Near this site, an important early area school operated in the Empire Community. North Carolina native J.E. "Tarheel" Jones started a public subscription school there in 1883 and became the first teacher at the school, which was first called Bear Creek Academy. The second floor of the two-story frame school building served as a meeting hall for Masonic, Eastern Star, and Knights of Honor lodges. Subjects taught included latin, mathematics, and music, and a dormitory was later built. The Empire Community declined when area railroads bypassed the site. The post office closed in 1888, the Masonic Lodge moved to Nevada, the college closed in 1890, and the Bear Creek School continued at the site. The Empire College building burned in 1914.