Wilson Daily Times, 18 January 1960.

At “Williamson Community Day,” the Springfield High School Adult and Young Farmer’s Club honored Paul T. Williamson, the merchant/farmer who had been so instrumental in establishing Williamson Elementary, Williamson High, and, finally, the consolidated Springfield High School.

Williamson would surely have been proud of the alumni who recently formed Springfield Community Center for Arts, Education, and Civil Rights Legacy to redevelop the abandoned school building. Their aim is to preserve history while creating new opportunities in the community. See this recent abc11.com spotlight on the project. [Quick note: Springfield was not the first high school in the area. That was Williamson, which opened ten years earlier in 1941. However, when Speight and Williamson High Schools opened in 1951 as the direct result of pressure applied by the black community, they were top-notch facilities.]