1900-Great Depression

1900-Great Depression

The Holly Springs Academy opened its doors in 1854, founded by the Raleigh Baptist Association as a school to prepare young men for Wake Forest College. The original board of trustees included James Adams, Green Beckwith, Enoch Booker, Bennett Holland, James Rogers, and Gaston Utley, names that are still present in Holly Springs today. The school is the institution most mentioned in the News and Observer of the day, and students were sent to Holly Springs from around the State. Prior to Prohibition, it was advertised as a safe place to send your sons because there was no tavern within 2 miles of campus. 

In 1908 Holly Springs’ first public school opened, offering grades 1 – 11 to white students only. It was closed in 1958 due to consolidation, and the building was demolished in 1974. The site now houses the Cultural Center. 

Black students attended Holly Springs Elementary from 1920 until the early 1970s. It was a Rosenwald school, paid for with donations from black citizens. Originally a wooden “plank school” the building was replaced with a brick structure in 1951. The site now houses the W. E. Hunt Recreation Center. 

From the late 1970s until 1996 when Holly Springs Elementary school opened, Holly Springs’ students were bussed to Apex or Fuquay Varina. Now the Wake County Public School System operates a growing number of elementary schools, middle schools and high schools that serve Holly Springs’ residents.