Armstrong High School (Richmond, Virginia)

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Address
Armstrong High School
2300 Cool Lane Richmond, Virginia 23223
Information
School district	Richmond Public Schools
Superintendent	Dr. Deborah Jewell-Sherman
Principal	Dimitric Roseboro
Assistant Principal	Angela Mosley Joann Henry Joseph Smith
Enrollment	1,161 (2006-2007)
School type	Public high school
Grades	9-12
Language	English
Campus	Urban
Athletics conference	Virginia High School League AAA Central Region AAA Capital District
Mascot	Wildcats
Color(s)	Blue and Orange
Founded	1865
Homepage	Official Site

Armstrong High School, part of the Richmond Public Schools system, is a high school located in Richmond, Virginia, with grades 9-12.

Known at first as the Richmond Colored Normal School, Armstrong was the first public school in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, for African American students (see racial segregation). Founded in the early 1870s, the Colored Normal School was initially financed by the federal Freedmen's Bureau until it was made part of the Richmond city school system in 1876. The school's name was changed to Armstrong High School in a 1909 transition to a new building. Its namesake is former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white commander of a U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) regiment during the American Civil War; he later founded the Hampton Institute, a historically black college now known as Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.

[edit] History

Armstrong High School's location has changed three times since 1909, in 1923, 1951, and again in 2004. It is now in its fourth location.

In 1909, the school was established at First and Leigh Streets and named in honor of Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder of Hampton University. Armstrong moved to a new, larger facility in 1923 at the corner of Prentis and Leigh Streets (now the Adult Career Development Center), and then to a new location, 1611 North 31st Street, in 1951.

In 2004, Armstrong merged with nearby John F. Kennedy High School, continuing to use the Armstrong name, colors and mascot, despite using the much newer and air conditioned Kennedy building.

At the current location, Armstrong High School is one of only two of Richmond's public schools which are physically located slightly outside the corporate limits of the independent city in the East End. The Kennedy High School complex and Fairfield Court Elementary School were built in the 1960s on land in a small portion of Henrico County adjacent to Interstate 64 which was cutoff from the rest of the county when the Interstate highway was built.