Main High School

Main High School is a hillside campus in Rome, Georgia, built to serve the city's African-American students. Its oldest surviving building is a one-story, red brick Colonial Revival classroom building from 1934, enlarged in 1938-39 with an auditorium and two classrooms designed by Atlanta architect Odis Clay Poundstone. Between 1955 and 1963 the city added six flat-roofed International Style buildings, including a gymnasium, a 1958 high school and elementary school buildings, to relieve chronic overcrowding. The campus was the only public school available to Rome's Black students for about 75 years. It is distinguished from many segregated schools in Georgia because it taught a complete academic curriculum, including English, history, science, math and music, rather than vocational skills alone. Rome's schools began desegregating in 1966, and Main High School closed in 1969. Seven buildings contribute to the district, and four later buildings do not. The campus keeps a high level of historic integrity and is still used for education-related purposes.