Durham High School - Messenger Yearbook (Durham, NC)

Page 21 text:

lflld Ci A Brief Histor ofthe Durham City Schools ODAY our City School System consists of seventeen buildings, three hundred teachers, and ten thousand four hundred pupils. lt is hard to realize the development of this vast system from the tiny organization first set up in 1882. YVe are told that great oaks from little acorns grow, and it may be interesting to examine and trace the little educational acorn planted by a few brave spirits in September 1882, in an old Wooden building known as VVright,s factory near the present site of the Norfolk and VVestern Freight depot. At that time it was given the preten- tious name of Durham Graded and High School. There were three hundred eight pupils, five teachers, and the superintendent, Professor E. VV. Kennedy, a native of Tennessee who prior to that time had taught in Goldsboro. Through Professor Kennedy's influence the school board decided on the policy of a bond issue to raise the money necessary to construct an adequate building. A contest in the courts delayed this bond issue till 1888, but at last the public school won. This decision has never been reversed, for no bond election for schools has ever failed in Durham. Dr. VV. K. Boyd in his Story of Durhamn writes thus: Loyalty to its public school system is a part of the cityys unwritten creed and in the establishment of that creed one personality stands out preeminently, VVilliam T. Blackwell. He nursed the original law through the legislature, he spent nearly four thousand dollars in litigation in defense of the school, and he flung the challenge to the public in 1886 and secured the operation of the schools when the courts had declared the law of I88I unconstitutional. W'ith the bond issue of 515,000 for a new building assured, General S. Carr gave land at the corner of YVarren and Jackson streets, the present site of lVlorehead School. The first brick building was erected and named after lWr. Eugene lklorehead, a member of the school board, and father of lwr. L. Morehead, a lawyer in Durham. The school was opened about 1890. Mr. Kennedy resigned in 1894 and lklr. C. VV. Toms, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, was elected superintendent. He is now President of Liggett and Myers Tobacco Com- an '. The second school building erected during his administration was at the corner of Cleve- P l cv c 2 land and Green, now Chapel Hill Street. This was called Fuller School after Mr. Bartholomew Fuller, a member of the first school board in Durham. hfir. Toms had unusual administrative ability and did much to set the standards cherished by us today. He inspired in teachers and pupils great respect for the schools and loyalty to them. Art and manual training were introduced during his administration. In 1897 lVlr. Toms was elected Professor of Pedagogy at the University of North Carolina. He resigned as superintendent, and lVlr. VV. VV. Flowers, a graduate of Trinity College, now Duke PAGE II

Page 20 text:

,, I M I U93 Wh- i FO DURHAMIHGHSCHOGL F W: PAGEIO

Page 22 text:

llldfl University, was elected. lvlr. Flowers was the youngest superintendent, being only twenty-one years old, but he proved a very able executive. hir. lflowers resigned in IS99 to accept a position with the American Tobacco Company. At present he is connected with Liggett and lVlyers To- bacco Company in New York. llflr. A. hflatheson, a teacher in the High School, and a graduate of Davidson College was elected superintendent succeeding hlr. Flowers. hlr. Mathesonls administration was marked by great expansion of school facilities. His dream was to have a separate High School building. In 1901 the corporate limits of Durham were more than doubled in area by extension. In the same year, the people, at an election, authorized the issuance of 510,000 for school buildings. This money was used in building the Pidgemont and North Durham Schools. These buildings were first used in the fall of 1901. Mr. Henry Highsmith, now supervisor of High Schools in the State Department of Education was first principal of North Durham School and lvlr. li. Green now Professor of ljnglish at Columbia College, South Carolina, was first principal of lfdgemont School. Prior to 1906 the High School was conducted on the second lioor of the lVlorehead School building. The large increase attendance made it advisable to have a separate High School building. In 1905 at a special election, bonds, amounting to 550,000 were issued for constructing a High School building. Land was purchased at the corner of Morris and Vfatkins Streets, and the Build- ing was erected and formally opened as an independent High School unit in September, 1906. Mr. YV. Brogden, now Associate -lustice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, was the first principal of the High School as a separate unit. In the summer of 1906 lllr. hflatheson resigned as superintendent to become Professor of Pedagogy at the State Normal College for XVomen at Greensboro, and was succeeded by Mr. YV. D. Carmichael, then principal of the High School. Mr. Carmichael added an impetus for more efiicient and liberal scholarship. hflr. Carmichael resigned to take a position with Liggett and llflyers Tobacco Company and was succeeded by M r. li. Green who had become principal of the High School in June 1907 upon resignation of Mr. YV. lirogden. Mr. C. H. -lenkins succeeded hlr. Green as principal, and after a year was succeeded by Mr. M. .-X. Briggs, now Secretary of the City Board of liducation and president of the Austin Heaton Company. Mr. Green resigned as superintendent in 1915 and was succeeded by Mr. li. D. Pusey, at one time superintendent of Goldsboro Schools. ln 1923 an election was called to issue bonds for a new City High School. Bonds were issued to the amount of ff650,000 and the Central High School was constructed. Mr. Pusey resigned as superintendent in IQ23 and was succeeded by M r. F. M. Martin, ie su ierin encen o e e ers iurg fcioos. e are a ami iar wi i ie su encit wor' tone rl 1 titfthPtlxSll 'W llfl tltl llli 1.1 by Mr. Martin who died recently. ln IQZS the -lunior High School was constructed. All school buildings existing in 1901 have been enlarged from time to time, and the city has taken over the school buildings in both liast and XVest Durham and has constructed a new one for primary grades on Holloway Street. The schools of Durham today enjoy an enviable reputation for efficiency in training boys and girls for a greater citizenship, most of which is due to the line men who have led Durham Schools. PAGE 1 2