VA-Q19 Fishburne Military School

Marker text: FISHBURNE MILITARY SCHOOL

James Abbott Fishborne, an honor graduate of Washington College inspired by its president, Robert E. Lee, opened in 1879 with 24 students what eventually became Fishburne Military School. Staunton architectural firm T.J. Collins & Son designed the 1916-1922 barracks in the castellated Gothic style, the 1915 library (Virginia's second-oldest Carnegi library), and the 1940 gymnasium-administrative building. In Feb. 1919, the school adopted one of the nation's first Army Junion Reserve Officer Training Corps programs. Operated by the Fishburne-Hudgins Educational Foundation since 1951, the school is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

Department of Historic Resources, 1999