Community Developments

View more photos of the property.

At the Virginia Department of Historic Resources March 16 meeting, the William Byrd High School nomination was approved, placing the property on the Virginia Landmarks Register. The next step is for the National Park Service to approve the site for the National Register of Historic Places. This is expected to occur within the next 90 days.

Excerpts from the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form:

“The William Byrd High School Historic District consists of the main building, two annexes, several secondary resources, and the associated parking and athletic field areas. The school complex sits atop a steep hill on the outskirts of the Town of Vinton, Roanoke County, on a large, nearly eighteen-acre site at the west corner of Gus Nicks Boulevard and Highland Road. It was built to replace several smaller, short-lived high school buildings and is easily the most prominent building in Vinton. William Byrd High School was designed by Eubank and Caldwell, an architecture firm based in Roanoke, and served as the only high school in Vinton until it was replaced in 1970 by a new high school of the same name, located just outside of town. 

“Built in 1933, the large, two-story Classical Revival-inspired rectangular masonry building was constructed with a large basement and brick exterior cladding. There is a later auditorium addition on the west end of the school and a gymnasium added to the eastern end. The district’s period of significance stretches from the school’s initial construction date of 1933 to 1969, the final year it was used as an integrated high school.

“The William Byrd High School Historic District is significant at the local level in the area of Social History for its prominent role as a social center for the Vinton community for more than a generation as well as its role in the completion of school integration in Roanoke County. As part of Progressive Era reforms, schools were consolidated and, aside from educational objectives, an important goal was to create centers for local events and gathering points for the entire community, which often didn’t previously have a comparable facility. These facilities would be used for community organizations such as the Raritan’s, local commercial board meetings, or community fundraisers. School auditoriums and gymnasiums would serve the entire town and high schools became multi-generational points of community pride and organization.

“This was demonstrated most clearly by the Vinton Dogwood Festival. Bands, floats, and the Dogwood Queen entertained 10,000 people as they marched down Washington Street and ended up at William Byrd High School followed by the festival dance in the gymnasium. Separately, the final five years when William Byrd served as a high school saw it desegregated and it became the high school for the entire Vinton community for a brief time, before the construction of a larger, integrated William Byrd High School in 1969. The Roanoke County Schools system began desegregation in 1962 and completed the process by 1966, two years ahead of schedule. This school served as the most important social building in town for almost four decades as well as witnessing the culmination of the consolidation era and the completion of school integration.”