has abstract
| - The Allen School was a private school in Asheville, North Carolina for African-American students. Originally known as the Allen Industrial Training School, it opened in 1887 and closed in 1974. Built on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. and later named for , who donated money for the construction of a dormitory building, the school was directed by the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Serving children during the day and adults at night, the Allen School devoted its mission to teaching African American students to read and write. Within one month of opening, the Asheville Citizen Times reports that more than one hundred students had enrolled, and by the end of the first school year, over two hundred students had started to attend classes. Just one year after being founded, in 1888, a high school curriculum was added. By 1892 the Allen School became a boarding school primarily for Black female students, although boys continued to attend until 1941. Known for its high academic standards, the school became an accredited high school in 1924, and in 1940 was admitted as a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, a distinction received by only two high schools for Black students in the 17 counties making up western North Carolina. By this time, the focus of the Allen School had shifted to college preparatory work and the grade school had been dropped. Thereafter, the school was known as an all-girls boarding high school, with about two-thirds of students coming from Western North Carolina and the rest from other states in the country, as well as outside the United States. (en)
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