This digital exhibit is a thoughtfully crafted visual timeline highlighting the school’s key milestones and the individuals who shaped its legacy. This work honors the strength, resilience, and vision of the Black community in Montgomery County during the Reconstruction era and beyond.
This digital exhibit was curated by Demiah Smith, who thoughtfully crafted a visual timeline highlighting the school’s key milestones and the individuals who shaped its legacy. Her work honors the strength, resilience, and vision of the Black community in Montgomery County during the Reconstruction era and beyond.
To ensure the preservation of this work—especially after Christiansburg Institute, Inc. lost critical funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities—we’ve captured and archived the Story Map as images. This way, Demiah’s contribution and the vital story of CI will remain accessible even as the organization faces serious challenges due to the loss of federal support during the DOGE-era funding cuts.
We remain committed to uplifting and preserving this history. Stay tuned as we continue to find ways to support the legacy of the Christiansburg Institute and the people who made it possible.
The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are often the only early glimpse of buildings in rural towns over time. Christiansburg Industrial Institute moved from the Zion Hill location to the Lattimer Plantation site, north west of Christiansburg, at the turn of the 20th Century. This Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia was published by the Sanborn Map Company, dated Sep, 1913. The key to the maps is at the end.
The map is of Christiansburg Industrial Institute, situated north west of Cambria and north of Christiansburg courthouse. Note that frame constructed buildings are coded yellow and red for the solid brick building. The Baily Morris Building which housed the girls dorm, assembly hall, dinning hall and kitchen (close-up below) is heated by steam and lighted by electricity.
“Baily-Morris” Building
The Morris Hall Boys’ Dorm is both red and yellow, denoting built of a combination of building materials. The building is heated by hot water and lighted by electricity. Note that the buildings were supplied with water by 2,500 ft of pipes connected to the 10K gal water tank on the hill. The tank is filled by a Worthington Pump, moving water from a spring.
The girls and boys dorms were named for two Friends’ of the Freedmen of PA, Elliston P. Morris and Joshua L. Baily. They also donated money to construct the water system which was installed in 1907, before either Christiansburg or Blacksburg had a community water system. (A Vision of Education, Selected Writings of Edgar A. Long, Anna Fariello, Ed. Christiansburg Institute, Inc. 2021, pg 86,)
The Lattimer Mansion House, wood framed, was heated by stove and not connected to the water supply. The house was used as classrooms. Note the printing, carpenter and black smith shop close to the entrance road.
1913 Hill School & Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church
This map is of Zion Hill which is located on the ridge (now High Street) between Cambria and Christiansburg. The brick (red) “Public School” housed the Christiansburg Industrial Institute before that secondary school moved to the Lattimer Plantation property by the turn of 20th century. This brick school, built by 1885, was converted to a primary school for African American children after CII moved. As noted by the Sanborn map, the building was heated by stoves and lighted by electricity.
Image of the Hill School from The Story of a Consecrated Life, Commemorative of Rev. Charles S. Schaeffer by CH Harrison, 1900. High Street is visible.
The Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church is also of brick and built by 1885. Charles S Schaeffer’s memorial brass plaque were unveiled 1 October 1899, after he died in May of that same year. Note the frame chapel to the left (east) of the brick structure.
Image of Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church from The Story of a Consecrated Life, Commemorative of Rev. Charles S. Schaeffer by CH Harrison, 1900. High Street is visible in the foreground.
On the Sanborn map, note the small frame, 1 story building behind the church? This may be the first school/church building on Zion Hill. The deed (DB S, pg 12, Oct 1868) and Harrison, 1900 * note the existence of this building. The brick school on the 1913 Sanborn map was the third version of this school at this site. The second school on Zion Hill was a 2 story & frame building, used between 1974 and 1885. (The rented Campbell house was the first school but it was not located on Zion Hill.)*
The image of the small school/meeting house shows a one story frame building with hip-roof and double stove-pipes. The dressed limestone block foundation was typical in this area and seen on buildings dating from early 1800s to the turn of the 20th century.
Image of the first school house on Zion Hill from The Story of a Consecrated Life, Commemorative of Rev. Charles S. Schaeffer by CH Harrison, 1900. High Street is visible in the foreground.
Captain Charles S. Schaeffer arrived in Christiansburg soon after the emancipation of enslaved people of Southwestern Virginia. In April 1866 he was appointed as an agent of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (referred to as the Freedman’s Bureau). Schaeffer was US soldier who asked for to be assigned as an agent in Southwestern Virginia. He was assigned to Giles and Montgomery Counties, with headquarters in Christiansburg, VA.
October 8, 1867, Hamilton D. and Elizabeth Wade sold Schaefer about 3.5 acres for $196 on a road leading from the Depot (Cambria*) to the town of Christiansburg (deed book R, pg 444). It is upon this land that Schaefer built a home of stone on the western portion and called it Zion Hill.
About one year later, October 6, 1868, Schaeffer deeded about a half an acre to the Trustees to be used as a school and the Christiansburg African Baptist Church (deed book S, pg 12). The Trustees: Minnis Headen, Norvell Curtis, Jacob Seldon, Samuel Hayden, Spencer Curtis, William Curtis, Carrington Vaughn, Henry Brown, and Gabriel Farrow. The cost of the land was $1,400. The Freedmen’s Bureau paid $300, the Friends’ of the Freedmen paid $200, & Schaeffer gifted the balance of $900. As noted in the deed a house was on the land, in use as a school and meeting house by the time of this deed. We believe this is the first school at this location. Schaeffer and the Trustees built two other structures with time.
Deed Book R, pg 444. Hamilton D. & Elizabeth Wade to Charles S. SchaefferDeed Book S, pg 12. Schaeffer, Bureau Freedmen & Friends’ of Freedmen to Trustees of the Christiansburg African Baptist ChurchZion Hill – 1921 Sanborn Fire Map of Christiansburg with the School and Baptist Church in red (brick) at the top, left.
*The Depot was Bangs which then was named Cambria in the late 1890s.
Linda Killen transcribed the reports of Brevet-Captain Charles S. Schaeffer who held the post of agent for the Bureau of Refugee, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands during the early years of Reconstruction. More information about Schaeffer can be found at Christiansburg Institute, Inc.. Schaeffer sent this list of African American Freedmen to his reporting officer, Bvt. Brig. Genl. O. Brown, dated 15 March 1867 (page 18). Minnis Headen (Hadean) was listed on the deeds as Trustee for the Hill School and Christiansburg African Baptist Church.
“C. Minnis Hadean – Age 40 – Blacksmith – Christiansburg Va. – can read, write and cipher – one of the best colored men in the state.”
John Campbell – Age 40 – Farmer – Big Springs Depot Mont’y Co. Va – can read and write – owns property – was free before the war.
Peter Noulen (?) – Assistant to a Machinist – Depot of the Va. & Tenn. R.R. – Central Depot, [Radford], Mont’y Co. Va. – can read a little.
Sampson Gleaves – Age 35 – Farmhand – Christiansburg P.O. Lives one mile from town – Can read (and write a little).
Robert D. Jones – Age 30 – Farmer – Christiansburg P.O. Lives six miles from town – Can read and write.
Felix Johnson – Age 30 – Brick Layer – Christiansburg P.O. Lives in the direction of Blacksburg Va. – Can read and write.
John P. Taylor – Age 35 – Farmhand – Christiansburg P.O. Lives in the direction of the White Sulphur Springs – Can read & write.
Richard Taylor – Age 65 – Farmer & Preacher – Christiansburg P.O. – Lives near Blacksburg Mont’y Co. Va. – Cannot read nor write, but is quite intelligent.
Gathering African American History 