The Edgar A. Long Building
Restoration Project:
a monument to emancipation, innovation, and education.
The Edgar A. Long Building was built in 1927 on the historic Christiansburg Industrial Institute (CII) campus in Montgomery County, the first Black secondary school in Southwest Virginia to educate the formerly enslaved throughout the region.
Project Updates
2023 | request for proposals
Christiansburg Institute posts a Request for Proposals (RFP) for exterior repairs and capital improvements on the Edgar A. Long Building. The RFP also lists a Project Manager consultant position to assist with the Edgar A. Building Restoration project. Learn more here.
2023 | staircase repair and restoration
Christiansburg Institute completes the repair and restoration of the staircase system inside the Edgar A. Long Building, rendering the staircase safe for access and public tours.
2020 |roof system repair and restoration
Christiansburg Institute completes the repair and repair of the full roof and roof system on the historic Edgar A. Long Building.
2023 | $60,000 Planning grant award, department of Housing and Community Development
Christiansburg Institute is awarded a planning grant in partnership with the Town of Christiansburg from the ‘Industrial Revitalization Fund Planning Grant Program’ administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.
2021| master site concept plan
Christiansburg Institute acquires a 2021 Master Site Plan from architecture firm Hill Studio.
2023 | Virtual Edgar A. long building restoration project update
Booker T. Washington
CII SUPERVISOR, 1895-1917
Booker T. Washington served as Supervisor of the Christiansburg Industrial Institute from 1895-1917. Today, the Edgar A. Long Building is situated on 4.4 acres of real estate property located at 140 Scattergood Drive in Christiansburg, VA. In 2001, it was added to the Virginia Landmark Register and National Register of Historic Places.
Edgar Allen Long
CII principal, 1906-1924
Among the first generation of African Americans born free in the United States, Edgar Allen Long was born to Orange and Lila Long in 1871 in Tuskegee, Alabama.
In 1908, while principal at CII, he convened an Institute for Colored Teachers of Montgomery County, which would eventually become the Southwest Virginia Colored Teachers Association. Long served as its first president. In 1911, Edgar Long was elected president of the State Teachers Association and School Improvement League (STASIL).