THE TIGER AND THE TORCH ebook

ONE STORY, T WO B UILDINGS, THREE GENERATIONS LATER…
Although there are two original buildings remaining today from Christiansburg
Industrial Institute (CII), there is but one multi-faceted story. CII’s first building,
now called Christiansburg Community Center, is called the Old Christiansburg
Industrial Institute along with the Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church on the
National Register of Historic Places. 84 The Christiansburg Community Center is
one of the Freedmen’s Bureau school buildings that still stands. Although it is on
the opposite side of the tracks from the Christiansburg Institute Campus, its
past and its future remain connected because of its shared history.
For a season, CII was leased to and managed by the local school boards, while
still being owned by the Quakers. According to the National Register of Historic
Places’ Final Nomination Form for the Edgar A. Long Building, “This transfer is
significant because it marks the final transition of the school from a private
philanthropically supported institution to a public institution. Under this new
arrangement, enrollment grew to 340 students, but the industrial and vocational
focus of the curriculum diminished. 85
In the deed that documents the transfer 86 , the Friends Freedmen’s Association
of Philadelphia officially terminated the lease with the schools and completely
relinquished all ownership of the CI real estate with the stipulation “that the
property should continue to be used for the education of Colored students.” CI
officially became the property of the Montgomery County School Board, Pulaski
School Board and the City of Radford and “…the dormitories were closed and
students were transported daily to and from school. In 1950 "Industrial" was
removed from the school's name and the school took on the characteristics of a
regular public high school. The farm operations all but ceased, and the self-help
idea was almost totally eradicated. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 marked the
school's final days.” 87
From Christiansburg Industrial Institute’s vast campus of almost 200 acres, only
the Edgar A. Long Building remains with about four acres of land. The town’s
high school, the MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools) Technology Center,
a law office, a daycare, a couple of churches, some industrial lots, housing, and
other businesses now occupy the surrounding land that used to be part of the
campus.
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