Mt. Zion Institute High School is a historic school complex (a collection of three buildings) located at Winnsboro, South Carolina.[2]
History
The school was constructed on a land which was donated in 1777 to Mt. Zion Society for establishing Mt. Zion Institute. It was envisioned as a preparatory school in the Upstate for the sons of "wealthy planters" throughout South Carolina.[3] Closed in 1780 by occupying British forces, it was reopened in 1784 under the leadership of Rev. Thomas McCaule, a Presbyterian minister trained at the College of New Jersey.[4]
In 1878, the school converted from a private academy to a public school, becoming the Upstate's first public school and the second outside of Charleston.[3]
The current structures, all constructed by 1936, include an elementary school, a high school, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, an auditorium, and a teacherage (seen below). The elementary school building, constructed in 1922, was destroyed by fire in 1981. The other buildings continued to serve Winnsboro's students until 1990.[5] At the time of closure, it was the site of Mt. Zion Elementary school.[3]
