Fishburne reflects the flurry of military school construction in the Valley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This well-preserved campus is one of the few military schools in Virginia still in operation. In 1879 James A. Fishburne opened a school in his house on this site. Its success led to the construction of the existing campus, beginning with the three-story barracks (1916). The design, often used for military schools, follows the quadrangle form and castellated Gothic Revival established by Alexander Jackson Davis at Virginia Military Institute (RB18) in Lexington. Three years later, Collins's sons Samuel and William M. added a three-story addition to the barracks to house a mess hall, swimming pool, auditorium, and gymnasium. When fire destroyed the frame gymnasium, the school constructed the Memorial Building (1940) around and incorporating the old Fishburne House. The brick-veneered Memorial Building echoes the Gothic Revival of the barracks, but displays more elaborate decoration, both inside and out.