Vintage postcard of the Ashburn School. The building burned in the 1960s.

Location: Gilmore Street in Ashburn, Georgia
Date: 1947

This was the site of the city’s high school when high school trustees purchased land for that purpose in 1899 for $500. The school building was designed by Peter E. Dennis in 1899. It consisted of two wings in an irregular floor plan, with one wing being two stories in height to accommodate an auditorium. The building was damaged by a fire in 1955 and the wing’s second floor was removed. In 1954, an entrance connection was added between the two wings, and in 1956 (cafeteria and lunchroom constructed) and 1962 (addition to lunchroom), other additions were made. The non-historic gymnasium behind the building dates from 1949. The 1941 Board of Education building (the original building was an agricultural building) has been extremely altered and is noncontributing. The school building housed Ashburn’s entire school system from 1914 into the 1960s.

There are several articles in the Ashburn Advance about the building of the school but one of note said the following:

“Work on the proposed new $5,000 school building must begin before May 1st [1899], or the gift of the handsome 5-acre tract of land upon which it is proposed to locate the same will not be realized, the donation being made on that condition. Our people should arouse from their lethargy and see to it that work begins before that time. Our growing little city demands a better school building, and right now is the opportune time to begin work on the same.”

Ashburn Advance edition April 22, 1899

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