In 1867, the American Missionary Association of Albany, N.Y., established a freedman’s school in a small building on West South Street. By 1869, funds had been raised to erect this Italianate-influenced two-story frame building next door named the Washington School. Raleigh established its public school system in 1875 and acquired the Washington building in 1880. The formerly private school was reorganized as a public elementary school for black children.
Raleigh built its first public high school for white students in 1905, while Shaw University and Saint Augustine’s College offered secondary education for black students. In 1916, when both Shaw and Saint Augustine’s discontinued their high schools, instruction for African-Americans transferred to Washington. To accommodate the increased attendance, several rooms were added to the 47-year-old structure.
In 1923 the Raleigh school board hired Atlanta architect Christopher Gadsden Sayre to design a new Washington High School on the southern extension of Fayetteville Street. Old Washington School, a long-time landmark in Raleigh’s African-American community, was demolished a few years after it closed. Later the property was used for commercial purposes and was ultimately taken over by urban renewal in the early 1970s.