It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1994.

It was named for Augusta philanthropist Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman and was founded as Neely's Institute in 1874.

A new Tubman High School building was funded by a bond issue and constructed in 1917 according to designs by G. Lloyd Preacher.

The three-story brick building's design is considered Beaux Arts architecture and includes terra cotta.

It was the area's only public high school for girls until the 1950s.