In 1917 Marion County had no high school for African Americans, and that year Brown McReynolds led a committee to establish one. The following year a school for African American students opened in a rented space, but in 1919 a fire destroyed it. Soon afterward, County Superintendent D. A. Tate made plans for a school in South Pittsburg, and with county funds, Rosenwald funds, and money raised by citizens, a twenty-two-room school was constructed. Built by S. W. Hogan in 1921, it was named in honor of Brown McReynolds, and M. M. Burnett served there as principal for 25 years. McReynolds High School educated students in Marion County and north Jackson County, Alabama, until a fire of unknown origin destroyed it on the morning of July 28, 1965.