Oak Ridge Military Academy Alumni Hall
1914
NC 150 at NC 68, Oak Ridge, NC
Standing
Educational
H. McKelden Smith, Architectural Resources: An Inventory of Historic Architecture, High Point, Jamestown, Gibsonville, Guilford County (1979).
The long, 15-bay façade of the brick building centers on a full-height Ionic portico. The centerpiece of the campus, it was built to replace a major building that had burned early in 1914 and was built to be “as fire-proof as can be made unless constructed of cement and iron.” The private preparatory school was begun before the Civil War, closed during the war, and reopened in 1866. Offering “literary” and “commercial” coursework, the Oak Ridge Institute saw growth and substantial new construction in 1880s and subsequent decades. In 1917 it became a military school and became known as the Oak Ridge Military Academy. The building is shown at the center of the postcard.