History
When the Boys Came to Town
The initial success of the school had a profound impact on Radford. The comparatively wealthy students provided a new source of income for the local economy. Whole families moved to the city in order to send their sons to this elite institution. Athletic success at St. Albans made the city known around the state. The annual Opening German and Easter German (the “German Waltz” was a popular dance at the time that lives on in so-called German clubs on campuses throughout the US) were important social events that attracted the female offspring of Radford’s leading families. Soon, the area around St. Albans became known as North Radford, even though it officially was and is part of Pulaski County.
St. Albans baseball team in 1902.
Under the leadership of George W. Miles the school prospered, even after a stockmarket collapse in 1893 brought Radford’s first boom to a screeching halt. The enterprising young professor ran the Radford Advance, a local newspaper, and even took over the operation of the public utilities for some time. According to one source, he was even considered to serve as the first president of the University of Virginia but didn’t get the job. He supposedly then moved to Marion, where he was involved in the building of the Marion & Rye Valley Railroad. Other sources tell that he died of cancer in 1903. In any case, his departure or death dealt a serious blow to the school whose student numbers slowly dwindled. St. Albans School for Boys closed in 1911.
Five years later another visionary, Dr. John C. King, bought the two magnificent buildings and opened the St. Albans Sanatorium, one of the first psychiatric treatment facilities of this kind in the nation. It went on to become one of the finest in the nation, too. Read more about this part of St. Albans past in the second part of this little series.
