The gymnasium building is all that now remains of Stephens-Lee, the high school known affectionately as The Castle on the Hill. In the shadow of Beaucatcher Mountain, just south of the center of town, it overlooked Valley Street, now South Charlotte Street. The only public high school for African Americans in Western North Carolina, the school gained fame across the state, region and nation in areas of accelerated academics, music, drama and athletics. Most of the educators at Stephens-Lee held masters degrees and encouraged their students to aspire to a college education. Stephens-Lee was closed in the fall of 1965 and its former students attended the new South French Broad High School (now Asheville Middle School) until school consolidation in the early 1970s.
NC Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, MS147, Ruth Jackson Cannon and Shirley Cannon Singleton Collection
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