Mt. Clinton, the village along Muddy Creek in western Rockingham County, had a school house as early as the 1870s. By 1885 a two room school was located up the hill west of the town. Early teachers there included J. M. Lineweaver, John C. Thomas, and Maude Lemley.

Benjamin T. Hodge felt local parents would like for their children to have the benefit of a high school education, and he proposed to teach some advanced classes in 1890. A. B. Driver prepared a room above his store building for use during the 1890-91 school session. If the initial year proved successful, the district school board promised to help build a new building for the school. Thirty-three students attended that first year making it a measured success.

For the second year, 1891-92, Hodge was replaced by Isaac C. Wampler who was assisted by Frank Myers in the primary department and John C. Thomas in the intermediate department. Plans were underway by December of 1891 to build a building to house the growing school.

An eight room academy building was built and ready for use by the 1892-93 session. Later construction projects added a chapel addition to the academy building, a ladies' dorm with dining room, and a men's dorm. The buildings were located on a two-acre lot with twelve more acres devoted to vegetable gardens to provide food for the dining hall. Isaac Wampler decided to call the school "West Central Academy" due to its location in the western part of Central Magisterial District.

How was an academy different from any other school? Academies served as a link between the county grade school and the college, a chance for students to gain an education beyond that of the grade school. Academies also offered summer normals for educating public school teachers. Teachers could upgrade their certificates by attending normals. West Central Academy was a semi-public institution. The money for the academy building and for teacher salaries was provided by the district school board, but the other buildings were built with private funds canvassed from its supporters in the community.

Advertisements for the Academy noted that there were "no bar rooms within six miles of the place," and Mt. Clinton was said to be "entirely free from malaria and kindred diseases."

At its peak. West Central enrolled 170 students, yet by the turn of the century numbers were on the decline. Free public high schools were being planned in Virginia by 1902. Isaac Wampler resigned as principal that year. L. R. Dingus was named as principal for the final session, 1902-03. After this the building evolved as Mt. Clinton High School, although many continued to call the school West Central Academy for years.

Rockingham County was one of the first Virginia counties to build consolidated schools. Isaac Wampler had read of the successes of the consolidation movement in Missouri. He knew that consolidation allowed for more and better teachers, longer school terms, and better subject offerings. Wampler persuaded some of the patrons of the New Erection school across from Cook's Creek Church to send their children to West Central. John Miller drove those students to Mt. Clinton in a four-seated wagon. So even as West Central Academy was in decline, it still played an important role in the early consolidation movement and public transportation of students in Rockingham County.

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