The commission for Raleigh’s Centennial Graded School was awarded to architect Samuel Sloan on August 1, 1883, and construction began in November. After Sloan’s death in 1884, the project was completed by his associate A. G. Bauer in 1885. The public school opened in 1876—thus the name—in the old Governor’s Palace (see James Calder) that stood in a prominent position “at the foot of Fayetteville Street.” Notable as an early graded school in the state, Centennial encompassed primary grades through high school. It marked the beginnings of Raleigh’s public school system. After the Governor’s Palace was torn down, the new school was built in 1883-1885, reusing bricks from the previous building. The 1880s school was razed in 1931 and replaced by Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium (see Atwood and Weeks). See Harold N. Cooledge, Jr., “Samuel Sloan, Architect of Philadelphia” (1986); William B. Bushong, “A. G. Bauer, North Carolina’s New South Architect” (1983); and Murray and Johnson, “Wake: Capital County of North Carolina, Vol. II: Reconstruction to 1920” (2008).