Back in 1866 the American Missionary Association founded Williston School in Wilmington, North Carolina, for freed slaves. It was first founded in 1866 by the abolitionist American Missionary Association after the Union army occupied the city during the civil war. From the start it was intended for freed slaves and opened with 450 pupils divided into five departments: primary, intermediate, advanced, normal and industrial.
Named in honor of Samuel Williston, a Massachusetts button maker and philanthropist, the school grew and changed names over the decades — Williston Graded School, Williston Primary and Industrial School, Williston High School. The original site sat on Seventh Street, but in 1915 the institution moved to a new campus on Tenth Street, and a building on Tenth and Church opened in 1916. Additional buildings were added in 1933, 1937 and 1954.
The school closed as a high school in 1968 as part of desegregation, an event that contributed to the disturbances resulting in the Wilmington Ten. Today the site houses Williston Middle School of Math, Science & Technology. Picture those campus buildings raised in 1933, 1937 and 1954, close by Seventh, Tenth and Church streets.