Located on Savannah's Taylor Square at 201–213 East Gordon Street, the original schoolhouse began construction in 1855 with invested funds from Peter Massie, an immigrant from Scotland.

[5] Norris built the central schoolhouse with Savannah gray brick in the Greek Revival style he had previously used for the U.S.

[9] The school was progressively co-ed, but students were separated by gender in the classroom and by independent outdoor spaces, each with their own outhouse.

[11] When General Sherman and his army of 60,000 Union soldiers captured Savannah in December 1864, the school was temporarily closed to students and converted into a hospital for his troops.

This resulted in the occupying troops burning other readily available materials for heat, like school furniture, irreparably breaking the furnace.

[14] The school hosted recently emancipated slaves until mass enrollment necessitated expanding the program and relocating to several churches and other locations formerly operated by the Savannah Education Association.