{"nrhp_refnum":"99000813","name":"Cool Springs High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"382 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Forest City","county":"Rutherford County","state":"NC","lat":35.33863900800003,"lon":-81.86604569799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-07-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story-on-basement Classical Revival brick school building at 382 West Main Street, Forest City, Rutherford County, North Carolina, designed by Louis Humbert Asbury and completed in 1925.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an intact example of a 1920s consolidated township high school, built after a 1924 local vote during North Carolina's school consolidation movement. It is also noted for its well-preserved interior, including the auditorium, gymnasium and original restroom fixtures, and for its Classical Revival design.","narrative":"Cool Springs High School is a large, T-shaped brick school at 382 West Main Street in Forest City, North Carolina. Designed by architect Louis Humbert Asbury and finished in 1925, it rises two stories over a basement and is detailed in the Classical Revival style, with a four-column Tuscan portico, cast-stone trim and decorative brickwork. It sits on a site long used for education, including a private academy founded in the 1870s. The school came out of the consolidation movement in North Carolina, after Cool Springs Township voters approved a special tax in 1924 to build a consolidated high school. Students first entered the building in September 1925, and it served as a school for seventy-two academic years. Inside, the plan and finishes remain largely intact, including classrooms, the library, a basement gymnasium, an auditorium and original restroom stalls and fixtures. Only the window sash and some restroom conversions are notable changes. The property is now used for storage.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Louis Humbert Asbury (architect); H. A. Kistler (contractor)","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a school from 1925-1926 to 1997-1998; current use is listed as education/storage. The interior survives little altered, and the window sash was replaced in 1983.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:52.703416-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7221/47722182/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/99000813.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000813/435f5fa4c8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000813/435f5fa4c8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cool_Springs_High_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cool_Springs_High_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722182","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Springs_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19866071"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/rutherford-county/cool-springs-high-school-99000813/"}