In the 1850s, the Southside Railroad between Petersburg and Lynchburg was built through Farmville between Burkeville and Pamplin City.

The route, which was subsidized by a contribution from Farmville, required an expensive crossing of the Appomattox River slightly downstream which became known as the High Bridge.

After the Civil War, under the leadership of former Confederate General William "Billy" Mahone, the Southside Railroad was rebuilt.

After the Financial Panic of 1873, the AM&O fell into default on its debt; it was purchased in the early 1880s by new owners who renamed it the Norfolk and Western (N&W).

In the late 19th century, the narrow gauge Farmville and Powhatan Railroad was built from Farmville through Cumberland, Powhatan, and Chesterfield counties to reach Bermuda Hundred on the navigable portion of the James River near its confluence with the Appomattox River at City Point.

Among the five cases decided under Brown, Davis was the only one initiated by students, after they walked out in 1951 to protest overcrowding and poor conditions at their segregated school under Jim Crow laws.

Due to overcrowding, three plywood buildings had been erected, and some students had to take classes in a school bus parked outside.

Howard University-trained attorneys Spottswood W. Robinson and Oliver Hill filed suit against the county school system on behalf of the students.

As in other Southern states, since the turn of the twentieth century black voters in Virginia had been largely disenfranchised, which resulted in their lacking political power.

In Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, a state court rejected the suit, agreeing with defense attorney T. Justin Moore that Virginia was vigorously equalizing conditions in black and white schools.

In 1956, the Virginia General Assembly passed a series of laws (the Stanley Plan) to implement Massive Resistance, a policy promoted by the Byrd Organization led by U.S.

Senator Harry F. Byrd, to avoid compliance with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown and its direction to integrate public schools.

Prince Edward Academy operated as the de facto school system and enrolled K-12 students at a number of facilities throughout the county.

At that point, county and state supervisors gave in rather than risk prosecution and prison, ending the era of Massive Resistance in Virginia.

[5] As a result of Prince Edward County's actions, some students missed part or all of their education for five years.

Many of the segregated academies in Virginia eventually closed; others changed their missions and eliminated discriminatory policies.

Some yielded on integration only after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked the tax-free status of non-profit discriminatory private schools.

B. Fuqua, a wealthy businessman who was born in Farmville and was a strong supporter of the school in its early years.

Moton High School building in Farmville has been recognized as a nationally significant community landmark.

It now houses the Robert Russa Moton Museum, a center for the study of civil rights in education.

[16] Prince Edward County Public Schools, the only school division in the county,[17] operates the following schools, all located on the same multi-school campus in the Town of Farmville: Also located within the multi-school campus is the Prince Edward County Career & Technical Education Center, offering a range of specialized courses, such as business law, carpentry, agriculture and automotive technology.