Our History

E.B. Frink Middle School began as La Grange Colored High School in 1920. It was located at 103 North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in La Grange, North Carolina. Mr. Emmett Bentley Frink was principal. In 1921, the school caught on fire and burned down. They rebuilt the school across the street at its current location (102 N. MLK Jr. Drive). Several buildings were added between 1930 and 1950. Principal Frink died suddenly in May of 1951. Around this time, Lenoir County became one of the first places in North Carolina to have both white and black consolidated schools. Upon consolidation, the school was renamed E.B. Frink High School by that principal, Mr. J.A. Campbell.

When consolidation occurred, Frink was chosen for its location, infrastructure, and administration. There were three choices for black students in Lenoir County: Frink, Savannah, and Woodington. Interestingly enough, these remain three of the four current middle schools in Lenoir County. Savannah school is now closed, but was consolidated with Contentnea Elementary to form Contentnea Savannah K-8 School. Mr. Campbell led FMS until 1959, when Mr. Allen Mewborn became the second principal of the consolidated school. Mr. Mewborn was a former student at Frink, and he was principal until 1981. In 1970, Lenoir County schools integrated and E.B. Frink went from a high school, to a junior high school serving grades seven through nine. With integration, all the county middle and high schools changed their mascots, and FMS went from being the Wildcats to the Cavaliers.

In the 1980’s, Lenoir County switched from the junior high system to a middle school system and the grade levels served changed to sixth through eighth grade. E.B. Frink Middle school is the oldest school in Lenoir County still in use. It is the only former black school in the county to not undergo major renovations since integration.

E.B. Frink Middle School receives students from Banks Elementary School in Kinston and La Grange Elementary School in La Grange. Frink Middle School and Contentnea Savannah K-8 School feed into North Lenoir High School.