Memorial Industrial School began as the Colored Baptist Orphanage Home for African-American children in the Belview neighborhood of Winston-Salem's Southside area. In 1928, it moved eight miles north of the city's downtown. Northup and O'Brien designed the overall site plan and the administration building, dormitories, and power plant. Contributions from The Duke Endowment and local philanthropists, including the Reynolds and Gray families, subsidized construction and operation of the campus. The curriculum included academic, agricultural, and domestic training. Memorial Industrial School closed in 1971 after operating for 48 years as one of only two black orphanages in North Carolina and the only such institution to serve a single county.