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19 <br />NPS Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-OQ18 <br />{8-86} <br />United States Department of the Interior <br />National Park Service <br />NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES . <br />CONTINUATION SHEET • <br />Section 8 Page 8 ~ Murphey School <br />name of property <br />Orange County, NC _ <br />county and state <br />Summary Statement <br />Murphey School meets National Register Criterion A on the local level in the area of education <br />and Criterion C for architecture. Murphey School opened as a consolidated school in Orange <br />County in 1923 and closed in 1959, thus the period of significance for Murphey School is from <br />1923 to 1959. The school site includes a rare surviving teacherage, constructed c. 1923 from <br />salvaged materials from the farmer Mt. Hope School once located nearby. The survival of a <br />teacherage makes Murphey School especially notable as the only remaining example in Orange <br />County with a like complex. The school played an importan# role in rural community life as well as <br />the educational development of Orange County. It reflects statewide trends in school consolidation <br />and embodies a distinct architectural style associated with early twentieth-century educational <br />reform. Murphey School is also significant as an intact school influenced by the Spanish Revival- <br />style in Orange County and for its Neoclassical-style auditorium additiorE. Defined by a <br />symmetrical facade flanking a central projecting entry bay, the school's brick facade features <br />groups of large arched windows and doors. Its hipped metal roof imitating terra cotta the is <br />especially notable. The 1936 auditorium was funded through a Works Progress Administration <br />{WPA) grant and displays a prominent Doric portico and arched windows. Architect Henri Colvin <br />Linthicum, a specialist in school design and partner with his father in the architectural firm <br />Linthicum and Linthicum, designed Murphey School. W. H. Woods of Durham served as the <br />builder/contractor. <br />Historical Background and Education Context <br />Located in rural Orange County and constrtac#ed in 1923, with a 1936 auditorium addition, <br />Murphey School represents the early twentieth-century consolidation movement in North <br />Carolina's public education system. Consolidation, improved transportation services, and <br />centralization transformed the public school system especially during the early twentieth century <br />and after World War 1. Consolidation was viewed as a great equalizer between rural schools and <br />city schools as it created fewer larger schools from many smaller schools with a higher volume of <br />students separated into grades for instruction. Murphey School met new demands for students' <br />well-being and higher educational standards through its facilities and new organization of class <br />instruction according to grade level. Named for North Carolina's "Father of Public Education," <br />Archibald D. Murphey, Murphey School and similar consolidated schools came to fruition only <br />after years of development and reform of the state's public education system throughout the latter <br />half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Murphey's 1817 report on education <br />