Blacksburg High School

The first Blacksburg High School was located in the former Blacksburg Female Academy building downtown on the block between Draper Road (formerly Water Street) on the east and Otey Street on the west; and between Roanoke and Jackson Streets (on the south and north respectively). The Female academy was created in the 1840s by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. By 1908, the Female Academy had closed and the town had established public school at that location. A yearbook and other published data bearing the name Blacksburg High School exists from the time when the school occupied the Female Academy building. In 1916, a dedicated high school building was constructed in the same block adjacent to Otey Street. Photographs in the Virginia Tech collection from the 1920s and 1940s show this building and the structure itself bears a cornerstone dated 1916. Today the building is owned and used by Virginia Tech. In the 1930s a dedicated Elementary School building was constructed on the corner of Roanoke Street and Draper Road (immediately next to the old Female Academy building). In the early 1950s, the Female Academy building was finally demolished. The third Blacksburg High School was constructed in 1952 and was located on South Main Street in Blacksburg, VA, The fourth Blacksburg High School was built in 1974. After moving out, the old building housed Blacksburg Middle School, but Blacksburg High School still returned to use the football stadium behind their original building until a new stadium was constructed in October 2008 behind the new Blacksburg Middle School. The 1952 Blacksburg High School building was demolished in the Summer of 2011, 7 years after the middle school moved out. In 2002 the mascot of Blacksburg High School was changed from the Indian to the Bruin after extensive debate and controversy. The corresponding middle school mascot, the Brave, was changed to the Titan. On February 13, 2010, following a snowstorm that dropped two feet of snow on the area, the gymnasium roof of the 1974 Blacksburg High School suffered a catastrophic structural failure and collapsed, causing structural damage to other areas of the school. The school building was condemned and students attended night school on a split schedule with the Blacksburg Middle School students at their school for the remainder of the year. It was determined that repair costs would exceed $18 million and would not be feasible given the age of the school; it was decided not to repair the building. For the next two years, until the school year of 2013–14, Blacksburg High School operated on a normal schedule in the Blacksburg Middle School building at 3109 Prices Fork Road, and the middle schoolers went to school in the old Christiansburg Middle School. The new school building is located at 3401 Bruin Lane, behind the current Blacksburg Middle School and Bill Brown Football Stadium. It opened in the 2013 fall semester. == Academic recognition ==