Virginia Episcopal School
About this property
Virginia Episcopal School (VES) is a private, co-educational college preparatory, boarding and day school for students in grades 9 - 12, located in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. The school was first conceived in 1906 by the Reverend Robert Carter Jett, and opened its doors to students in September 1916. Virginia Episcopal School's 160-acre (0.65 km2) campus is located above the James River in Lynchburg along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Virginia Episcopal School's early benefactor, Viscountess Astor, the first female member of British Parliament, donated much of the school's initial endowment while visiting her family home, Mirador, in Albemarle County. Lady Astor maintained a keen interest in the school for the rest of her life and was instrumental in having her father Chiswell Langhorne donate the school chapel in memory of his wife Nancy Witcher Keene (parents of Lady Astor). Virginia Episcopal School opened its doors to students in September 1916. Jett Hall was completed the same year under the direction of Frederick H. Brooke, a prominent Washington architect. Pendleton Hall was completed in 1918, enabling enrollment to be increased from sixty-three to one-hundred eleven boys. In 1919, Langhorne Memorial Chapel was consecrated. This was followed by the opening of Barksdale Gymnasium in 1920. As bishop of the newly created Diocese of Southwest Virginia, Bishop Jett would serve ex officio as chairman of the school's board of trustees until his retirement in 1938. Originally all-white, the school was racially integrated in 1967, when the first two black students entered the school in a successful initiative organized by the Stouffer Foundation, which also arranged the integration of other elite prep schools in the South, including Saint Andrew's School in Florida, the Asheville School in North Carolina, and the Westminster School in Georgia. Dr. Henry C. Bourne Jr.: President, administrator, and faculty member at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Erskine Bowles: White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton, co-chair of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform under President Obama, and tenth Chancellor of the University of North Carolina public university system. Hardy Cross Dillard: United States judge of the International Court of Justice, former Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law. Thomas N. Frost (died 1969), member of the Virginia House of Delegates Paul Fulton Jr.: Former Dean of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School; founder, former chairman of Bassett Furniture Industries, and former President of Sara Lee Corporation.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
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Questions about this property
When was Virginia Episcopal School listed on the National Register?
Virginia Episcopal School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1992.
What type of historic resource is Virginia Episcopal School?
Virginia Episcopal School is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Virginia Episcopal School?
The period of significance for Virginia Episcopal School is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Virginia Episcopal School?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Virginia Episcopal School will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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