After the loss by fire in 1924 of the Kinston High School located between Vernon Avenue and Lenoir St. at their intersections with East St., a replacement project was initiated.

A new site was selected on land previously owned by Jesse W. Grainger at the corner of what was then Independent Street and Park Avenue.

He had generously paid for one-half of the cost of Kinston's first major high school destroyed by a fire.

The 2007–08 Kinston boys' basketball team won the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Class 3A state championship, and was the Vikings' first boys' basketball state title since the 1960s.

[citation needed] In the 2013–2014 season, the Kinston boys' basketball team won their 3rd consecutive NCHSAA Class 2A state championship.