A small, one-roomed structure, it set in place the basic formula for all schools in the area for the next 56 years.
Graded Schools, some with multiple floors, classrooms, and even Auditoriums and Gyms were built of wood in many areas, including Sylva, Webster, Dillsboro, Glenville, Tuckasegee and Qualla (near Whittier) in the early 1900s.
Not long after it opened, Colored Consolidated was closed in 1965 in compliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
A new two-story building was added to the Smoky Mountain High School campus the following year, to alleviate overcrowding.
In 2004–2006, Smoky Mountain High School received several renovations and additions to the gym and main building.
The School provides education to Grade 8 for Cullowhee and the communities of Little Canada, East LaPorte, Forest Hills, Tuckasegee, and Caney Fork.
During the construction of the school two pre-Columbian native American villages were discovered on the site dating from around 2000 BC and 1000 AD.
It has around 520 students and 30 teachers and serves part of the town of Sylva as well as the communities of Addie, Beta, Willets, Balsam, and Ochre Hill and is the flagship unit of the Jackson County School System.
Jackson County Early College is a public secondary school located in Sylva, North Carolina.
The school's history fondly holds many extra-curricular and sports championship's from Band(earning one class an invitation to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) to Baseball, Basketball and Football.
In the early 1990s, Coach Charles "Babe" Howell and several other Sylva residents incorporated the non-profit Jackson County Athletic Hall of Fame, to enshrine the students who showed outstanding athletic achievement by nomination and ultimately chosen by school records and a panel of board members.
This event culminated when the older classes formed a committee regarding the interest in having a class-wide reunion.