Noble Street School

Founding of Anniston, Alabama

After the Civil War and the return of peace, many southern cities pursued industrial development to modernize their economies. The Noble Brothers Iron Works in Rome, Georgia, aimed to expand and invest in land near the old Oxford Furnace, intending to establish a new ironworks. In 1872, Noble visited Alfred Tyler, vice-president and general manager of the South Carolina Railroad, and the two men drew up an agreement forming the Woodstock Iron Company.

In April 1873, Furnace #1 was built on the 2000 acres they had purchased in Alabama. Despite the challenges of the Panic of 1873 and the ensuing economic depression, the company thrived due to the exceptional quality of its “pig” iron. To meet growing demand, a second 50-ton furnace was added in 1879.

Noble Street, Anniston’s Main Street

Samuel Noble was a visionary, an early city planner, and a Gilded Age reformer. He envisioned Anniston—named after Alfred Tyler’s wife—as a model city and a utopian-style settlement. To realize this vision, he built cottages with yards and gardens for workers, designed tree-lined streets, established a company store, and developed farming operations to supply food. He also invested in public infrastructure, constructing schools, churches, a water and sewer system, a cemetery, and ensuring rail transportation reached as close to Anniston as possible.

Noble Street, Anniston’s historic “main street,” was named after Samuel Noble and originally served as a key route linking the northern and southern parts of Calhoun County. It also functions as the dividing line between East and West Anniston, with cross streets labeled accordingly. Starting from Noble Street, the town’s founders implemented a structured grid pattern aligned with compass points to design the streets in the flat valley between Coldwater and Blue Mountains.

Noble Street School

The Noble Street School, a former elementary school in Anniston, Alabama, stands as a remnant of the city’s period of rapid growth in the mid-1920s. Erected at the cost of $50,000, it was built by the Ogletree Builders Supply Company, the most prominent construction company in Calhoun County. Ogletree also constructed the Twenty-Second Street School, Wilmer Avenue School, Seventeenth and Pine Street School, and the additions to the Woodstock School.

Built during this time of expansion, the school opened its doors on September 13, 1926. By the early 1970s, however, it became a focal point in the Anniston school system’s legal battle over federal desegregation mandates. In response to a U.S. District Court order, Noble Street and Glen Addie, Woodstock, and South Highland schools were closed in 1973 as part of the city’s desegregation efforts. Until its closure, Noble Street had served as a school for white students.

In 1976, the Anniston City Council declined an offer to sell the property. Then, in 1981, Gadsden State Community College moved into the building, using it until November 2004, when its Anniston Center relocated to Fort McClellan. Since then, the city-owned building has remained vacant. Despite its years of disuse, the structure retains historical significance, prompting David Schneider, executive director of the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, to apply for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Interest in repurposing the property has persisted over the years, with various local groups considering it for redevelopment.

Despite its long vacancy, the building remains in relatively good condition. In 2010, developers explored converting it into housing, though the project never materialized. Councilman Ben Little later proposed transforming it into a centralized hub for social services, but this plan also failed to gain traction. More recently, Charles Gregory, leader of the Victory Headquarters Christian Center, expressed interest in purchasing the property to expand his church, located a few blocks away.

Ultimately, Rosetta Dean, president and CEO of the Sharp-Dean School of Continuing Studies, took steps to bring new life to the former school. Operating a K-12 private school just a few blocks away at 1910 Noble Street, Dean sought a larger space to accommodate her growing institution. In 2012, she reached an agreement with the city to purchase the Noble Street School building for $50,000. With her plans to expand Sharp-Dean Private School into the historic structure, it appeared that the long-empty Noble Street School would once again serve as a place of learning. Over a decade later, though, Noble Street School remains abandoned.

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