South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Old Greenwood High School, Greenwood County (857 S. Main St., Greenwood)
S1081772401101 S1081772401102 S1081772401103 S1081772401104 S1081772401105
Facade
Main Building
Left Oblique
All Buildings
Left Oblique
Main Building
Rear Elevation
Main Building
Facade
Auditorium
S1081772401106 S1081772401107 S1081772401108 S1081772401109 S1081772401110
Left Oblique
Auditorium
Left Rear Oblique
Auditorium
Facade
Gymnasium
Right Elevation
Gymnasium
Rear Elevation
Gymnasium

Construction of the Old Greenwood High School in 1925-26 represented a major advancement in the history of education in Greenwood and Greenwood County. For the first time since the Greenwood Public School System was established in 1891, the upper grades and the grammar school were taught in separate buildings. The high school was built primarily to accommodate the city’s rapidly growing student population, but it attracted students from the county as well. The Old Greenwood High School is a complex of three brick buildings – the main building, the auditorium, and the gymnasium – each of which is in the Georgian Revival style and form a Palladian configuration. Each of the three buildings has a monumental portico supported by six Tuscan columns. Stone is used for water tables, columns, quoins, decorative panels, fascias, window sills, and keystones. The school was a collaborative effort between Greenwood architect James C. Hemphill, senior architect Charles Coker Wilson, and the prominent Columbia firm of Wilson, Berryman and Kennedy. The main building was opened on September 22, 1926, although the auditorium building was not finished, and the grounds were not ready. Formal dedication of the buildings took place in January 1927. The complex was completed with construction of the gymnasium building in 1929-30. Listed in the National Register October 10, 1985.

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