Dallas Graded and High School
Why it's listed
Dallas Graded and High School, later called the Church Street School, is a two-story red brick building on a 0.93-acre site at 300 West Church Street in Dallas, North Carolina. Commissioned by the Gaston County Board of Education in 1923, it opened for classes on September 1, 1924, with 362 students. It served as a consolidation center for several smaller schools in the area. The T-plan building has a raised basement, a flat roof with a brick parapet, and a porticoed central entrance with a pediment. Decorative brickwork with cast stone diamonds on the east elevation hints at Art Deco influence. A seven-bay addition was built in 1951, and a separate gymnasium followed in 1939. The school is significant for its role in the consolidation movement and the growth of public education in Gaston County, and as a well-preserved example of 1920s civic school architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1924 to 1952. The building is now vacant.
Significance in brief: The school is tied to the school consolidation movement of the late 1910s and 1920s, which merged small rural schools into larger ones with shared resources. It represents advances in public education in Gaston County and is an intact example of the Classical Revival schools built across the state in the 1920s.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 02000441, listed May 2, 2002. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 300 W. Church St., Dallas |
|---|---|
| County | Gaston County |
| Listed | May 2, 2002 |
| Reference number | 02000441 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1924-1952 |
| Architect / builder | McMichael, architect |
| Architectural style | Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Revivals: Classical Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Current function is listed as vacant, not in use. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 35.31466, -81.17922 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 02000441.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q18705873
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.