The Vass Cotton Mill is typical of a wave of textile mills built at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries in North Carolina during the Cotton Mill Campaign, which promoted industry as part of the New South movement. Vass Cotton Mill exhibits hallmarks of slow-burn construction that are characteristic for this period. Electricity allowed textile mills to proliferate through the state, no longer directly dependent on waterpower. The Vass Cotton Mill and its operation mirrored other textile trends seen throughout the state, notably the connection to a mill village, the move to vertical integration, and ultimately the transition to synthetics. The small town of Vass grew with the mill,which employed a large percentage of the populace. The mill and cotton warehouse were constructed in 1909. In 1952 the mill was sold to a conglomerate and converted to synthetic textile production.
Hanbury Preservation Consulting prepared the nomination and the school was designated in August 2025.