Redstone Academy, in its early years, was known as Bethany School. During the first year of its operation as a boarding school, there were 45 students enrolled, in grades first through seventh. Students received instructions in the Bible, mathematics, history, geography, spelling, English, reading and music.
Prior to the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling that "separate but equal" violated the United States Constitution, schools, like Bethany School and later Redstone Academy, were the only place blacks could go to get an education.
In 1906, Bethany School was moved to a newly built nine-room school, located on Elizabethtown Road. And in 1911, the upper grades, eighth through twelfth, were added. A year later, in 1912, Bethany School's name was changed to Redstone Academy. The school was named in honor of the Redstone Presbyterial, a Pennsylvania women's missionary group, who assumed sponsorship of the school. By the time the State of North Carolina assumed operational functions of the school, enrollment had increased to 391 students. The campus had undergone an expansion from a nine-room school to that of a campus consisting of eight buildings. Moreover, Redstone Academy had become known for its academic excellence.
