Only public elementary instruction was offered in Ligonier until 1882 when the Ligonier Classical Institute, which continued until 1921, was established by the late Rev. E.H. and Mrs. Abbie Dickinson. A daughter of the institute's founders, Miss Eunice Dickinson, taught in Ligonier for 42 years and retired in 1961.
A red brick elementary school building was built in 1863 at the site of the present municipal parking lot in town. The Abbie Dickinson Building, built on this same site in 1903, offered elementary education through 1918 when a state approved four-year high school was organized. The Abbie Dickinson Building then continued as a combination elementary/high school facility until construction of the John Ramsey Senior High School in 1932.
In September 1964, the present Ligonier Valley High School, the Alvin P. Carey Memorial Building, was opened to the faculty and students. This building offers a greatly expanded and modern curriculum.
Upon completion of the present high school, the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were moved into the John Ramsey Building. In 1982, the John Ramsey Building was vacated.
Elementary students, grades K-4, are currently housed in the Richard King Mellon Elementary School, built in 1970. Ligonier Valley Middle School, built in 1952, now serves grades 5-8.
