Happy Friday!
In Fact Friday 11, we highlighted Garinger as the oldest high school in the city, originally founded as Charlotte High School in 1908/09 on the campus where Central Piedmont Community College stands today. But Bain Academy, now known as Bain Elementary School in Mint Hill, was founded in 1889 and is now celebrating its 130th anniversary, making it the oldest continuously-used school in Mecklenburg County! It's also rumored to be the county's first graded school.
Originally funded by John Bain in conjunction with Philadelphia Church, the school was turned over to Mecklenburg County in 1922.
In 1924, architect Louis Asbury was commissioned to redesign the school. Asbury was one of Charlotte’s and North Carolina’s leading architects of the 1910s and 1920s, designing several prominent, award-winning Charlotte buildings, like the Mecklenburg County Courthouse and Myers Park United Methodist Church.
The result was the two-story brick building that sits on the corner of Bain School Road across from Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. The building consists of a 300-seat auditorium and two classrooms. Up until seven or eight years ago, portions of the building were still in use by Bain Elementary School.
Until next week!
Chris.
Email me at chris@704shop.com if you have interesting Charlotte facts you’d like to share or just to provide feedback!
Information taken from:
UNC Charlotte Special Collections on Instagram: @unccspeccoll
The Mint Hill Times, "Saving Historic Bain Academy," by Mary Beth Foster, July 2017.
“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass