From its commanding presence on a hill this Colonial Revival school overlooks much of Front Royal. Built from PWA funds, it was one of the largest schools in the region; in 2007 a new high school was built south of town. Constructed of brick instead of locally favored rubble stone, the school is composed of a two-story main block on a raised basement and similar two-story perpendicular wings attached by semihexagonal hyphens. The facade is dominated by a central, monumental portico with Doric columns and a wooden cupola with a domed belfry. In 1958, Governor J. Lindsay Almond ordered the school closed after the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) won a federal suit to admit African Americans to this all-white school. It was the first school closed under the state's Massive Resistance strategy. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that the strategy was unconstitutional and the school reopened in February 1959.