In 1886, fifteen years after free public education became law in Virginia, the county purchased this site for the Union Ridge School. In 1915 it was expanded into a teacher-training school with a high school curriculum as well as instruction in carpentry, cookery, farming and other trades. As the Albemarle Training School (ATS), for years it was the only school in a five-county area to offer African American children an education beyond seventh grade. Under its principals from 1886 to 1950 (Jesse Scott Sammons, Rives Minor, John G. Shelton, and Mary Carr Greer), it produced a remarkable number of educators. When county schools were integrated in 1959, ATS closed its doors and most of its buildings were demolished.