An anonymous donor initiated efforts to start a fund that will permanently recognize Byrd Prillerman High School; a number of friends and graduates of the school have also contributed to the endowment. Income will be used for need-based scholarships to be awarded to Raleigh County students who live in the “Main Gulf” where the towns of Fireco, Hot Coal, Helen, McAlpin, Stotesbury, Tams, Ury, Amigo, Rhodell, East Gulf, Besco, Mead, Killarney, Pickshin, Slab Fork, Whitby, Winding Gulf, Affinity and Lillybrook once flourished. Preference will be given to descendants of individuals who were students or teachers at Byrd Prillerman. The school opened in the fall of 1927 and the first class graduated in 1931. It was named for an ex-slave who became one of the West Virginia’s eminent educators and president of West Virginia State College. The school burned on January 12, 1962, and was never re-opened.