York, Alvin C., Agricultural Institute Historic District

About this property

Alvin C. York Institute, also known as Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute or York Institute, is a public high school in Jamestown, Tennessee, founded as a private agricultural school in 1926 by World War I hero Alvin York and later transferred to the state of Tennessee in 1937, which continues to operate it as a public high school. It is the only comprehensive secondary school in the United States that is financed and operated by a state government. Alvin C. York established the school that carries his name during the 1920s in the county seat of his home county of Fentress. His goal was to give rural children the chance to obtain a high school education. Beginning in 1919 he toured the United States raising funds for the school, using his status as a war hero to get public attention and raising a total of $10,000. He also solicited and received funds from the state legislature, which contributed $50,000, and from Fentress County, which pledged $50,000. Classes began in 1929 and the school operated privately until 1937, when financial pressures related to the Great Depression led York to transfer the school to the state of Tennessee, which continues to operate it as a public school as a living memorial to York. The school sits on a campus of over 400 acres (1.6 km2) that is said to be the world's largest public high school campus. The campus is designated as a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency wildlife management area and includes a working farm where students participate in managing a herd of Limousin cattle. Five ponds on the campus are used for livestock watering, sport fishing, and waterfowl feeding and nesting. Campus buildings currently in use include the Main Administration Building (c. 1980), Social Sciences Building (a later addition to the original school), Science Building, Alvin C. York JROTC Building (c. 1940s), and Fentress County Vocational Training Center (c. 1970s). The Jamestown Community Center and Jamestown Community Park are located near the school on York Institute land. The original two-story brick administration building, built in 1928, is the centerpiece of the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The school building was replaced with a new building in the 1980s and subsequently has deteriorated. In 2005 the Tennessee Preservation Trust listed it on its yearly list of the state's "most endangered" historic sites. In January 2008 the Tennessee Department of Education proposed that it be demolished, and estimated the cost of demolition at $3.6 million, while renovation would cost $3.7 million. Due to safety concerns, state officials blocked off access to the old building and all areas within 50 feet (15 m) of the walls, thus preventing the use of four classrooms in the school's current main building, which is adjacent to the original building. On July 15, 2008, an agreement was reached between the state building and education departments and the Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation, which agreed to oversee and fund the restoration of the historic structure. As of January 2010, the building had been stabilized and initial remediation was complete, at a total cost of about $1 million.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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