Holladay Hall
Title
Holladay Hall
Description
Completed in 1889, Holladay Hall is the oldest building on NC State’s campus. The hall was named after the college's first president, Alexander Quarles Holladay in 1915.
An an unveiling of a Holladay portrait in 1912, Marshall De Lancey Haywood remarked on the subject's commitment to Virginia and education. To Haywood, the Holladay family's five-generation-long-history in Spotsylvania County and the young Holladay leaving his studies at University of Berlin to serve in the Confederate Army spoke to his commitments. Holladay's dedication for education was demonstrated in his own scholarly growth and his dedication to NC State students. One former student wrote, "He took such an interest in me and my success, and was ever kind and considerate."
Along with being president of NC State, Holladay was the history professor and taught European and American history. As president Holladay had to defy the school’s reputation as a “Cow College.” One way he did this was through strictly enforcing a demerit system on the campus. Ten demerits were the most points one could receive for actions such as missing class, not being in the building at night, or profanity or obscenity in and around the campus. Eight demerits were received for going into town during the daytime without permission. The lowest demerits one could receive is two for unexcused tardiness and unnecessary noise in the hall.
Holladay Hall's construction was the result of many. Charles L. Carson was the architect, W.E. Ashley was the general superintendent, Charles Goodwin supplied granite, P. Linehan and Company managed the sandstone, Hamil and Honeycutt were in charge of the brickwork, and the prisoners of Raleigh’s Central Prison provided labor and brick, as they did for other state buildings like the Labor Building, the North Carolina Supreme Court Building, and the Executive Mansion.
States across the American South, including North Carolina, used prison labor to construct their projects and infrastructure. Until 1901, prison labor could be bought by private companies or farmers who could purchase a lease. The prisoners then became the construction company’s responsibility. The money from the lease went to the state, which also operated the prison. Many of the prisoners were convicted for violating the Black Codes, which were a set of laws created throughout the American South after the Civil War that targeted African Americans. Under Black Codes in North Carolina, African Americans could not bear arms without having a gun license for one year before owning it, could not move in out of the state freely, nor could they marry a white person. Historians, including Talitha L. LeFlouria, Jaron Browne, David Oshinsky, and Michelle Alexander, agree that the prison labor system was way to appropriate Black labor after slavery officially ended.
For the university's early supporters, though, the building represented a new era in education for the children of farmers and artisans. Watauga Club member W.J. Peele in his 1888 cornerstone speech declared:
"No white marble pillars support the building whose corner-stone we have laid here to day. At its feet no sacred river flows. In its walls are nothing but North Carolina brick and her still more solid sandstone. ...for this too is a temple reared by North Carolinians in affection for North Carolina and by North Carolina in affection for her children."
A year after the cornerstone speech, the Main Building (the building’s name before Holladay Hall) caught on fire. The fire burned through the first floor and damaged the basement. Door and window sashes were burned, and the paint on the second and third floor were “drawn out and blistered by the heat.” The cause was an accident; however, some suspected arson. Regardless, the school was still planning on opening on October 31st, 1889. In the 1890s the building contained a gymnasium, a dining hall in the north wing, a kitchen and storeroom in the west wing, classroom and lab in the south wing. The east side served for preparatory students and the commandant of cadets office. The first floor was for a library, offices, and classrooms. Classes taught included cotton manufacturing and milling, designing twills, and mill engineering. The Department of Chemistry, head of Agriculture, Professor B. Irby, the steward, and Chancellor all had offices in Holladay Hall. The second and third floors served as dorms.
By 1952, Holladay Hall was used solely for administration. In the 1960, it was where fraternities and sororities received permission to host parties. The hall was also where students could learn more about scholarship opportunities, and Korean War veterans could fill out the Monthy Certification of Training form so that they could receive benefits from Public Law 550, which aids veterans into readjusting to civilian life.
The hall also served as a place where students brought their concerns. In March 1988, a group of Black students marched to Holladay Hall calling for change in the university’s policies towards them. Greg Washington, president of Omega Psi Phi, explained that the protest was in response to Chancellor Bruce Poulton's unresponsiveness to issues presented at the Black Awareness forum. The protesters called their cause a March Against Racism—Challenging History (MARCH) and went to the hall to present their petition. Students demanded administration to address the low percentage of Black professors, the need for an Black graduation, the absence of an African American Studies minor, the racial imbalance in the Athletics Department, and the lack of staff for Black programming.
Holladay Hall represents NC State's founding, ideals, and tensions. Postcards and Christmas cards of the university depict the hall and show off the school's heritage as a technical college. The hall's history, though, is as complex as its student body, faculty, and staff.
References
Original Source References
North Carolina State University Special Collections:
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, 1888-2018.
Alexander Quarles Holladay Papers, 1815-1912. MC00010.
Lockmiller, David A. “History of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina, 1889-1939”. Raleigh: General Alumni Association of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina
Owen, E.B. "Random Sketches of College History". Alumni News Vol. 5 No. 12. (October 1922). Pp. 2.
The Technician
Statute 66. "Public Law 550". Govinfo. United States Government. July 16, 1952. Pp.663-690 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-66/pdf/STATUTE-66-Pg663.pdf
Secondary Source References
"A and M College W Raleigh NC: Provenance Note". NC State Special Collections Resource Center. NC State University Libraries. Accessed December 10th, 2019. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0019329#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-665%2C-1%2C5037%2C2304
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. 2020
Browne, Jaron. "Rooted in Slavery: Prison Labor Exploitation." Race, Poverty & the Environment 17, no. 1 (2010): 78-80. www.jstor.org/stable/41554724.
Gordon, Howard R.D. The History and Growth of Career and Technical Education in America. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc., 2014.
Harris, William C. "Black Codes". NCpedia. 2006. Accessed December 1st, 2019. https://www.ncpedia.org/black-codes
"History of North Carolina's Correction System". North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Accessed December 1st, 2019. https://www.ncdps.gov/Adult-Corrections/History-of-Corrections
LeFlouria, Talitha L. Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South. 2015.
Lichtenstein, Alex. Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South. London: Verso, 1995.
Oshinsky, David M. "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice. 1997.
Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power. Edited by Matthew Hild and Keri Leigh Merritt. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2018.
Multimedia
McCoy, Paige. "Alexander Quarles Holladay: Before He Was Here". NC State Public History Program. December 6, 2019. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKWmvC4cmG0
An an unveiling of a Holladay portrait in 1912, Marshall De Lancey Haywood remarked on the subject's commitment to Virginia and education. To Haywood, the Holladay family's five-generation-long-history in Spotsylvania County and the young Holladay leaving his studies at University of Berlin to serve in the Confederate Army spoke to his commitments. Holladay's dedication for education was demonstrated in his own scholarly growth and his dedication to NC State students. One former student wrote, "He took such an interest in me and my success, and was ever kind and considerate."
Along with being president of NC State, Holladay was the history professor and taught European and American history. As president Holladay had to defy the school’s reputation as a “Cow College.” One way he did this was through strictly enforcing a demerit system on the campus. Ten demerits were the most points one could receive for actions such as missing class, not being in the building at night, or profanity or obscenity in and around the campus. Eight demerits were received for going into town during the daytime without permission. The lowest demerits one could receive is two for unexcused tardiness and unnecessary noise in the hall.
Holladay Hall's construction was the result of many. Charles L. Carson was the architect, W.E. Ashley was the general superintendent, Charles Goodwin supplied granite, P. Linehan and Company managed the sandstone, Hamil and Honeycutt were in charge of the brickwork, and the prisoners of Raleigh’s Central Prison provided labor and brick, as they did for other state buildings like the Labor Building, the North Carolina Supreme Court Building, and the Executive Mansion.
States across the American South, including North Carolina, used prison labor to construct their projects and infrastructure. Until 1901, prison labor could be bought by private companies or farmers who could purchase a lease. The prisoners then became the construction company’s responsibility. The money from the lease went to the state, which also operated the prison. Many of the prisoners were convicted for violating the Black Codes, which were a set of laws created throughout the American South after the Civil War that targeted African Americans. Under Black Codes in North Carolina, African Americans could not bear arms without having a gun license for one year before owning it, could not move in out of the state freely, nor could they marry a white person. Historians, including Talitha L. LeFlouria, Jaron Browne, David Oshinsky, and Michelle Alexander, agree that the prison labor system was way to appropriate Black labor after slavery officially ended.
For the university's early supporters, though, the building represented a new era in education for the children of farmers and artisans. Watauga Club member W.J. Peele in his 1888 cornerstone speech declared:
"No white marble pillars support the building whose corner-stone we have laid here to day. At its feet no sacred river flows. In its walls are nothing but North Carolina brick and her still more solid sandstone. ...for this too is a temple reared by North Carolinians in affection for North Carolina and by North Carolina in affection for her children."
A year after the cornerstone speech, the Main Building (the building’s name before Holladay Hall) caught on fire. The fire burned through the first floor and damaged the basement. Door and window sashes were burned, and the paint on the second and third floor were “drawn out and blistered by the heat.” The cause was an accident; however, some suspected arson. Regardless, the school was still planning on opening on October 31st, 1889. In the 1890s the building contained a gymnasium, a dining hall in the north wing, a kitchen and storeroom in the west wing, classroom and lab in the south wing. The east side served for preparatory students and the commandant of cadets office. The first floor was for a library, offices, and classrooms. Classes taught included cotton manufacturing and milling, designing twills, and mill engineering. The Department of Chemistry, head of Agriculture, Professor B. Irby, the steward, and Chancellor all had offices in Holladay Hall. The second and third floors served as dorms.
By 1952, Holladay Hall was used solely for administration. In the 1960, it was where fraternities and sororities received permission to host parties. The hall was also where students could learn more about scholarship opportunities, and Korean War veterans could fill out the Monthy Certification of Training form so that they could receive benefits from Public Law 550, which aids veterans into readjusting to civilian life.
The hall also served as a place where students brought their concerns. In March 1988, a group of Black students marched to Holladay Hall calling for change in the university’s policies towards them. Greg Washington, president of Omega Psi Phi, explained that the protest was in response to Chancellor Bruce Poulton's unresponsiveness to issues presented at the Black Awareness forum. The protesters called their cause a March Against Racism—Challenging History (MARCH) and went to the hall to present their petition. Students demanded administration to address the low percentage of Black professors, the need for an Black graduation, the absence of an African American Studies minor, the racial imbalance in the Athletics Department, and the lack of staff for Black programming.
Holladay Hall represents NC State's founding, ideals, and tensions. Postcards and Christmas cards of the university depict the hall and show off the school's heritage as a technical college. The hall's history, though, is as complex as its student body, faculty, and staff.
References
Original Source References
North Carolina State University Special Collections:
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, 1888-2018.
Alexander Quarles Holladay Papers, 1815-1912. MC00010.
Lockmiller, David A. “History of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina, 1889-1939”. Raleigh: General Alumni Association of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of the University of North Carolina
Owen, E.B. "Random Sketches of College History". Alumni News Vol. 5 No. 12. (October 1922). Pp. 2.
The Technician
Statute 66. "Public Law 550". Govinfo. United States Government. July 16, 1952. Pp.663-690 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-66/pdf/STATUTE-66-Pg663.pdf
Secondary Source References
"A and M College W Raleigh NC: Provenance Note". NC State Special Collections Resource Center. NC State University Libraries. Accessed December 10th, 2019. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0019329#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-665%2C-1%2C5037%2C2304
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. 2020
Browne, Jaron. "Rooted in Slavery: Prison Labor Exploitation." Race, Poverty & the Environment 17, no. 1 (2010): 78-80. www.jstor.org/stable/41554724.
Gordon, Howard R.D. The History and Growth of Career and Technical Education in America. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc., 2014.
Harris, William C. "Black Codes". NCpedia. 2006. Accessed December 1st, 2019. https://www.ncpedia.org/black-codes
"History of North Carolina's Correction System". North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Accessed December 1st, 2019. https://www.ncdps.gov/Adult-Corrections/History-of-Corrections
LeFlouria, Talitha L. Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South. 2015.
Lichtenstein, Alex. Twice the Work of Free Labor: The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South. London: Verso, 1995.
Oshinsky, David M. "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice. 1997.
Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power. Edited by Matthew Hild and Keri Leigh Merritt. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2018.
Multimedia
McCoy, Paige. "Alexander Quarles Holladay: Before He Was Here". NC State Public History Program. December 6, 2019. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKWmvC4cmG0
Creator
Jordan Scott
Date
2019/12/10
Collection
Tags
Citation
Jordan Scott, “Holladay Hall,” Brick Layers: An Atlas of New Perspectives on NC State’s Campus History, accessed December 4, 2024, https://bricklayers.history.ncsu.edu/items/show/14.