Duke University - Chanticleer Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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I i IjOho, through his remarl{ahlc strength of cliaracter, application, determination, and enthusiasm, was able to acquire for himself in the material world the pre- eminent position of merchant prince and captain of industry. cAn intensely human and sympathetic man who, when he came to crolvn his life ' s work, turned hac the products of a lifetime of titanic endeavor to the development of the natural resources of his native state in order to malie them contribute most to the physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs of man}{ind. c ii ' i inspiring personal leader, possessing a masterly ' mind and a broad philanthropic vision, he created in- stitutions and set in motion influences that will con- tinue to operate for ( ood and to }{eep his name alive in the grateful memories of his fellowmen as long as the rivers continue on their way down to the sea. 3 !5 i i 3 n i m. r ( i; ::r§) z. ' 2:z d !! r s

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e Chanticleer Duke University FROM INSIGNIFICANCE TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE Brantley York School (1838-1840) In 1838 there was implanted in the Pied- mont section of North Carolina the germ of an educational movement that was destined to become a giant in the educational realm of the South, and to make for itself a name that has now become familiar to people in all parts of the Inited States. In that year there was established in the northwestern portion of Randolph County a small local school with Brantley York as principal. A small and insignificant beginning, but i t was the small acorn from which a mighty oak of learning was to flourish later. IJiiion Institute (18+0-1851) A short time afterwards, in the year 1840, a group of Methodists and Quakers, seeing that the work of Brantley York was good, and realizing that a movement of this kind should prosper, joined together in that age of denominational strife in a singular instance of denominational co-operation to establish an academy, which they very appropriately named Union Institute. In 1842, Braxton Craven was chosen principal of this co-opera- tive school, and under his leadership and guidance the project grew and expanded with such vigor that the trustees began to insti- gate plans which would put it in direct rela- . lffi f ' tion to the educational needs of the public schools of the state. Application was imme- diately made to the legislature of North Caro- lina for a new charter. NorniJil Collese (■851-1859) In 1851 Union Institute became Normal College, affiliated with the state and the first institution for the training of teachers in the South. But this experiment met with very little success, and there arose among the trus- tees and patrons of the college a desire to con- vert its educational facilities into other fields. Trinity Cx)IIeKe (Old Trinity) (1859-1892) President Braxton Craven, a man of un- conquerable spirit and remarkable foresight, seeing bigger things in the future for his beloved institution, secured in 1856 the author- ization of the trustees of Normal College to turn the college over to the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ; and the institution was char- tered as Trinity College by the legislature of North Carolina on February 16, 1859. Sur- viving the ravages of the Civil War and the depressing days of reconstruction. Trinity College was among the first to herald the (Continued on Page 13.) II fe wo ' f ' m s KJ.-.-L-A! -- - ' -: - .H i,Tr?L-- ' 1926 ' ' 2p m iJ ' ia