 modernist brick high school, and a 1963 gymtorium.","why_significant":"The school served African American students in Franklin County from 1941 until it closed in 1968 under court-ordered integration. It is one of a few intact Jim Crow-era schools in the county. Its 1941 building is a Colonial Revival example based on a Rosenwald Fund plan, and its 1952 high school reflects mid-century modernist school design.","narrative":"Perry School is a school campus in rural northeast Franklin County, North Carolina, built to educate African American children. The county constructed the 1941 frame Colonial Revival building with Public Works Administration funds after a fire destroyed an earlier Rosenwald school on the site. Its design follows the Rosenwald Fund's Nashville Plan for a six-teacher school with auditorium, and M. Stuart Davis served as supervising architect. A 1949 concrete block wing and a 1952 one-story modernist brick high school, designed by the Raleigh firm Holloway, Weber, and Reeves, were added as enrollment grew. A gymtorium followed in 1963 after years of parent urging. The campus is significant for its role in African American education and social history, as one of few intact Jim Crow-era schools in the county. It closed in 1968 when a lawsuit led the county to integrate its schools. It also illustrates how school architecture shifted from Colonial Revival to modernism. The Perry's School Alumni acquired it in 2006.","period_of_significance":"1941-1968","architect_builder":"Marion Stuart Davis (Architect); Holloway-Reeves (Architect); Holloway, Weber, and Reeves (Architect)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival and Modern Movement","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The Franklin County Board of Education sold the property in 2006 to the Perry's School Alumni; the school closed in 1968.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.702883-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7203/47720344/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/10001110.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720344","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18640019"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/franklin-county/perry-school-additional-documentation-10001110/"}