MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCBD) – Teachers, students, and members of the community have the chance to tour a historic Berkeley County building that sat empty for years.

The building was formerly home to Berkeley’s high school and elementary school and now it’s a newly renovated Education Center.

According to the settlement of Moncks Corner, in 1912, a small school opened with eleven students. This was a quarter-century after the present boundaries of Berkeley County were established.

By 1915, the building was too small and a brick building with two classrooms and an auditorium was built. A few years later, the school grew to 1300 students and in 1930, the historic Berkeley high school saw it’s first graduating class.

Berkeley County School District’s Public Information Officer tells News 2 that the new Education Center was paid for by the 2012 bond referendum. She says it was at the top of the to-do list because the community wanted to see the building restored.

“We have already received so many phone calls from teachers who taught here, students who attended here late into the 1930s and 40s hearing stories from their grandparents about what it looked like so this is so exciting for them to get to come here and see what history looked like in person.”

Katie Tanner, Berkeley County School District PIO

Tuesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony is set for 4:30 p.m. and there will be two hours of tours led by former teachers and students. The first public session of the Berkeley County Board of Education meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.