Duke University - Chanticleer Yearbook (Durham, NC)

Page 13 text:

Iliii¥i r»i f i W • ••

Page 12 text:

HOOK I... UIVIVERSITY IIOOIC II.. ACADEMIC IkOOK 111 . FEATURES IIOOIC li r . ATHLETICS HOOK ir.. ACTIVITIES ItOOIL n . ORGAI IZATIOI S

Page 14 text:

His achievements indicate that Rev. Brantley York was a man of high intelligence with the ability to organize and direct a school. With only two year ' s lormal schooling, he started teaching in the Bethlehem Church at Pincy Grove, and it was from here that a group of citizens persuaded him to come to the site of Trinity, North Carolina. At the time, the location was a typical community of the Piedmont region, with a population of small farmers and a few merchants. York opened the school here in the spring of 1838. It was called Brown ' s Schoolhouse, a log cabin so small that some of the overflowing students were forced to sit under a bush arbor outside the building. Study in the first schoolhouse must have l)ecn difficult ; but York took pride in his work, gave each student individual attention, and the school grew in cfl ' ectiveness and reputation. A new building was completed the following August, but the size and facilities were still inadequate. From the sketch to the right, one can get an accurate impression of the new schoolhouse. In February, 1839, the people of the community, whose church affiliations were Methodist and Quaker, formed the Union Institute Educational Society, to symbolize the cooperative spirit which existed between the two churches. Previously Wnk had i)ccome aware of the advantages of the support of the jjeoplc of the community as opposed to the .support granted private institution, and it was at his suggestion that the Union Society was created. Out of this Society came Union Institute Academy, incorporated by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1842. Through ]3ublic subscri|)tions, the Society enlarged the old school, securing a frame building, twenty-five Ijy fifty feet, divided into two classrooms. Sitting comfortabh in a stcam-hcatcd classroom today, one is likely to imderestimate the hardships endured in the winter of 1839 by students in a room heated by a single firephu c A forceful personality was needed to hold the little school together, and the Union Society was fortunate in ha ing Brantley York in charge of the academy. He was one of the unique characters in the history of North Carolina education. A genuine peripatetic schoolmaster, who spent many years in teaching the elements of English grammar in short term courses through(;ut the state, York might be aptly characterized as an educational pioneer. He was the author of an English grammar which went through many editions. So intense was his study and application to his many duties, that he lost the sight of one eye, and years later became totally blind. When he left the school in 1842, York suggested that his ai)le assistant, Braxton Cra en, lie named principal. Today the chapel in the School of Religion at Duke University bears York ' s name.