Completed in 1939, Fairfax County’s original Mount Vernon High School was constructed under the federally-funded Public Works Administration (PWA) program. To accommodate the need to update public school facilities, as well as spur the economy, the PWA was initiated by President Franklin Roosevelt to fulfill the goals of the “New Deal” program. Built during the era of Jim Crow segregation, the Mount Vernon High School was open only to white students. The school building is a good example of the then-popular Colonial Revival Institutional design, one of the design options listed under the PWA program. Early additions to the building such as a gymnasium/cafeteria, which echo the Colonial Revival design, were planned and funded under PWA funding. The school’s ever-growing student body reflected the growth of the metropolitan area after World War II, and by 1960 it accommodated approximately 1,300 students. Former Virginia Governor Charles “Chuck” Robb is one of many notable graduates from Mount Vernon High School. The Mount Vernon High School desegregated in 1965.