Alvin C. York used funds he received from the movie Sergeant York to promote education and his religious convictions by creating an interdenominational Bible school that trained song leaders, Sunday school teachers, lay ministers, and others and offered formal Vacation Bible School curricula. Built of wood and stone from the immediate vicinity, the structure had a sanctuary, classrooms, and office space, but it operated for about a year before closing at the outbreak of World War II. York's crowning educational achievement was the establishment of York Institute in Jamestown and the construction of the stately building now listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has also deemed it of national significance. A pamphlet issued in 1926 said the institute aimed to give mature men and women an opportunity to get an education regardless of how backward they might be and to send out graduates prepared to succeed in their chosen work. Though he had little education himself, York hired an assistant and tutor, Arthur Bushing, became an accomplished and entertaining speaker, and drew packed houses throughout the U.S. by re-creating his role in the battle on Oct. 8, 1918, ending with a plea for support of York Institute. The building opened in 1929 and was abandoned in 1979 for a newer structure that is still operated as the only state-owned high school in Tennessee after being relinquished to the state in 1937 following York's many political and financial battles to keep it open. Sgt. York presided over every graduation ceremony until his stroke in 1954 and continued to make regular visits to the school into the late 1950s until he grew too frail.