The first high school in eastern Prince William County once stood on this site in a two-story wood frame building built in 1914. Lightning struck and destroyed the school on June 12, 1927. It was rebuilt on the same site as a two-room brick elementary school. Bethel was the center of many rural activities that reflected the simple lifestyle of this farming community. On March 31, 1968, the school was rededicated as the Muriel Humphrey School for the Mentally Retarded and became the first such institution in eastern Prince William County with an educational program. The two-room brick school was razed on October 24, 1986.