Status: Preserved

Address: 659 North Manassas Street, Memphis

Built: 1924

Architectural Style: Collegiate Gothic

Original Function/Purpose: Education

Date Listed on the National Register: July 12, 2004

National Register Reference Number Link: 98000368

History: Known as the high school of Elvis Presley as well as other notables, Humes High School was the first Memphis school to include a junior and senior high combination. The still-incomplete building opened in the spring term of 1925. Located in North Memphis, the school was designed by George Awsumb of Pfeil and Awsumb in the Collegiate Gothic style and named after Lawrence Cavell Humes, a local businessman who became Chairman of the Board of Education. The school closed for several weeks early in 1937 in order to house flood victims when the Mississippi River overflowed its banks; teachers and students organized squads to assist the refugees during their stay. The school focused heavily on community development, but was known as well for its high academic reputation and vocational training. In the late 1920s and early 1930s it was ranked among leading high schools in the country in innovative improvements; in 1929 it installed the largest centralized radio system in America, and in 1931 it was the first school in the south to assess the entire student body with an audiometer for hearing problems. Courses offered included infant hygiene, telegraphy, commercial law, forensics, aviation, business, food service and cosmetology. It was changed from a senior to a junior high school in 1967. Humes closed permanently at the end of the 2023-2024 school year after a decade in the State of Tennessee’s Achievement School District, crowning nearly a century of service. A school district official announced in February 2025 that “the district was actively negotiating offers” to sell the school. New Ballet Ensemble & School is purchasing Humes to launch a grades 6-12 public school, Memphis Middle and High School for the Arts and Technology. The school will build and sustain pathways into the creative and technical industries in Tennessee and will house multiple nonprofit family resource partners in health, higher education for dual enrollment, and community youth arts.

City Council District: 7

Super District: 8

County Commission District: 8