Harrison, Richard B., School
Why it's listed
Along West Noble and South Brevard Streets on the west side of Selma, the Richard B. Harrison School campus is a cluster of mid-twentieth-century brick buildings on about seven acres. It served African American students from the late nineteenth century into the 1980s, and the surviving group dates from 1953 to 1956. The agricultural building and bricklaying shop were completed in 1953 and expanded in 1965. The gymnasium and its three-classroom wing followed in 1955, and an elementary classroom building was completed in 1956. Architects W. W. Hook and B. Atwood Skinner designed the gymnasium and the classroom building, which has a central corridor and exposed concrete rafters. The school's main 1935 building, financed under New Deal programs, was demolished in 1995. The buildings are regarded as a local example of modernist school design and as evidence of efforts to obtain facilities for African American students comparable to those of white schools in the county.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the campus is significant as an important pre-integration African American school in Johnston County and as a locally significant example of modernism applied to a public school campus. It states the period of significance as 1953 to 1970, the year county schools integrated, and invokes criteria consideration G for a property less than fifty years old.
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 12001089, listed December 26, 2012. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 605 W. Noble & 405 S. Brevard Sts., Selma |
|---|---|
| County | Johnston County |
| Listed | December 26, 2012 |
| Reference number | 12001089 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1953-1970 |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Education, Black, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The elementary school building remains unoccupied; the gymnasium is used for community basketball and houses a Head Start preschool; the agricultural building is used by the alumni association as its headquarters. |
| Acreage | 6.8 |
| Coordinates | 35.53813, -78.29103 (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.
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 12001089.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19462211
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.