Central High School Collection, 1947

Central High School opened c1908 as Charlotte High School and was the first public high school in the city. Lockewood-Greene and Company were the architects, and J.A. Jones Company was the contractor. Located at Elizabeth Avenue and Cecil Street (now Kings Drive) the school is now part of Central Piedmont Community College's campus.

The Charlotte public school system was founded in 1882, and TJ Mitchell was the first superintendent of the segregated school district. The first school for white children was South School, located on the corner of East Morehead Street and South boulevard. Myers Street School, the first school for African American students, also opened in 1882.

School consolidations began under Superintendent J.W. Wilson, (1944-1960), eventually merging the Charlotte City Schools with the Mecklenburg County Schools in 1960. Charlotte schools continued to be largely segregated, even after the 1954 Supreme Court decision on Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. There were no moves made toward integration for three years after the Brown decision.

On September 9, 1970, the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system was integrated. The first four African-American students to enter white schools were Delores Huntley (Alexander Graham Junior High), Girvaud Roberts (Piedmont Junior High School, Gus Roberts (Central High School), and Dorothy Counts (Harding High School). Gus Roberts graduated from Central in 1959.