ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — Roanoke Rapids High School, the largest and oldest high school still in use in North Carolina, is turning 100.
- Roanoke Rapids High School is celebrating its 100-year history
- Officials will open a time capsule, which is in the building’s cornerstone, Saturday
- They will add new items to the time capsule from current students before it is resealed
History runs throughout the campus. Rex Stainback, the school resource officer, is the unofficial school historian.
“The chalk trays from 1921, they all survived,” Stainback said while giving a tour of the campus. “The interior of the room looks pretty much the same. The windows, the woodwork, is basically the same as it was.”
The original fire hose from 1921 still works. The city, which did not have a fire department at the time, trained staff to use it in case a fire broke out at school.
The school is preparing to celebrate its 100-year history Saturday. Officials will mark the special occasion by opening a time capsule that was locked away with the construction of the building.
Stainback, who was born at a hospital about a block away from the school, graduated from Roanoke Rapids in 1974. For him, this moment is personal.
“We’re really excited to reveal the contents of that and officially see what’s in that box, what they left us,” Stainback said. “We have a box of our own that we’re going to put in there too, so we’re sort of following the tradition.”
A few of the items that will go back into the copper box to be resealed until 2121 include a letter from the school principal, a photo of students in a classroom with masks on, and a face mask with the school’s mascot, a yellow jacket, and “100th” on the front. It's a nod to the COVID-19 pandemic times that we’re in.
The artifacts that exist inside the school are just as important as the outside. The school still uses its original front doors, which are in remarkably good shape.
A famous New York City architect, Hobart Upjohn, designed the building’s modern gothic style, which is a reference to Oxford and Cambridge universities. “On the front of our school, we have a pair of lions, one on each corner. And that represents strength and power,” Stainback said.
Four owls in the middle of the school’s exterior are symbolic of wisdom. The community connects with these values. Many residents, like Stainback, graduated from Roanoke Rapids, including parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents.
The high school is a centerpiece for a community that thrives on its local history. “I get a really good feeling when I come here. I got a lot of good memories here,” Stainback said.
The celebration is open to the public and will kick off Saturday at 10 a.m. with a parade and the official ceremony to unveil the time capsule.