The Valley Hub, the former Rochester High School

The Rochester High School (RHS) building was constructed in 1974 to house a growing student population and serve as a community center and rallying point for the whole White River Valley area.

Faced with precipitous declining enrollment, RHS bade farewell to its last in-house class in 2018. The Rochester Stockbridge Unified District (RSUD) closed the RHS building during the pandemic and subsequently determined it was no longer needed for educational purposes, closing the building permanently and dispersing our students to faraway schools of their parents’ choice.

The agreement merging the Rochester and Stockbridge elementary school systems into a unified district, per Act 46, stipulated the sale price of the RHS building to the Town of Rochester at $1.00.

On November 5, 2024, Rochester voters decided, by a significant margin, to acquire the RHS building from the Rochester Stockbridge Unified District.

In early 2025, volunteers came together to breathe new life into the building by clearing out decades of accumulated furniture, supplies, and debris, painting rooms, and making the space welcoming and usable once again. Their hard work transformed the building into a place the community could actively enjoy, leading to summer camps, private rentals, meetings, community events, and many other activities taking place throughout the building. The growing use of the space demonstrated both its potential and the community’s commitment to preserving it.

In August 2025, the Town officially purchased the building, opening the door for federal and state grant opportunities that became possible through municipal ownership.

This legacy project presents a meaningful opportunity for the adaptive reuse of a 33,000 square ft empty building located in the Town of Rochester’s Village Center- an important historical and cultural landmark in the valley. For generations, this building on South Main Street in Rochester, Vermont, served as the local high school — a place shaped by learning, friendships, school events, and daily community life. Today, as the Valley Hub, it continues to play an important role, evolving from a center for student life into a vibrant space for the community as a whole.