Between 1896 and 1915, Red Springs had a military school for boys as well as the Southern Conservatory of Music for girls from all over the country. The military school is long gone, but in time the conservatory became Flora McDonald College, known today as Flora McDonald Academy, a private day school. In the 1840s, Floral College for young women was established a few miles south of town by a local lawyer, John Gilchrist, Jr. of Mill Prong House. The school operated until the Civil War, reopened afterward, but closed its doors around 1870.