Our building has a rich history of educating Abingdon residents before becoming the museum you see today. It continues to serve as an institution of scholarship and education for visitors and students who walk through its galleries, attend a lecture, or take a class. We envision a future where the past informs the present, fostering a deeper understanding of our shared heritage.
During his life, King served on the board of the Abingdon Male Academy. In his will, he left a gift of $10,000 or “lands to that amount” to build a home for the Academy. The land chosen for the school was on a hill overlooking Abingdon, adjacent to Sinking Spring Cemetery, where King was buried.
The Abingdon Male Academy opened in 1824, and by 1830, over 40 students were enrolled. The school thrived until 1861, when classes were suspended during the Civil War. For a time, the building served as barracks and a makeshift hospital for Confederate troops. The war took its toll on the schoolhouse and, in 1872, the Academy was rebuilt.
When the Abingdon Male Academy closed in 1905, its trustees leased the property to the Town of Abingdon and the Central School District of Washington County. The school board erected a new brick school building in the same footprint of the former Academy. This new public school, completed in 1913, was named William King High School, “so that people may know that William King’s memory still lives in the hearts of the people of Abingdon.”
The building served as a home for public education, first as a high school until 1959 then as an elementary school until 1973, when the last students were moved to the newly built E.B. Stanley Elementary School.
In 1979, the newly incorporated William King Foundation began renovations to turn the former schoolhouse into a center to help bring the arts to prominence in Abingdon and create a museum to serve the community.
In 1992, the doors to the former William King High School opened once more to welcome visitors to the new William King Regional Arts Center. Where once there were classrooms, now there were offices, galleries, and studios.
In 2004, the Arts Center (now called the William King Museum of Art) was accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is still Virginia’s only nationally accredited museum west of Roanoke. Today, the museum hosts exhibitions of world fine art, material culture from Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee, and contemporary art by regional artists. It continues to serve as an institution of scholarship and education for visitors and students who walk through its galleries, attend a lecture, or take a class.
WKMA is proud to continue the legacy of the immigrant boy who traveled from Ireland, the businessman who became a millionaire, and the man who gave the gift of education to the town of Abingdon.
The vision of William King Museum of Art is to be the leading visual art and cultural heritage museum in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee and to expand our service into Eastern Kentucky, Southern West Virginia, and Western North Carolina.
In order to achieve this goal, we will:
