University of North Carolina Greensboro - Pine Needles Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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The comfort of these dormitories has been greatly enhanced by placing on every floor porcelain baths, and by the introduction of single beds and the substitution of gas with Welsbach burners for kerosene lamps. The growth of the College, from an esthetic point of view, has been no less rapid and steady. The portraits of famous men and women of this and other states, upon the College walls, teach a glorious past in which have been laid the foundations of a yet more glorious future. The services of a landscape gardener for two years have transformed the barren clay hills of the College campus into grassy slopes fringed with blooming roses. Recent donations, notably that of Mr. George Foster Peabody, render possible in the near future the development of a College park, where the students may not only do homage to Pan, but be reminded of their debt of gratitude to Xorth Carolina ' s heroes, both ])ast and present. The success of the College is forcefully demonstrated l)y the fact that there is no section of the State, and no kind of educational institution requiring women teachers with ordinary professional training, from the country public schools to our Ijest colleges, where students trained at The State Xormal and Industrial College have not been employed. It is a notable fact that nearly every city public school system in the State, from Waynesville to Wilmington, has given employment to the students of this College. Four of the six orphanages in the State, and several prominent col- leges for women, also number among their faculties ex-students of The State Normal and Industrial College. A large number of young women trained in the commercial department have been able to earn salaries ranging from $300 to $1,200 a year as stenographers and bookkeepers, some of these positions having been secured by civil service examinations. The scope of patronage for the past ten years liears testimony, not only to the need of such an institution, but to the wisdom of its policy. In the Presi- dent ' s last report this policy is well defined as follows : ' ■ The State Normal and Industrial College stands for a public educational system that will educate all the people. It teaches its students and urges them to teach others the doctrine of universal education. The authorities of the insti- tution regard the College as a part of the public school system of the State, and believe that it has a duty to discharge, not only to those who study within its walls, but to that great body of people who, for one reason or another, will not enter this or any other school or college. ■• The greatest amount of educational opportunity to the greatest number of people, is its motto and its aim. ' ithout reservation, members of its faculty stand for local taxation for public schools, and for every movement which tends to secure to the State effective teaching for every child, preparing him for pro- ductive labor and intelligent citizenship. This institution undertakes to emphasize, in every legitimate way, that any svstem of educatimi whicli refuses td recognize the equal educational rights of women with those of men is unjust, unwise, and permanently hurtful.

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This hill passed the Senate three to one and failed in the House by a small majority. However, in this emergency, the old North State, true to her fame in history, did not lack noble and far-seeing spirits who, returning to each suc- cessive Legislature with the perseverance of the importunate widow, secured from the Legislature of 1891 the reward of their labors in the passage of an act establishing a Training School for girls. Its charter name was The Normal and Industrial School, but the General Assembly of 1897 changed the name to The State Normal and Industrial College. The management of the institution was placed in the care of a Board of Directors consisting of one member from each of the nine Congressional Districts, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction being, c.v officio, an additional member and president of the board. The act establishing the College outlined its purpose as follows : Section 5. The objects of this institution shall be: (i) To give to young women such education as shall fit them for teaching; (2) to give instruction to young women in drawing, telegraphy, typewriting, stenography, and such other industrial arts as may be suitable to their sex and conducive to their sup- port and usefulness. Tuition shall be free to those who signify their intention to teach, upon such conditions as may be prescribed by the Board of Directors. After a most animated contest between the towns of Thomasville, Durham, and Greensboro to secure the institution, it was located at. rather than in, the latter town, as it was then defined by dwellings. But the phe nomenal growth of the city during the last ten years leaves no doubt to-day as to which is the fitting preposition by which to define the location of the College. To secure the school, Greensboro voted $50,000 in money. The site, ten acres, was donated by Messrs. R. S. Pullen. R. T. Gray, and others. About one hun- dred and twenty acres adjoining the original site have been added by purchase. In (Jctober, 1892, the institution began its work with an annual appro- ])riation of $10,000; with only three buildings, with dormitory capacity for less than one hundred and fifty boarders; with fifteen rooms in the main College building, including cha])el and offices ; with a teaching force of fifteen, and an enrollment of 223 students. Through the liberal increase which each General Assembly has made in its appropriation to this College, and through the generosity of the Peabody Board, under the efficient agency of Hon. J. L. AI. Curry, the College has been able to enlarge its usefulness very greatly in every dei)artment. Its faculty and executive force now number about thirty. Its laboratories are well equipped, and it has a carefully selected library of three thousand volumes. A handsome practice school building, substantial brick infirmary, steam laundry, large dining-room, and well arranged kitchen, all testify to the steady growth of the College. By additions to the first dormitories, and by renting several neighbor- ing residences, its dormitory capacity is now sufficient for about three hundred and fifty hoarders. 9

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