Piedmont High School - Summit Yearbook (Lawndale, NC)

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Lawndaix, North Carotin a 7 disaster. In all there are six buildings on our campus. The main building, Schenck Hall, contains four well lighted and well ventilated recitation rooms, a dining¬ room, thirty-three by seventy, a kitchen with many con¬ veniences, an office and rooms for the Principal and his family. The whole of the upper story of this building is used as a dormitory for girls. The next is a stately building containing the department of Music, the business school, the primary department and an auditorium fitted with raised seats and modern stage scenery. Its seating capacity is about nine hundred. The Waters’ Library building was completed at the beginning of the last ses¬ sion. This building, by the bequest of Miss Nancy Waters, was erected in memory of her brother, Capt. A. G. Waters, who was a brave Confederate soldier killed in the battle of Gains Mill, near Richmond, Va., June 27, 1862. The legacy was not sufficient for the building de¬ sired but the deficit was made up by Major H. F. Schenck and Mr. John F. Schenck. The building, thirty by thirty- six, two stories, built of pressed brick, the smallest but the finest of our buildings, adorns the crest of the hill. It is a fit monument for one who gave life for native land —more appropriate by far than glistering marble or lofty granite. On the evening of February the fifteenth, 1913, when the majority of the boys were attending church in Lawn¬ dale, fire broke out in Newton Hall, and in spite of the water-works and heroic efforts on the part of those pres¬ ent the building could not be saved as it was too far gone when discovered. There was some insurance and the hall was duplicated by the opening of the next ses¬ sion. May the seventeenth, 1911, the last day of commence¬ ment, after an inspiring address by Hon. T. W. Bickett, Major H. F. Schenck, President of the Board of Trustees,

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6 Piedmont High School department, other recitation rooms were enlarged and the dining-hall was remodeled. Yet, when the session opened and boys and girls began to arrive we found that we needed more room. The fact that it seems almost impossible to secure enough room for our students dem¬ onstrates clearly the wisdom of our plans and the sound¬ ness of our policy; not, perhaps, from a financial stand¬ point, but from the standpoint of doing the most good to the most people. A handsome building, thirty by fifty, two stories high was erected during the summer and it was ready for occupancy at the beginning of the session in 1909-1910. The lower story of this building is used as a boys’ dormitory. The upper story is used by the Musigmarhonian and the Pierian Literary Societies. On the seventh of March, 1910, the main building, con¬ taining recitation rooms, dining-room, auditorium, Prin¬ cipal’s office and residence, girls’ dormitory, and one dor¬ mitory for boys, was destroyed by fire. As only two dormitories for boys and the society halls remained, it was impossible to continue our work, so the school was suspended for the remainder of the session. Major Schenck, the President of the Board of Trustees, called a meeting of the citizens and it was determined to rebuild. The contract was let and work was begun at once. Se¬ questered student life gave place to the builder’s work. Girls, boys, teachers, study and examinations had given way to the carpenter, the mason and the tinner. Soon the wooded hill was resonant with the craftsman’s tool. Out of the ashes of the old was born a bigger and a better Piedmont. Out of the fire-fiend’s ruin, out of cherished, broken plans have come the fruition of broader founda¬ tions and the realization of higher ideals. Three hand¬ some structures, more modern in construction than the old, more dormitory rooms, more recitation rooms, greater conveniences, water-works, a larger campus, larger play grounds and electric lights are the outcome of our terrible

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8 Piedmont High School presented the needs of the School to the audience, and asked for five thousand dollars to pay off the exisitng in¬ debtedness, to paint the buildings and to install water¬ works. A wave of enthusiasm, such as is seldom seen when the people are asked for money, passed over the audience. Wealthy men, boys and girls working their way through school, women and children, all caught the spirit of the hour. More than six thousand dollars was raised. The thanks of the school are due to the friends of the institution whose loyalty and liberality have made is possible for us to take another step forward in the march of progress. Piedmont is not dead. Piedmont is no longer in its infancy. PIEDMONT IS NOT AN EXPERI¬ MENT. From small beginnings, through toil and sac¬ rifice, it has ripened in efficiency till it is now generally recognized as one of the strongest preparatory schools in the State. It has eighteen years of steady growth be¬ hind it, a large patronage and many friends in the pres¬ ent, and glorious possibilities for the future. Our water cannot be surpassed. At a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the school buildings is a fine, large spring of pure, sparkling water, affording more than twelve gallons per minute. This water is piped to us by means of an electric pump. A tank of fifteen thousand gallons capacity, standing on a steel tower more than fifty feet high, gives us the best means of fighting fire. With this and with electric lights, with no danger of exploding lamps nor deadly fumes of gas in our dor¬ mitories, with buildings of only two stories in front, we feel that we have less to fear from fire than ever before. At a distance of not more than four hundred yards from the school are springs of health-giving sulphur- lithia and chalybeate water.