People often talk about East Rome and West Rome as if Rome High began when two longtime rivals finally joined together. Architecturally and historically, I think that leaves out an essential part of the story. The path to today’s Rome High did not run through two schools. It ran through three.

East Rome and West Rome gave generations of students identities they still carry proudly. Main High created generations of scholars, musicians, athletes, teachers, and leaders under circumstances that required them to build excellence within an unequal system. Rome did not simply construct a new high school in 1992. It spent generations learning how to become one.

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For more than 100 years, the towers of Shorter College dominated Rome's skyline, rising above the city like a castle. Around the same time the courthouse became one of Rome's defining landmarks, visitors arriving downtown would have looked up and seen something entirely different—a sprawling collection of Gothic-inspired buildings perched dramatically on Shelton Hill.

Today, only fragments remain. But if you know where to look, the architecture still tells its story. If these building still stood today, they would almost certainly be one of Georgia's most photographed Victorian landmarks.

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