FCS Board of Education Porch Building Restoration Project

The only remaining building of the Riverside Union School is the Porch Building - and the Franklin County Board of Education is taking steps to make sure the building is renovated, and becomes a functional part of the existing Riverside Campus. The campus opened in the 1930s as Franklin County Training School and later became Riverside Union, then Louisburg Elementary, and Riverside Magnet School. The campus is now the home of FCS Central Office. The Porch building was built by African American World War II veterans in 1951 in order to gain construction skills for future employment. The brick building is still very solid, but is in need of a facelift. The structure was used as a classroom for more than 50 years, but will serve as a community meeting place and an archives location of the history of the campus. The BOE has been moving to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places. After extensive research and submitting a proposal to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Society, it was determined that the building is eligible for the National Register. The BOE is now moving forward with that process as well. For a more detailed story on the history of the Porch Building, read the March issue of First Thursday.

Letter from the state historic society

Brief Outline

First Thursday Story

Porch Building and Riverside Campus History Document