The Roland E. Cook Elementary School was constructed in the heart of the Roanoke County town of Vinton in 1915, and expanded in 1924. Originally the Vinton School, the building was constructed in a local adaptation of the Classical Revival style, and its two-story design is consistent with other consolidated schools built in Virginia’s western counties between 1910 and 1920. Designed by architect G.R. Ragan, the school showcases a full-height pedimented entrance portico supported by monumental columns. On its main and upper floor, the central-passage, double-pile plan features classrooms that retain their original configurations and relationships to the central corridor. In 1965, Roanoke County desegregated the school, and in 1966 the Roland E. Cook Elementary School building underwent a modernization to bring it in line with the newer and larger consolidated schools of the post-World War II era.