Central High School-Mitchell School
306 East Commercial Street

The building that exists today at 306 East Commercial Street originally had three stories. It has only two today. The third floor was devoted primarily to school offices and an auditorium. The building was a handsome structure for the times, with its third floor mansard roof supported by massive load-bearing masonry walls. For sixteen years the third floor auditorium was home to senior graduations, student plays, and high school assembly presentations.

In 1918, Patti Welder High School was completed on East North Street near its intersection with Lone Tree Road, and Central High School became an elementary school. It was renamed the Third Ward School, but later, in 1922, it was again renamed for J. D. Mitchell.
 

The building suffered three fires; 1921, 1935, and 1943. The 1921 fire was relatively minor, and repairs were quickly made. The fire in 1935 heavily damaged the third floor. Kai Leffland, son of the original architect, was called in to design repairs. As part of the work of making the repairs, changes were also made. Restrooms and drinking water fountains, for example, which had been located outside the main building, were brought inside. Two side exits were closed. The third floor was not repaired following the 1935 fire. Rather, the auditorium and its furnishings were so badly damaged that they were abandoned and the space used for storage. A portion of the stairs was removed to restrict student access to the third floor.
 

The third fire, on March 8, 1943, was the most damaging. It consumed almost the entire third floor, and burned through the roof supporting structure, causing the heavy tin and slate roof to collapse through to the second floor, portions of which also subsequently collapsed.
 

Following the fire, all that remained were the first floor, portions of the second, and the load- bearing masonry walls. The building was repaired as a two-story structure.
 

Mitchell School has been in service for 115 years. It has withstood fires, hurricanes, and the onslaught of thousands of students. And it continues to do its job in twenty-first century Victoria.

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You can learn more about this home and the families that have lived here in Volume I of Historic Homes of Victoria, available here online through our SHOP or at the Victoria Preservation, Inc. office.