Dan Allen Drive and Dan Allen Parking Deck
Dan Allen Drive borders important landmarks: Hillsborough Street, the Dan Allen Parking Deck, Witherspoon Student Center, Western Boulevard, and Greek Village. None of those buildings existed when Daniel Allen graduated from the college in 1896. Instead of a road name, Raleigh knew Daniel “Dan” Allen as a businessman and philanthropist as well as a proponent of white supremacy and segregationist housing policies. The school did not purchase the land under Dan Allen Parking Deck until 1987. That land was part of “House Creek district” in 1871, where Wake County’s fourth-highest population of African Americans lived according to a map by Fendol Bevers. The statistic eventually included Dr. Thomas Love, who purchased the lot in 1888. Part of the first generation in his family who learned to read according to the 1900 Census, Love and his brother opened Love’s Drug Store by 1910. They dispensed medical advice, along with tickets to local events the city forbade African Americans from buying elsewhere, according to N&O. In 1903, Love sold the land to his sister, Maggie, and her husband, physician Dr. Lovelace Capehart. George and Susan Capehart enslaved Lovelace as an infant in Bertie County, North Carolina, according to their list of enslaved people; Arthur Caldwell’s History of the American Negro and his Institutions reported that after the Civil War, no one advised Lovelace about receiving an education. Nevertheless, he earned law and medical degrees, which helped him nourish Raleigh's African American community as a physician and Shaw University professor. The N&O reported Maggie became an activist in 1939, when she and neighbors sued to stop the city from expropriating her next home on Smith Street. By 1934, the areas south and east of Capehart’s former property did belong to NC State, and a highway engineering professor said in a letter he sought “an underpass [under the train tracks] connecting the north and south sides of the State College campus.” A year later, the Civil Engineering Department prepared a map showing a “proposed road” to connect Hillsborough (called “Hillosboro” before 1965) and Western streets. The Buildings and Grounds Committee did not act on the proposal until after the Public Works Administration and other New Deal programs, all federal Great Depression-era stimulus efforts, funded construction of more than twelve campus buildings. Buildings like Alexander Residence Hall and the Textile Building (now Nelson Hall) spurred greater demand for roads at the campus' western edge. By 1940, the Buildings and Grounds Committee funded construction, explaining in November meeting minutes, “the Daniel Allen Road…is the road that connects the Western Boulevard with Dunn Avenue.” In 1949, the committee devoted $90,000 to an underpass, so that by 1952, Dan Allen Drive stretched from Hillsboro to Western. By 1962, Dan Allen Drive crossed Western into “Fraternity Housing,” according to campus maps. For the next 50 years, The Technician wrote that students hosted parades, parties, and even barefoot snow runs along Dan Allen. In 1968, Student Government paid attention too, successfully lobbying administration for streetlights. But Dan Allen Drive most often made the news because of its traffic. “Anyone who has tried to cross Dan Allen at peak hours can tell you that it’s safer to face a raid of Viet Cong,” a 1969 Technician article complained, using a reference to organized Vietnamese resistance to US Forces in the Vietnam-American War. By 1987, however, reporters asserted “pedestrians have, in a sense, taken over the road,” while cars had “to muddle through a stop sign, a speed bump, numerous crosswalks and too many turnoffs.” That caused “hellacious” traffic, according to one student in 2004, although the school eased gridlock with restricted access gates in 2013. Student publications rarely discussed the road’s namesake, Daniel Allen. The Buildings and Grounds Committee chose the name in 1940, according to a letter, after the governor ordered names for all university buildings. “The road [shall] be named Daniel Allen, Class of 1896, who died in 1929,” the committee wrote in correspondence. “He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the College.” NC State Alumni News and N&O reported Allen, born in 1875 in northern Wake County, was one of three brothers to graduate from the college. They founded a real estate company in the early 1900s, a time of middle-class expansion in Raleigh according to historian Joe Mobley. Dan Allen grew wealthy and prominent selling suburban homes; as a lifelong bachelor, he devoted his time and wealth to the boards of the State Hospital, State Fair, and NC State’s Alumni Association. In 1927, the college selected him for its Board of Trustees. However, a heart attack on Dec. 16, 1929 cut short Allen’s career and civic leadership. He died at 54.Six days later, the trustees wrote in N&O, “a spirit of fairness ran through his life in such a way that his friends were confined to no party, creed, or race.” Allen’s views on race were more complicated, however, as his active role in Raleigh’s White Supremacy Club demonstrates. On March 1, 1900, the Democratic Party chairman predicted in The Morganton Herald that white North Carolinians would form over 2,000 clubs that would “fully restore and make permanent in North Carolina the supremacy of the white race,” according to the state-wide organizational plan the Herald also published. Clubs from Asheville to Wilmington campaigned for a constitutional amendment, which scholar James Hunt said required a poll tax and literacy test for voters. The organizational plan said the amendment was “for the purpose of forever removing…the threat of negro ascendancy.” On July 25, Dan Allen signed “secretary” under the N&O announcement “presidents and secretaries of all the White Supremacy Clubs in the city...will please meet.” On amendment voting day, The Morning Post reported Allen rose at 5 a.m. to “care for the interests of Anglo-Saxon North Carolina.” Mobley noted “violence by…white supremacy organizations kept blacks away from the polls” that August 2. The amendment passed and “blacks in the South no longer had the vote,” according to Mobley. Allen’s real estate transactions showed adherence to state and local segregation policies. From 1922-1928, he sold new homes in Wilmont, Mordecai Place, and Fuller Heights to Charles Maddrey, R.B. Stephens, and J.L. Tudor, respectively. Typical of other real estate transactions at the time, all three land deeds stipulated the premises “shall not be occupied by negroes, except domestic servants and their families, employed by the occupants of a dwelling.” Historian Colin Gordon noted such restrictive covenants “grew alongside the modern real estate industry.” They had “lingering effects” on housing patterns and “debilitated the African American community's ability to propagate family wealth,” according to scholars Richard Brooks and Louis Lee Woods. The American Community Survey found Wilmont, Mordecai Place, and Fuller Heights remained predominantly white in 2020. Dan Allen’s legacy is one of service and philanthropy, but it is also one that fits a larger pattern of segregationist policies and practices evidenced throughout the country. Bibliography: Original Source References 1900 United States Census. Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Digital image s.v. "Thomas L. Love." Familysearch.org 1910 United States Census. Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Digital image s.v. "Thomas L. Love." Familysearch.org Allen, Daniel. “Important Meeting.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). July 25, 1900. Amarasiriwardena, Thushan. “Get on the Bus.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). January 28, 2004. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-2004-01-28 Anderson, Craig. “Zoo Day to be Saturday.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). April 21, 1978. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v57n83-1978-04-21 Andrews, Chip. “Raleigh Cop, Spring Fever Cause Campus Congregation.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). April 4, 1963. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v47n69-1963-04-04 Bailey, Sean. “Council overrules panel extends access to proposed parking deck at NCSU.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). November 20, 1987. https://www.newspapers.com/image/655857054 Buste, Elaine. “Parking deck approved.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). April 9, 1986. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v67n75-1986-04-09 Caldwell, Arthur. History of the American Negro and his Institutions. Vol. 4, North Carlina Edition. Atlanta: A.B. Caldwell Publishing Co., 1917. https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica04cald/page/646/mode/2up?q=capehart Capehart, Lovelace Brown, Sr. Grave marker, Mount Hope Cemetery, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. "Dr. Lovelace Brown Capehart," FindaGrave.com. Capehart, Maggie Lillian Love. Grave marker, Mount Hope Cemetery, Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. "Maggie Lillian Love Capehart," FindaGrave.com. “Come Along Mandy [advertisement].” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). March 3, 1924. https://www.newspapers.com/image/650683829 Corey, Joe. “Old memories torn down for money, new concrete parking deck.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). March 4, 1988. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v69n63-1988-03-04 Bevers, Fendol. Map of Wake County. [map]. Two miles to one inch. Raleigh, N.C.: Nichols & Gorman, 1871. From North Carolina State Archives, North Carolina Maps. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/241 (accessed April 2, 2021). “Dan Allen Dies of Heart Attack.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). December 17, 1929. https://www.newspapers.com/image/651038556/ “Election Today.” Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.). August 2, 1900. https://www.newspapers.com/image/58165382/ Esri_demographics. “American Community Survey Race and Hispanic Origin Variables – Boundaries.” [computer map]. 1:25000. Redlands, CA: ESRI LivingAtlas, 2020. Using ArcGIS Online [GIS software]. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute, 1992-2004. Based on data from U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2015-2019 5-year estimates, Table(s) B03002. https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/arcgis/rest/services/ACS_Population_by_Race_and_Hispanic_Origin_Boundaries/FeatureServer “Hillel.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). February 20, 1976. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v56n59-1976-02-20 “Housing Authority in the City of Raleigh v. L.B. Capehart and wife, Maggie Capehart.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). November 9, 1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/652403366 Lee, Jacqueline. “Dan Allen gate both good and bad for drivers, pedestrians.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). November 1, 2013. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-2013-11-01 “New Plan Coming for Dan Allen.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). July 20, 1988. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v69n87-1988-07-20. North Carolina. Wake County. Deed Books, 1871-present. Office of the Register of Deeds, City of Raleigh. North Carolina State University, Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, UA 001.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Committees, Physical Environment Committee Records, UA 022.008, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Records, UA 016.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Administration, Office of the University Architect Records, UA 003.026, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, Biographical Files, UA 050.003, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Paschall, Dick. “Barefooted Run Grosses $25.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). February 27, 1963. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v47n52-1963-02-27 “Parking Opens Pandora’s Box.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). September 19, 1969. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v54n2-1969-09-19 “Pass Resolution on Daniel Allen.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). December 22, 1929. https://www.newspapers.com/image/651039296/ Perkins, David. “Private dorm proposed near NCSU.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). January 21, 1987. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/655260485/ “Raleigh City Council panel deals setback to deck.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). November 19, 1987. https://www.newspapers.com/image/655854147 “Scott Club Plans Parade Tonight.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). April 16, 1954. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v38n25-1954-04-16 Slave Records with Birth Dates. List, Bertie County, NC, circa 1840-1864. In the Capehart Family Papers #1494, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://dc.lib.unc.edu/utils/ajaxhelper/?CISOROOT=01ddd&CISOPTR=236729&action=2&DMSCALE=31.486146095718&DMWIDTH=3176&DMHEIGHT=5313 “SG Investigates Student Gripes.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). February 28, 1968. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v47bn47-1968-02-28 Tart, Helen. “Alpha Phi Omega makes final plans for traditional Homecoming parade.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). October 8, 1976. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v57n18-1976-10-08 “Transportation’s Dan Allen Renovations Leave Students Guessing.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.). September 16, 1987. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v69n10-1987-09-16 “White Supremacy Club.” Morganton Herald (Morganton, N.C.). March 1, 1900. https://www.newspapers.com/image/58165382/ “White Supremacy Club.” Raleigh Times (Raleigh, N.C.). June 26, 1900. http://www.newspapers.com/image/64556815/ “Would Name High School Here for Daniel Allen.” News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). December 20, 1929. https://www.newspapers.com/image/651039019/ Secondary Reference Sources Brooks, Richard R. W. "Covenants without Courts: Enforcing Residential Segregation with Legally Unenforceable Agreements." The American Economic Review 101, no. 3 (2011): 360-65. Accessed April 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29783770. Downs, Gregory P. "University Men, Social Science, and White Supremacy in North Carolina." The Journal of Southern History 75, no. 2 (2009): 267-304. Accessed April 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27778937. De Miranda, Cynthia. Historic Architectural Resources Survey Report-Hillsborough Street Improvement Project #1. Durham, NC: Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., 2004. https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/historic-preservation-office/PDFs/ER_04-1541.pdf. Gordon, Colin. Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. Accessed April 2, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central. Kosmerick, Todd. “New Deal Construction on the NC State Campus.” Libraries News (blog). North Carolina State University Libraries. July 29, 2019. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/special-collections/new-deal-construction-nc-state-campus Hunt, James. “Disenfranchisement.” NCpedia.org. 2006. https://ncpedia.org/disfranchisement Mobley, Joe A. Raleigh, North Carolina: A Brief History. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2009. University Architect, Office of the. “060—Dan Allen Drive Parking History.” Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina State University, 2021. Emailed to author, 11 March, 2021. Woods, L.L., II. “’The Inevitable Products of Racial Segregation’: Multigenerational Consequences of Exclusionary Housing Policies on African Americans, 1910–1960.” American Journal of Economic Sociology 77, no. 3-4 (2018): 967-1012. https://doi-org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/10.1111/ajes.12229
The building formerly known as Daniels Hall stands on North Campus at North Carolina State University at the corner of Lampe and Stinson drives. This building is home to some of the prominent science fields at North Carolina State University, such as the Physics Department and the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Built in 1926, the building originally housed both the physics and electrical engineering departments In 1938 Chancellor John Harrelson dedicated the building in honor of Josephus Daniels. Daniels’ professional endeavors spanned many careers. He was the editor and publisher of the Raleigh based newspaper News and Observer from 1894 until his death in 1948, Secretary of the Navy during World War I, and even Ambassador to Mexico from 1933 to 1941. Daniels played a key role as a perpetrator of the Wilmington Coup of 1898, a political event in Wilmington, North Carolina where the Democratic party overthrew the Fusionist elected government. Daniels was also a founding member of North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now North Carolina State University) as a founding member of the Watauga Club; a group made up of young professionals eager to better the economic and social aspects of the state of North Carolina, their interest in the state’s betterment led to the founding of NC State University. In Washington, North Carolina in 1862, Mary Cleaves Seebrook Daniels gave birth to Josephus Daniels. His father, also named Josephus Daniels, was a ship builder in North Carolina, but before Josephus the younger turned three, his father was killed by a Confederate soldier, likely because of his Unionist sympathies and ideals. Mary Daniels and her young children moved to Wilson, North Carolina where Josephus Daniels the younger left home to further his education at the Wilson Collegiate Institute, then Duke University and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he studied law. In 1894, Josephus Daniels gained control of the News and Observer, a popular newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. Prior to 1894, Daniels had owned multiple smaller newspapers located in some of the small towns in eastern North Carolina. At the time of Daniels’ purchase, the newspaper was a strong advocate for the conservative Democratic party and it served as a vehicle for white supremacist ideas in North Carolina. By the 1890s, many white supremacy political campaigns were popping up, especially in North Carolina where these campaigns culminated in the election of racist political figures. The News and Observer acted as a machine of propaganda for white supremacists during this heavily politicized time in North Carolina’s history. Political cartoons were printed by the News and Observer and spread around the state including to Wilmington, North Carolina. The cartoons that Daniels had commissioned for the newspaper consisted of racist propaganda that stoked white fear of Black people gaining political power over white people in the state. Prior to election day in 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, a number of so-called “Red Shirts” made their way to the city to try and stop black people and Republicans from voting by using violence and firearms. “Red Shirts” were young men who were members and supporters of the Democratic property who believed in segregation and mostly espoused racist ideals. The election was between the Democratic party and the Fusionist party, a biracial coalition of Republicans, populists, and black people. Despite the display of violence by the “Red Shirts” and other members of the Democratic party, the Fusionist party won the 1898 election in Wilmington. This outcome led to a coup d’etat against the Fusionist party, led by the “Red Shirts” and the Democrats. A white mob burned down the only black-owned newspaper in Wilmington, the Wilmington Daily Record, and the group killed hundreds of African Americans in the city; the event ended with the “Red Shirts” and the Democrats successfully overthrowing the Fusionist government. This event is popularly known as The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington Riot of 1898. It was not until 2006 when the News and Observer officially apologized for its role in inspiring the coup d’etat of 1898. In the late 1940s, Clarence Poe, along with the General Assembly of North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (NC State), suggested that a memorial be built on campus to honor the memory of the recently deceased Josephus Daniels. While Daniels had no direct connection to the college, Clarence Poe envisioned a memorial arboretum to memorialize Daniels and his life. The plans for the arboretum eventually fell through and no landscaped memorial was created to honor Daniels; instead the building that housed the physics and electrical engineering departments bore his name. In 1938, C.A. Upchurch Jr., writer for The Raleigh Times, wrote an article explaining the naming of Daniels Hall by quoting physics professor Charles Heck. Heck stated in a letter to Daniels, "I believe that you are the most devoted to State college of all its supporters...and I believe that you have the good of the State of North Carolina in your heart." In his article, Upchurch stated that Daniels was worthy of this honorific naming because of his role as a member of the Watauga Club and founding member of the university. In 2020, the university announced it would no longer use the name on the building because it did not wish to honor Daniels' racism. As a primarily academic building, the former Daniels Hall has held courses for many departments but mainly for the electrical engineering, physics and industrial engineering departments. The original building had a rooftop laboratory used as an astronomy observatory that later converted into a laboratory for the physics department to take electrical samples of the air; in May 1993, a chemical fire broke out in this space around the time of final exams. Another laboratory was added to the ground floor when it was built; however, in the early 1980s, the university redesigned it to give space for semiconductor research and to add a fabrication laboratory. References Original Source References Charles McGee Heck Papers 1922-1943, MC00030, Half Box 1. Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00030. Josephus Daniels Letter and Address 1939, 1943, MSS 00027, Legal Box MSS 2. Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mss00027. North Carolina State University, Office of the Chancellor, John William Harrelson Records 1933-1953, UA002.001.002, Box 35, Box 41. Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/ua002_001_002. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA050.004, Box 4. Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/ua050_004. Raleigh Fire Department History - 1990 to 1999. Accessed November 3, 2019. https://www.legeros.com/ralwake/raleigh/history/timelines/1990-1999.shtml. Snider, William D. “Watauga Club.” NCpedia, April 13, 2009. https://www.ncpedia.org/watauga-club. Secondary Source References Campbell, W. Joseph. “One of the Fine Figures of American Journalism: A Closer Look at Josephus Daniels of the Raleigh News and Observer.” American Journalism 16:4, 1999: 37-55. Ceceleski, David S., and Timothy B. Tyson. Democracy Betrayed: the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and its Legacy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Craig, Lee A. Josephus Daniels: His Life and Times. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Prather Sr., H. Leon. We Have Taken a City: Wilmington Racial Massacre and Coup of 1898. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984. Umfleet, LeRae S. A Day of Blood: the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot. Raleigh: North Carolina Office of Archives and History, 2009.
On May 10, 1963, Walter Clark unveiled a plaque at the former Mangum Hall as part of a ceremony to mark the renaming of the building for his brother, David Clark. As the editor of The Southern Textile Bulletin, the recipient of an honorary doctorate in textiles, and longtime supporter of athletics at NC State, David Clark represented important features of the university’s growth in the early and mid-20th century. The university chose to rename the hall in honor of Clark “whose dedicated participation in the development of North Carolina State College and the School of Textiles was an inspiration,” as the dedication plaque read. These words failed to convey Clark’s troubling history with the university. While no full length biography of David Clark exists, sociologist Bart Dredge has written extensively on Clark’s work as an editor and outspoken supporter of white supremacy. Dredge locates the vehemence of Clark’s racism in the motivations of the generation of men whose fathers fought for the Confederacy and who believed that the South lost the Civil War because of its relatively low level of industrial development. Susan Washington Graham Clark, the daughter of North Carolina Governor William A. Graham, gave birth to David Clark in Raleigh in 1877. His father was Walter M. Clark, a colonel in the Confederate army and a long serving member of the North Carolina Supreme Court. As a student at NC State College, David Clark played on both the baseball and football teams, sparking a fondness for sport at the school that would last through his lifetime. In 1896, Clark earned a degree in mechanical engineering and another in civil engineering in 1897 at NC State College, and served as Alumni Association President in 1903-04. He started his own cotton mill, which did not survive the Panic of 1907, a series of runs on banks and a rapid stock market loss that caused mass bank failure. From there he went into trade publishing, working at Textile Manufacturer. In 1910, he started his own journal, The Southern Textile Bulletin, to which he added other trade publications through his business Clark Publishing. In 1933 his signature trade journal became simply Textile Bulletin until it ceased publication in 1971. David Clark saw himself as the defender of textile industry, and used the pages of the Bulletin to rail against racial integration, child labor laws, and, in his words, “unions, communists, subversion, free lovism, and negro equality.” Clark’s views were so vehement that his father warned him to exercise some temperance and discretion. David Clark directed much of his ire at professors and students, and held an extended feud with University of North Carolina President Frank Porter Graham, whom he considered far too accommodating to those on the political left. As a member of the Board of Trustees of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, he frequently criticized Graham and professors at UNC for their support for labor unions and racial integration. In 1940, he vociferously objected to a visit to UNC by poet Langston Hughes, during which English Professor E.E. Ericson “took dinner in a negro hotel at Durham with a negro communist. If he had been at any other Southern university except the University of North Carolina, it is a safe bet that he would have been fired.” Clark railed against Graham’s approval for Ericson’s subsequent academic promotion. At NC State, Clark sought to prevent the freedoms he saw as too broadly practiced at Chapel Hill. On May 16, 1941, he wrote to President J.W. Harrelson about his concern that out-of-state Jewish students would corrupt the youth of North Carolina. He wrote: For a number of years there has been more or less disturbance at State College by reason of articles in the Technician and in almost every case they were written by New York Jews...We cannot, of course, rule that no Jew can be connected with a college publication, but the same result could be accomplished by having the Faculty Council rule that no out-of-state boy shall be eligible for a position with a college publication. The basis for such a ruling would be that State College is a North Carolina institution and that out-of-state are not well qualified to express North Carolina sentiments. Anti-Semitism like Clark’s became less open in the United States in the 1940s, as Americans entered World War II and sought to distance US culture from views espoused by Adolph Hitler. Such interference in student matters made Clark less than popular with NC State students, and in November of 1952, when the NC State Student Legislature met, they introduced an unsuccessful bill “to remove John W. and David Clark from the Board of Trustees.” Textile manufacturers appreciated Clark for his work on behalf of their interests, and in 1944 the university awarded Clark an honorary doctorate in textile science. His connections made him an influential fundraiser for the university, and had a special affinity for athletics. He was heavily involved in recruiting players for the football team and even paid tutoring fees for a star athlete. By the early 1950s, Director of Athletics Roy B. Clogston had taken to addressing Clark as “Uncle Dave.” After Clark’s death in 1955, university officials talked about naming an athletics facility for him. Instead, they decided on renaming Mangum Hall, which served for research and teaching in textiles chemistry. NC State architecture professor and first chair of the Department of Architecture Ross Edward Shumaker designed Mangum Hall, which opened in 1939. Shumaker came to the university in 1920 and specialized in Beaux-Arts design, a style the combined classic elements with modern materials and lines and associated in the United States with Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burham. Clark Laboratories underwent a redesign in 2005 and currently houses the Department of Zoology and the Biological Sciences Program. Original Sources “Legislators Lambasting.” The Technician (Raleigh, NC). (LH1 .N6 T4) Volume 33, no. 7, November 4, 1952. Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries UA 015.007 NC State University, Athletics, Subject Files, 1909-1976, Box 2, Folders 10 and 11. Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries UA 002.001.002 North Carolina State University, Office of the Chancellor, John William Harrelson Records 1933-1953, Box 7, Folder 4; Box 31 Folder 3; Box 46 Folder 12. Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries UA 003.001, North Carolina State University, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Records 1887-2013 Box 2, Folder 18 and Box 6 Folder 8. Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries For Further Reading Bushong, William and Felicity Smith. “Shumaker, Ross Edward (1889-1960).” North Carolina Architects and Builders. NC State Libraries. https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000518 Chemerinsky, Erwin and Howard Gillman. Free Speech on Campus. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017. “David Clark vs. a ‘Small Group of Radicals’.” A Right to Speak and Hear: Academic Freedom and Free Expression at UNC. Online Exhibit. UNC Libraries. https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/academic_freedom/between-wars/david-clark Dredge, Bart. “David Clark’s ‘Campaign of Enlightenment’: Child Labor and the Farmers’ States Rights League, 1911-1940.” North Carolina Historical Review 91, no. 1 (January 2014): 30-62. Dredge, Bart. “Defending White Supremacy: David Clark and the Southern Textile Bulletin, 1911 to 1955.” North Carolina Historical Review 89, no. 1 (January 2012): 59-91. Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd. Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1987. McLaurin, Melton A. Paternalism and Protest: Southern Cotton Mill Workers and Organized Labor, 1875-1905. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971. Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Greek Village is located on South Campus, between North Campus and Centennial Campus. It is approximately 50 acres of land owned by the University for use by Greek Life organizations on campus. Construction on Greek Village began in 2011, a massive rebuilding project of what was formerly Greek Court. The development of Greek Village is divided into five phases and each phase includes a certain number of houses being demolished and rebuilt. According to NC State’s Fraternity and Sorority webpage, as of 2021, there are 19 of a total 21 planned sorority and fraternity houses built. The land is owned by the University and leased to the organizations, while all new houses which are built are owned by the Greek organizations themselves. The University continues to own and operate several houses in Greek Village. The project was first discussed in 2005, by a small ad hoc group of Greek Life staff and alumni, as indicated by the 2005-2006 Department of Greek Life Report. In March 2006, Chancellor James L. Oblinger appointed sixteen members to an official task force to redevelop Greek court. To these sixteen appointees Oblinger explained the commitment of the University to the project in a March 16, 2006 letter, writing, “Greek letter organizations have been an integral part of student life at NC State University for more than 100 years... The University is committed to our fraternities and sororities, and wants to continue to provide strong support to those groups.” The group was tasked with investigating a land-lease system which would allow chapters to build their own houses on university property as well as urging them to “utilize the principles from the University Physical Master Plan.” The “Final Report & Recommendations” made by the Greek Court Redevelopment Task Force stated that one of the reasons the school was supporting the redevelopment of Greek Court into Greek Village includes that “Alumni/ae of these organizations are active supporters of the University providing significant financial support to our institution.” Other reasons included Greek organizations leading to greater retention and graduation rates for students. NC State’s Fraternity and Sorority Life webpage states on their “Fast Facts” page that in 1895, Sigma Nu became the first Fraternity at NC State. “A Brief History of Fraternity Housing at State College,” located in the Interfraternity Council Records, explains that NC State and Greek life housing were connected as early as the 1900’s, and says some fraternities lived in dormitory suites. Alice Regan’s North Carolina State University: A Narrative History states that between 1904 and 1922 all fraternities lived on campus. Additionally, she writes that NC State did not formally acknowledge fraternal organizations until 1904, and did so only on the condition they adhere to school rules and NC State’s “military discipline.” Architectural historian Carla Yanni explained in Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory, that while the very first fraternities were simply social organizations, by the 1920s fraternities across the country were housing organizations as well. This is true of fraternities at NC State as well. “A Brief History of Fraternity Housing at State,” reports that by 1923 fraternities were all encouraged to provide their own housing, as dormitory space became sparse. By 1939, reports were being made that fraternity houses were unsafe living conditions. These complaints continued in the 1940s, citing poor plumbing, fire hazards, and inadequate kitchens. In 1963 the University began construction on Greek Court, what is today Greek Village. According to a 1963 Raleigh Times article, the plan to build University run Greek housing began in 1954. A 1960 Raleigh Times article explained that the school secured a $1,800,000 loan from the Communities Facilities Organization, a government agency. The school made sure to point out however, that taxpayers would not be footing the bill for these houses. The fraternities themselves would gradually pay off the loans by collecting rent. In addition to health and safety concerns, the University wanted to move fraternities to a central location which would better connect them to campus. The first Sorority house was added to Greek court in 1976. While African American Greek life began on campus in 1971, and the Multicultural Greek Council in the late 1990s) only historically white Greek organizations had houses on Greek Court. According to the Department of Student Development Records, by 1965, NC State ensured no Greek life organizations had discriminatory policies. However, according to Professor of Communications Alan D. DeSantis, even into the 2020s Greek life across the country remains largely de facto segregated. In The Wiley Handbook of Gender Equity in Higher Education DeSantis writes, “[A] great number of [Greek organizations], especially the older, more conservative ones, and many chapters on campuses in the Deep South, have remained de facto segregated clubs, attracting and blandishing White, Christian, heterosexual, wealthy students into their fold.” Between 2000 and 2005 major renovations began on the Greek Court properties, attempting to bring them up to new fire-codes and improve the deteriorating facilities. There were constant complaints from students about the lack of proper housing. A major issue was the cost of living in the dilapidated houses. Despite the state of the buildings, most residents were paying more than students would pay elsewhere for on campus housing, due to the fact that many chapters had an increasing number of vacancies in the house. Vacancies were not, however, the only issues facing Greek Court on the eve of Greek Village renovations, as a Technician article from July, 2005, titled “Greek budget suffers,” opened by explaining, “Hazings, suspensions, vacancies and renovations cast a shadow over the Greek Life budget for the 2005-2006.” There are many examples of incidents of hazing, racism, and sexual assault connected to Greek organizations, predominatly to historically white fraternities, at NC State, which includes many who have houses in Greek Village. Major cases include the 2015 suspension of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi, which a Technician article from March 2015, explains was due to a pledge book which contained violent language, such as rape and lynching. Pi Kappa Phi was reinstated in fall 2018. According to the “Timeline” webpage on NC State's Fraternity and Sorority Life website, Pi Kappa Phi had a house on Greek Court which was demolished in 2014, and there are plans to build their new house in phase four of Greek Village redevelopment, between 2021 and 2024. The final court, which will be finished in 2028, will also include two townhomes and an apartment building. The “Final Report & Recommendations” specifically lists that townhouses will provide housing for “small chapters and groups who cannot afford to construct their own facility.” The report states this will be an option for African American fraternities and sororities and multicultural fraternities and sororities, which tend to be smaller and younger than the historically white Greek organizations. As of 2021, all the houses built in Greek Village have been built by historically white Greek organizations. Original Source References Oblinger, James L. James L. Oblinger to Greek Court Redevelopment Task Force March 28, 2006. Letter. https://fsl.dasa.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2015/05/appointment.pdf North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Records, UA 016.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs Annual Reports, UA 016.002, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Department of Student Development Records, UA 016.034, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, Student and Other Organizations, Interfraternity Council Records, UA 021.468, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. Secondary Source References DeSantis, Alan D. “This Is Not Your Parents’ Greek Life: Trends in the Ongoing Evolution of Fraternities and Sororities.” The Wiley Handbook of Gender Equity in Higher Education. United Kingdom: Wiley, 2020. Gillon, K.E., Beatty, C.C. and Salinas, C., Jr. (2019), Race and Racism in Fraternity and Sorority Life: A Historical Overview. Student Services, 2019: 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20289 Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz. Campus Life: Undergraduate Cultures from the End of the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Luckadoo, Timothy R, John Mountz, Shelly Brown Dobek. “Final Report & Recommendations: Greek Court Redevelopment Task Force.” NC State University. October 2006. https://fsl.dasa.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2015/05/taskforcereport.pdf NC State University. “Fast Facts.” NC State Fraternity and Sorority Life. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://fsl.dasa.ncsu.edu/about-our-community/https-fsl-dasa-ncsu-edu-fastfacts/ NC State University. “Greek Village Project.” NC State Fraternity and Sorority Life. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://fsl.dasa.ncsu.edu/greek-village-project/ NC State University. “Greek Village Timeline.” NC State Fraternity and Sorority Life. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://fsl.dasa.ncsu.edu/greek-village-project/timeline/ NC State Phi Kappa Phi. “NC State Phi Kappa Phi.” Accessed April 22, 2020. https://www.ncstatepikapp.org/ “NC State, Pi Kappa Phi decry 'unacceptable and offensive' book.” WRAL. Updated July 13, 2018. https://www.wral.com/nc-state-fraternity-placed-on-interim-suspension-after-embarrassing-scary-book-found/14528066/ “Pi Kappa Phi fraternity disbanded at NC State.” ABC11. March 26, 2015. https://abc11.com/pi-kappa-phi-fraternity-pledge-book-nc-state/572764/ Reagan, Alice E. North Carolina State University, a Narrative History. Raleigh: North Carolina State University Foundation and North Carolina State University Alumni Association, 1987. Yanni, Carla. Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory. 2019. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2083457.
“On first sight, Harrelson Hall looks as if it was designed to be dunked in the Union coffee or to be used as a giant tractor tire,” wrote Technician reporter Max Hurlocker in 1967. When Harrelson Hall was built in 1961, it was the first cylindrical building on a college campus. Once a prominent feature of the brickyard, directly across from D.H. Hill library between Polk and Williams Hall, Harrelson Hall was demolished in 2016 and replaced by grassy landscaping. Harrelson Hall is named after John W. Harrelson, former Chancellor of the University and the first alumnus to serve in the position. Harrelson served from 1934-1953, and upon his death in 1955, Harrelson left the school an endowment of more than $100,000. When Harrelson was first appointed his title was “Dean of Administration.” It was changed to Chancellor in 1945. According to Alice Regan, in “North Carolina State University: A Narrative History,” Harrelson’s early leadership was seen by students as paternalistic and students compared school rules such as strict attendance policies to those of high schools or the military. This tension was mitigated after 1939 with the appointment of a faculty-student committee. Harrelson also proved he was willing to stick up for students’ freedom of expression in the months before the United States entered World War II. Despite anger aimed towards students proposing “America First” policies, Harrelson defended students' right to freedom of expression within the student newspaper, the Technician. During Harrelson’s tenure the School of Forestry and the School of Design were established. Harrelson recruited Henry L. Kamphoefner to be the first dean of the school of design. Kamphoefner hired Professors James W. Fitzgibbon, Duncan Stuart, Edward Waugh, and George Matsumoto. Letters held in NC State’s Special Collections show that Chancellor Harrelson questioned their political loyalty, worrying that they might have political beliefs which aligned with communism. A letter from Bruce Goff, Chairman of the School of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, assured Harrelson that none of the professors had ever belonged to a “subversive group.” These letters, written in 1948, are related to a growing fear of Communists in the United States. During this time, academics were especially susceptible to being accused of communism, due to an association many made between academics and left-wing politics. Harrelson Hall’s unique circular design was created by architect Edward Waugh, faculty at NC State while the working drawings were made by the architectural firm Hollaway-Reeves. One of the several myths surrounding Harrelson Hall was that a disgruntled architecture student submitted a failed design to the University out of spite. Far from being a vindictive design, Harrelson Hall was meant to tackle all manner of modern problems on the growing campus. The cylindrical shape was meant to maximize the building’s efficiency, using the least amount of materials for the largest possible space. The rounded classrooms with slanted floors were meant to facilitate large classroom sizes. Offices were located in the outer-ring while classrooms were located in the inner-ring. This meant the classrooms had no windows. This too was seen as a beneficial design aspect, due to the fact that the rooms would not require blackout curtains in order to utilize classroom technologies such as slides, movies, or televisions. While the building initially drew interest and accolades from various newspapers, as early as 1962, the Technician published an article announcing design students’ plans to boycott any classes they had in Harrelson Hall due to its design flaws, both structurally and aesthetically. It was known for being extremely difficult to navigate and students often found themselves getting lost in the circular hallways. An undated University pamphlet simply titled, “Harrelson Hall,” highlighted the modern design of the building, explaining that the ramps which “gracefully wrapped” the core of the building alongside the scissor staircases, which led to outer corridors, would facilitate “fast-moving pedestrian traffic.” As time went on students would complain about the incline on both the ramps and the stairs as being punishingly steep, making treks to class both exhausting and annoying. The core of Harrelson Hall contained all of the mechanical aspects of the building, including wiring, plumbing, and the hall’s heating and cooling systems. The heating and cooling systems were not nearly as functional as the designers hoped, and almost from the beginning were breaking down. One of the most cited complaints by students and faculty was the fact that Harrelson Hall was often either freezing cold, or sweltering hot. Years away from school did not seem to make students’ memories of the building fonder. A 1990 article published in the NC State Alumni Magazine called the building a “Carousel of Horrors.” Danny Peele, class of 1974, in an oral history interview conducted at the Wake County Alumni Society’s event, "Last Look at Harrelson Hall” held in 2015, remembered how the rounded shape of the classroom would cause an echo, meaning depending on where you sat in the longer classrooms, students would sometimes hear things two or three times. Laurie Mitchell, class of 2004, interviewed at the same event called Harrelson Hall a “dismal building,” and hoped NC State would never again build a circular classroom building. The ramp connecting the floors in Harrelson Hall, while derided for being an inefficient method for getting to class, offered students an opportunity for pranks and joyrides. Students reportedly would ride skateboards, rollerblades, shopping carts, or wheeled chairs down the ramp. Other antics include 2,012 bouncy balls being dropped down the Harrelson Hall ramps or a 1967 prank described in the Technician: “During exams a few years ago, a group of students saved their empties and placed beer cans and bottles completely around the top of the building.” In the early 2000s, the school looked into renovating Harrelson Hall, but soon found that it would have been too difficult and expensive to fix all of the building’s problems. In addition to constant problems with the building’s heating and cooling systems, it had low ceilings creating a bad line of sight for students, and due to its sloping floors was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The North Carolina General Assembly approved Harrelson’s demolition in 2011. The building was not immediately demolished however due to the school’s continued need for space as renovations went on around campus. When demolition began in the summer of 2016, NC State’s Sustainability Program saw that more than 90% of the building was recycled or reused. Items such as chairs, whiteboards, fire alarms were sold by Habitat for Humanity.The fire department took items like doors and hinges to help train firefighters to break down heavy doors. Limestone, once part of Harrelson Hall’s facade, was incorporated into the landscaping which replaced it. Original Source References Alvin Marcus Fountain Papers, MC 00007, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center JessC. Comment on “Harrelson Hall.” Foursquare City Guide. https://foursquare.com/v/harrelson-hall/4afc9b57f964a5205b2422e3 John William Harrelson Papers, MC 00001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center Mitchell, Laurie. Wolf Tales recording with Laurie Mitchell: Wake County Alumni Society "Last Look at Harrelson Hall," 30 October 2015. Mc00581-wt-mitchell-20151030, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00581-wt-mitchell-20151030 North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Administration, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Records, UA 003.005, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, College of Design, Office of the Dean Records, UA 110.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center North Carolina State University, Office of the Chancellor, John Tyler Caldwell Records, UA 002.001.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center Peele, Danny. Wolf Tales recording with Danny Peele: Wake County Alumni Society "Last Look at Harrelson Hall," 30 October 2015. Mc00581-wt-peele-20151030, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00581-wt-peele-20151030 Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. thewilddeeper. “Tribute to Harrelson Hall: Bizarre Cylindrical Classroom Building at NCSU.” YouTube. Jan 9, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE3WRCN_oYE Williams, Matthew. “Wolf Tales recording with Matthew Williams: Wake County Alumni Society ‘Last Look at Harrelson Hall,’" 30 October 2015. Mc00581-wt-williams-20151030, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00581-wt-williams-20151030 Secondary Source References Cioffi, Chris. “Harrelson Hall demolition begins on NC State University campus.” The News & Observer, (Raleigh, NC), May 16, 2016. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article77967567.html Cioffi, Chris. “NC State’s Harrelson Hall is gone, but its pieces live on.” The News & Observer, (Raleigh, NC), March 3, 2017. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article136218298.html Ferris, Virginia. “Remembering Harrelson Hall.” NC State University Libraries. July 25, 2016. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/special-collections/remembering-harrelson-hall “Harrelson Hall.” Oak City Preservation Alliance. Accessed on March 14, 2021. http://www.oakcitypa.org/harrelson-hall “Harrelson Hall Renovation and Replacement Study Draft.” NC State Facilities. September 26, 2003. https://facilities.ofa.ncsu.edu/files/2015/04/Harrelson-Hall-Study-2003.pdf “Here’s to Harrelson.” NC State News. July 11, 2016. https://news.ncsu.edu/2016/07/heres-to-harrelson/#:~:text=What%20emerged%20in%201962%20%2C%20at,building%20on%20a%20college%20campus. Kosmerik, Todd. “Harrelson Hall at the Beginning.” NC State University Libraries. August 15, 2016. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/special-collections/harrelson-hall-at-the-beginning Peeler, Tim. “Harrelson Hall Reclaimed.” NC State University News. August 15, 2015. https://news.ncsu.edu/2015/08/harrelson-hall-reclaimed/ Reagan, Alice E. North Carolina State University, a Narrative History. Raleigh: North Carolina State University Foundation and North Carolina State University Alumni Association, 1987. Schrecker, Ellen. No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Hillsborough Street is a staple of NC State. As NC State has grown and changed, the stores along Hillsborough and the street itself have reshaped as well. Hillsborough Street is also a site of school events, protests, and celebrations. The street runs from the State Capitol building to Interstate 40 where it cuts between Raleigh and Cary, but this entry will cover Hillsborough Street from Dan Allen Drive to Hillsborough’s intersection with Oberlin Road, which is the path of Hillsborough Street next to campus. When NC State opened in 1889, Hillsborough Street was a dirt road with a house and a grocery store, Ellis and Brown Grocers, although it is uncertain where on the street the buildings were. The house next to the grocers had stood on Hillsborough since 1709. Treasurer of West Raleigh Baptist Church, Andrew Jackson Ellis, owned the store and his daughter, Martha Luvenis Ellis, was married to Louis T. Yarbrough, a student of the first graduating class of NC State. The Ellis’s and Yarbrough’s connection with NC State continued into the next generation through Martha and Louis’s daughter, Mary Yarbrough, one of the first women to receive a graduate degree from NC State. The state fair was across the campus from 1873 to 1928 in the southeast section of what is now University Park, which is bordered by Hillsborough St., Kilgore Ave, Brooks Ave, and Chamberlain St. The fair changed location due to the change of ownership from the Agricultural Society to the state Department of Agriculture. The University Park area (which ran north by Wade Avenue, Hillsborough Street to the south, Faircloth/Meredith College to the west, and Oberlin Road/Cameron Village to the east) was where Camp Polk was set up. Tank training for World War I took place at Camp Polk. On the south side of Hillsborough, the campus did not stretch to the street until around 1900 with the construction of Patterson Hall. Prior to around 1900 about 50 people resided in the African American community of Cook’s Hill. About a quarter of the residents were African American and the village had a store owned by African Americans. Businessman William R. Crawford Sr.(Jr.?) bought some of the houses for Patterson Hall’s construction. More of the property in the Cook’s Hill area became available to buyers because the General Assembly passed an act that declared the property for public use. Such a practice was a common way of acquiring land for public projects in the United States, but the method disproportionately displaced economically disadvantaged people and communities of color. After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people across the South focused on institution-building, investing time and energy into creating schools, churches, and businesses. Three of these communities were on land that eventually became NC State or neighbored the campus: Cook’s Hill, Method, and Oberlin Village. After Patterson Hall’s construction, NC State acquired more land along Hillsborough Street. According to professor of NC State’s history and government department from 1935-1945, David A. Lockmiller, students were not very active off campus and they could only go as far west as St. Mary’s Street. But “after the street car line was constructed out Hillsboro Street to College Station, an ever increasing number of cadets participated in the religious and social life of the community.” Students also needed permission to leave the campus during the daytime. From the 1950s to present, the northern side of Hillsborough Street became immensely popular with students. Restaurants and bars were strewn along the street catered to students, and during the 1960s and prior some establishments accepted only white customers. Many of the establishments lasted about 30 years and a couple over 50 years. Players Retreat Tavern (1951), Weatherman’s Jewelry (1945), and Sam and Bill’s Hair Design were the original businesses of Hillsborough Square. Two Guys Restaurant (2504 Hillsborough) opened in 1964, Sadlack’s Heroes (2116 Hillsborough) was open for 40 years until 2013, and Mitch’s Tavern (2426 Hillsborough) has been in business since the late 1950s. In January 1962, NC State’s newspaper, the Technician, conducted a survey of what establishments would serve African Americans students. The result was four out of seven restaurants would not serve African Americans, which included Varsity Theater and beer parlors. A few restaurants would serve African Americans at the bar but not the booth, and others would only do take-out, including Players Retreat. Establishments that served African Americans were Hillsboro Soda Shop and Baxley’s. The theater stated they did not serve African Americans because the chain that owned them did not admit African Americans; however, the newspaper stated that other theaters under the chain served African Americans. In April 1963, the theater patronized African Americans, however Technician writer, Dick Paschall was sure to mention that little has changed otherwise. In April the next year, the Technician published a list of integrated and segregated establishments in the university area and downtown Raleigh. Technician editors Grant Blair and Cora Kemp fought strongly for the integration of Hillsborough Street restaurants. In addition to a place of business, Hillsborough Street itself was also a place for protest and celebration. On May 8, 1970 the Technician wrote that 6,000 students marched from the university to the State Capitol to protest the Vietnam War extending into Cambodia on April 29, 1970 and the deaths of four Kent State University students on May 4, 1970 . Student Government Body President Cathy Sterling led the march and was one of the organizers of the peace retreat, which was a continuation of protest efforts. The march was peaceful and gained respect from North Carolinians who opposed or were unsure about the march. Hillsborough Street has also hosted the Krispy Kreme Challenge, which raises money for UNC Children’s Hospital. The challenge involves running 5 miles and attempting to eat (and keep down) a dozen donuts in the second half. Other celebrations include celebrating sports victories and Packapalooza, such as the parade following the 1974 NCAA championship and the wins during the 1983 ACC and NCAA championships. In 2000 NC State football team’s victory against Georgia Tech led to celebrants carrying the football goal post down Hillsborough Street. Packapalooza is a festival that began in 2012. It takes place at the beginning of the Fall semester and is part of WolfPack Welcome Week, which is like a homecoming celebration for new and returning students. Packapalooza, a newer tradition, welcomes the community to celebrate alongside the university to learn about NC State, and enjoy food, music, and games. Hillsborough Street has served NC State in more ways than one. Both sides of the street have been through great change, from a site of the state fair to a mile of stores and restaurants and from African American residences and a couple campus buildings to a swath of university facilities. Hillsborough Street is in constant change. References Original Source References: North Carolina State Special Collections Resource Center: University Archives Photograph Collection, Raleigh (NC) and Triangle Area, 1884-1997. UA023.26. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, 1888-2019. UA050.004. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, General Records, 1862-2019. UA50.1.11. 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 The Technician Secondary Source References Cooley, Angela Jill. To Live and Dine in Dixie: The Evolution of Urban Food Culture in Jim Crow South. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2015. Herbin-Triant, Elizabeth A. Threatening Property: Race, Class, and Campaigns to Legislate Jim Crow Neighborhoods. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. McLaurin, Melton.”The History of the State Fair”. NCpedia. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://www.ncpedia.org/government/fair/history “Historical State Timelines”. NC State University Libraries. Accessed April 1, 2020. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/search?q=hillsborough “Map of UPHA”. University Park Homeowners Association. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://myupha.com/about/map-of-upha/ “Historical Context for the Pope House”. Historical Resource Management. Accessed May May 13, 2019. https://raleighnc.gov/places/pope-house-museum Curt S. Players Retreat. 2019. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://www.playersretreat.com/ “Right of Passage at NCSU”. TripAdvisor. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g49463-d2548515-Reviews-Mitch_s_Tavern-Raleigh_North_Carolina.html “Yarbrough, Mary Elizabeth, 1904.” NC State University Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections NC State University Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/names/2708-yarbrough-mary-elizabeth-1904. Multimedia Waller, Kirstyn. “‘Biology is not Destiny’: Cathy J. Sterling as NCSU’s First Female Student Body President”. NC State University Public History Program. YouTube. December 6, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi4wdIOhycQ&t=1s
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
Located on Cates Avenue across from first-year residence halls Tucker and Owen, stands a three-story building designed by LS3P Associates Ltd and constructed in 2007, directed by Balfour Beatty. This building has had a couple of name changes in its lifetime. Its first name was First Year College, and then in 2015 it was renamed University College Commons. In October 2018, at the start of Diversity Education Week, Chancellor Randy Woodson announced that the building was to be renamed Holmes Hall in honor of Irwin Holmes, the first African American to receive an undergraduate degree at NC State University. During the announcement Chancellor Woodson stated that Holmes “broke barriers that would forever change this university and the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was, and is, and always will remain a role model that helped drive needed social and cultural change at NC State, in North Carolina, and beyond.” Born in Reedsville, North Carolina in 1939 and raised primarily in Durham, Irwin Holmes became one of the most significant actors in the early days of desegregation at NC State and he ultimately shaped the history that followed. He noted that his youth was filled with role models in Black Durham: educators, entrepreneurs, activists. His father led Durham’s recreation programs for African Americans, while his mother worked as a teacher. Both parents had masters degrees from NC Central University. In Hillside High School, which was well known for its successful alumni, Holmes excelled in both academics and athletics. In 1956 and at the age of 16, Irwin Holmes enrolled as an undergraduate in electrical engineering at NC State. He had been accepted at the prestigious Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, DC, but chose NC State because of affordability and the reputation of its School of Engineering. The university offered scholarships to support his education, and it was also closer to home and family. He was one of four African American students to enroll that semester, joining Ed Carson, Manuel Crockett, and Walter Holmes (no relation). In a 2014 interview, he described being one of only four Black undergraduates on campus as being “on my own,” relaying as an example the first time he learned about study groups: I never had a class with a black student in the four years I was there, which was an interesting experience. The real shocker is, until my second semester senior year I never spent one minute in a study group. You know what a study group is? I didn’t even know they existed. All my classmates were in study groups and not only did they not invite me into a study group they didn’t even tell me they existed. My senior year, by that time it was clear that I was going to graduate – to my fellow students – and that I didn’t really need a study group. They invited me into a study group. I said, “What’s that? Sure, I’ll come.” I was never so shocked in my life. You went into a study group the night before the exam; they would walk in the room, sit down at a table, and lay out their professor’s last ten exams he’s ever given and say, “This is how he tested the people on this chapter for the last ten years,” and you know there’s no way that he’s going to test you in any way that there isn’t something on those old tests that’s going to tell you where to study. It changed your grade point average by at least one grade point. If you were a C student, that makes you a B student. If you were a B student, it makes you an A student. I was just about a B student; that semester, in those classes, almost straight As. He also noted that key mentors made a significant difference in his education, particularly his coach John Kenfield and his electrical engineering professor William Stevenson, who he saw as one of the “the real class acts when it comes to relationships” and one example of a dynamic Holmes saw throughout his career: truly successful people focus on treating others with respect and honesty. It was not until his second semester that Holmes lived on campus; he took up residence in Watauga Hall, one of the oldest residence halls on campus. While on campus, Holmes had access to certain amenities such as the dining hall and the gym, but if he wandered just a few blocks over to Hillsborough street he found that restaurateurs refused to serve African Americans. On the weekends, Holmes stated that he would find a way back to his home in Durham, North Carolina where he would go to North Carolina Central University to hang out with other students. While at NC State, Holmes played on the tennis team, where he became the first African American athlete at NC State and in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). During his time on the tennis team he made waves in the collegiate sports world as he became the first African American athlete to receive a varsity letter. During his senior year, Holmes’ teammates highly valued his leadership skills and elected him co-captain of the tennis team. During his time at NC State, Holmes experienced his share of racist scenarios with some of the teaching staff at the university, and during some of his travels as a student athlete. In an interview in 2006 to The Technician, Holmes recounted that he had gone to his first day of math class freshman year and everything went by as usual, but by the next week the location of the class had changed and a male teacher had replaced his female teacher from the week before. Holmes continued the interview by saying that not long after this event happened he had heard some students on campus say one of the female math teachers had asked to not have to teach a math class with African American students in it. When Holmes spoke with the NC State football team in 2016 he told them the story of how a diner in Chapel Hill refused to serve him after a tennis match so the entire team walked out of the restaurant in solidarity. After graduating from NC State in 1960 with a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, Holmes continued his education at Drexel University where he earned a Masters degree in electrical engineering in 1966. After graduating, Holmes began working with IBM, where he worked until his retirement. Holmes lives in Durham today with his wife Meredythe. Cultural and legal changes led to the racial integration of undergraduate education at NC State when Holmes, Holmes, Crockett, and Carson arrived, but the process had begun earlier. While students of Hispanic and Asian descent had enrolled since the late 19th century, African American students were barred from attendance by state law and social convention. A 1951 article in the Technician titled “Not Ready?” demonstrates student thoughts on the issue at the time. The unnamed author had conducted an informal survey of students asking if Black students should be enrolled at NC State College: To a man, the students raised a vociferous NO! Most of them were true to the Old Southern Tradition, “Would You Let Your Daughter Marry A Negro?” Some said that they wouldn’t room with a negro; some said that the fine parents of the South would take their children out of State and send them elsewhere. We got what we asked for, but we are surprised that at least one man didn’t favor true democratic education rather than the old sticky “give ‘em equal facilities of their own.” The authors went on to offer a plan toward integration: start with graduate students, who would “almost surely make an excellent record scholastically, then more negro students should be admitted at lower levels. It would not be a slow erosion of all our Southern Traditions. The plan would serve to show that the Negro IS human and does deserve the best in education, and is ready for it on the highest levels.” The writers encouraged the State College community to proceed with integration, and some university leaders supported this approach. Two years later, the first Black students at NC State, Robert Clemons and Hardy Liston, entered the Engineering School as graduate students. In 1957, Robert Clemons became the first African American graduate of NC State. The integration of undergraduate education at NC State began at Chapel Hill when Leroy Benjamin Frasier Jr., Ralph Kennedy Frasier, and John Lewis Brandon, students from Hillside High School Durham (where Holmes attended), refused to accept UNC Chapel Hill’s denial of admission because of race. They took their discrimination case to the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision that UNC violated the 14th Amendment by denying students access based on race. The decision in Leroy Benjamin Frasier et al v Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina officially opened the door to the desegregation of the UNC system, including NC State. The physical space that is Holmes Hall today stands next to Carmichael gym and near the former location of the tennis courts, where Irwin Holmes enjoyed some of his favorite moments at NC State. In a 2014 interview, Holmes talked about the importance of place names, noting that spaces named for African Americans at NC State show “black students...what State feels about black people. When you’ve got that kind of environment you can’t help but win.” The Study Abroad department, Disability Resources and the TOTA (Tucker, Owen, Turlington and Alexander) service desk are just a few entities that operate out of Holmes Hall today. References Original Source References Interview with Irwin Holmes - mc00449-oh-holmes-20141020 - NC State University Libraries Rare and Unique Digital Collections | NC State University Libraries Rare and Unique Digital Collections. Accessed March 1, 2020. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00449-oh-holmes-20141020. “Irwin Holmes • Electrical and Computer Engineering.” Electrical and Computer Engineering. Accessed February 28, 2020. https://www.ece.ncsu.edu/honor/irwin-holmes/. North Carolina State University, Office of the Chancellor, Carey Hoyt Bostian Records, UA 002.001.003, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC, https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/ua002_001_003/ North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files 1888-2018, UA 050.004, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC, https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/ua050_004/contents. Secondary Source References Bisset, Jim. “The Dilemma over Moderates: School Desegregation in Alamance County, North Carolina.” Journal of Southern History 81 no. 4 (November 2015): 887-903. Martin, Charles H. Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of the Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010. Wallenstein, Peter. Higher Education and the Civil Rights Movement: White Supremacy, Black Southerners and College Campuses. Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2009.
Honorific naming, also called honor naming or anthroponymic commemoration, refers to the practice of recognizing individuals and the values they represent by using their names to refer to inanimate objects, abstractions, processes, and phenomena. The term “eponym” refers to the person after whom the feature, place, or object was named. Honor names have been applied to such diverse things as natural features, chemical elements, diseases, beer and wine, weather events, mathematical equations, ships, and theories. While street names are the most common type of anthroponymic commemoration in the United States, on college campuses, building names figure largely. Onomastics is the study of names and naming, and in the United States, the American Name Society, formed in 1951, leads the field in promoting dialogue about honorific naming, largely through the journal NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics. The American Name Society provides helpful definitions for understanding different types of naming, including those important to understanding honorific naming at NC State: Anthroponym: proper name for a person or group of people. Sub-areas include the study of names used to label ethno racial groups, nationalities, tribes, families, individuals, etc. Hodonym: a proper name given to routes such as the names of crossings, bridges, pathways, roads, streets, tunnels, etc. Hydronym: a proper name used to label a body of standing or moving water such as a brook, pond, lake, ocean, river, sea, spring, strait, swamp, water fall, watering hole, well, etc. Toponym: a proper name assigned to a place, either with or without inhabitants. ...also be referred to as a “place name”. As geographers, historians, etymologists, and others have shown, naming and renaming reflect not just an honor bestowed, but larger processes of power, politics, economics, and culture. Honorific names have been extended and retracted throughout history, sometimes with little attention and sometimes with significant controversy. According to geographer Mark Monmonier’s title to his classic work on cartography, maps have the power to “name, claim, and inflame.” Honor namings have a long history in western societies as accolades for accomplishments as well as devices for negotiating power, and the earliest known examples are from science. Writing on pages 223-4 in Nuncius, historian of science Marco Beretta concluded “the systematic use of eponyms has resulted in one of the most effective reward systems in Western science,” tracing its use to Classical Antiquity. He notes that Plato referred to distinctive teaching styles as “Pythagorean” after Pythagoras, who would later be known for his method of finding the hypotenuse of a triangle; Beretta speculates that the Hippocratic Oath may be the oldest eponym in the modern era. Historians of science cite the Renaissance as a time when powerful men honored one another in science, cartography, exploration, and the funding of such endeavors. Writing in the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, historian of science Jonathan Sawday makes the connection between honor naming in cartography as a practice of colonization and new knowledge about anatomy increasing medical authority. He shows that European map makers sought to rename geography to appropriate Native property and stake claims among imperial powers as doctors sought to map the human body as an exercise of authority over it. The political roots of honor naming informed the practice as it developed with more complex rituals in recent history. Maritime historian Jan Rüger in his study of the British “cult of the Navy” showed how the ceremonies to name ships became more elaborate as Britons sought to build an identity based on naval prowess; on pages 160-1, he writes these “professionally stage-managed rituals...play[ed] to national and international audiences. This was a theatre of identities as it was one of power and might.” By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, colleges and universities commonly used eponyms and hosted rituals to dedicate buildings and streets to particular individuals. Like ship names, building and street names were often steeped in power and politics, and renamings became as common as namings. Such is the case of rue Alexis Carrel in Paris, which, according to physician Marc E. Weksler writing in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine was named for Nobel prizewinning physician Alexis Carrel in 1974 but renamed in 2002 when Parisians objected to the honor of a physician who promoted eugenics and racial “purity.” They renamed the street after Jean Pierre-Bloch, who resisted Nazi occupation of France and worked against anti-semitism and racism. The first two honor names at NC State appear to be Primrose Hall and Watauga Hall. Both names occur in the 1896-1897 North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Eighth Annual Catalogue with their present names, and the catalogues include explanations of the names. An 1897 map of the university labels both Primrose and Watauga, while other buildings have more generic names like “Main Building,” “2nd Dormitory” or “Boiler House.” The university named Primrose Hall after business leader and Watauga Club member William S. Primrose, who served on the Board of Trustees for twenty years. Watauga was named for the club that organized to lobby for an agricultural and mechanical college in North Carolina, efforts that eventually resulted in the founding of the university. In naming buildings for Primrose and fellow Wataugans, the university declared its support for their work and values. Throughout its history and like many institutions, the university named and renamed buildings after financial supporters, alumni, professors, administrators, and others who typically reflected the values of the university community at the time. Dedication ceremonies and plaques on the buildings reveal the reasons trustees, administrators, faculty, and students identified individuals for the honor of a courtyard, building, or street name. The ritual of a dedication, an event organized to officially bestow the honorific, could include speeches, prayers, songs, and unveilings to connect the named individuals and their accomplishments to the use of the building. University buildings are named for donors, professors, chancellors, alumni, corporations, politicians, and even a school of forestry (Biltmore Hall, named after the Biltmore Forest School, the first school of forestry in the US and Canada). Of all the buildings on campus, two are named for African Americans: Witherspoon Student Center after Augustus M. Witherspoon, noted botanist and second African American to earn a PhD at NC State, and Holmes Hall, dedicated in 2018 to Irwin Holmes, one of four African Americans to integrate NC State undergraduate education in the 1950s. Holmes was an engineering student and captain of the tennis team. Three buildings are named after women. Carroll Hall, dedicated to nurse Susan Colwell Carroll (1849-1901) in 1969, honored the first “matron” of the college infirmary. Gertrude Cox, statistician and founder of the Department of Experimental Statistics, was honored with Cox Hall, dedicated to her in 1970. The Marye Anne Fox Science Teaching Laboratory bears the name of NC State’s first woman chancellor, who led the university from 1998-2004. One street, Katharine Stinson Drive, and one courtyard, Mary Yarborough Court are named after women. Recently, campus discussions around honor names centered on buildings named after individuals whose writings reflect white supremacist ideology. Through letters, features in student newspapers, and petitions, students objected to the names Poe Hall, Daniels Hall, Tompkins Hall, Clark Labs, and D. H. Hill Jr. Library. NC State campus discussions on building names reflect a larger dialogue about the historic role of universities in constructing and perpetuating white supremacy and colonization worldwide from universities in Accra, Ghana to Taipei, Taiwan, from Oxford, UK to Eugene, Oregon. Opponents of renaming buildings worry about “erasing history,” but historians distinguish between memory practices such as memorialization and commemoration, and history, the systematic analysis of the past based on primary sources such as letters, organizational documents, and other materials. In 2017, the American Historical Association issued its Statement on Confederate Monuments, which clarified the distinction between history and memory: History comprises both facts and interpretations of those facts. To remove a monument, or to change the name of a school or street, is not to erase history, but rather to alter or call attention to a previous interpretation of history. A monument is not history itself; a monument commemorates an aspect of history, representing a moment in the past when a public or private decision defined who would be honored in a community’s public spaces. In Fall of 2020, following the Black Lives Matter marches responding to the most recent wave of police killings of Black men and women, the Daniels family agreed to the removal of a statue honoring Josephus Daniels, a powerful proponent of white supremacy, from a park in Raleigh. Shortly thereafter, NC State announced that Daniels Hall will no longer bear the name. In September of 2020, the Board of Trustees clarified university policy on building names, providing more solutions for dealing with eponyms that no longer reflect university values. Journal Names: A Journal of Onomastics (American Name Society) Original Source References Box 10 (Building Dedications), North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center “Birds-eye view of A&M College, 1897.”Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Records (UA003.001), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries North Carolina State University. Undergraduate catalog (LD3928 .A22), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries Secondary Source References American Historical Association, “Statement on Confederate Monuments 2017.” https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-statement-on-confederate-monuments American Name Society. “About Onomastics.” https://www.americannamesociety.org/names/ Beretta, Marco. “Names as Rewards: The Ambiguous Role of Eponyms in the History of Science.” Nuncius 34 (2019), 219-235. Berry, Hardy D. Place Names on the Campus of North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University, 1995 “Daniels Hall to be renamed, NC State Board of Trustees Evaluate University Naming Policy.” The Technician. June 22, 2020. http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_5018fc64-b4a9-11ea-ac8f-0349602ed577.html Gonzalez, Jackie. “OP-ED: Dixie.” The Technician. October 31, 2017. http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_e30f8b3a-be9a-11e7-88cb-27b9643c2cd3.html. Hallen, J. “OP-ED: Acknowledging Our Racist History: The Naming of Daniels Hall.” The Technician, November 9, 2017. http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_37ed03c8-c4fc-11e7-8dfc-432b5406e47a.html. Monmonier, Mark S. From S***w Tit to Whorehouse Meadow : How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2006. NC State University, “POL 03.00.02 – Criteria and Procedures for Naming Facilities, Programs and Funds.” https://policies.ncsu.edu/policy/pol-03-00-02/ Phelps, Christopher. “Removing Racist Symbols Isn’t a Denial of History”. Of “Confronting History on Campus”. Focus: The Chronicle of Higher Education (October 2016), 12-15. Quillen, Martha. “Statue of Josephus Daniels, Publisher and White Supremacist, Removed from Raleigh Square.” Raleigh News and Observer June 16, 2020 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article243559272.html Rüger, Jan. “Nation, Empire, and Navy: Identity Politics in the United Kingdom 1187-1914.” Past and Present 185 (November 2004), 159-187. Sawday, Jonathan. “‘They Shall No More Be Remembered by Their Name’: Cartography, Anatomy, and the Renaissance Eponym.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 48: 1 (January 2018), 11-40. unsigned. “EDITORIAL: NC State Facility Names Must Reflect Inclusive Values.” The Technician, October 7, 2018, sec. Op-Ed. http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_325dd7fe-ca8f-11e8-be46-33108a12426f.html. Weksler, Marc E. “Naming Streets for Physicians: ‘L’affaire Carrel’.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 47, 1 (Winter 2004) 67-73
North Carolina State University named Winslow Hall, along Pullen Road on the university’s North Campus, for Arthur Winslow, a surveyor who lobbied North Carolina’s General Assembly to establish the school in 1887. But the Hall was also the site of two notable women in the university’s history. Susan Carroll (1849-1901), the college’s first matron, and Ellen “Ella” McGuire (1861-1946), a nurse, cook, and laundry worker, called the 1897 building their workplace. Both showed strength and resourcefulness in response to the school’s poor employment practices, but students who memorialized the women used gender and racial stereotypes that downplayed their fortitude. During Carroll’s and McGuire’s times, the building was the school’s infirmary (although McGuire started working there after Carroll’s death). Everything from smallpox inoculations to appendix operations occurred within its walls until 1943, according to President’s Reports. The Bureau of Mines inhabited it 1943-1956, and the Alumni Association headquartered there 1956-2006. Since 2021, Winslow Hall has held administrative offices. The Board of Trustees elected Susan Carroll college matron in 1889, before there was even an infirmary. Her duties, they wrote in meeting minutes, involved “care of the dining and bed rooms, linen.” Carroll was used to overseeing household tasks; “keeping house” was her occupation on both the 1870 Federal Census when she lived with her parents in Turkey Creek, NC and on the 1880 Federal Census as a married thirty-year-old in Magnolia, NC. It is unlikely, however, that she labored physically: her father owned nine human beings according to an 1860 US Slave Schedule, and her husband employed a thirteen-year-old Black servant in 1880. Carroll was not used to overseeing infirmaries, as Chancellor John Caldwell later noted in a tribute, but the Board of Trustees granted her charge of the new hospital anyway in 1899. She succeeded, for alumni honored her with a plaque, according to a 1902 North Carolinian. Morning Post (MP) reported the school cancelled classes the day after she died, and the Buildings and Grounds Committee renamed the infirmary after her in 1940. In all their tributes, students and newspapers primarily honored Carroll’s nurturing. The 1903 Agromeck reminisced that she comforted homesick students, while a 1902 Red and White, a 1918 Alumni News, and the 1904 Agromeck, all called her “motherly.” That “devotion” to the all-male student body gave her “womanly charm,” according to her MP obituary. Students also remarked on Carroll’s Christianity, recalling in the 1903 Agromeck how she told sick students to trust God. The male reporters portrayed Carroll in the same way the media and leading thinkers of the nineteenth century venerated women for piety and domesticity. As historian Barbara Welter argued, “women were expected to dispense comfort and cheer” as wives and mothers in order to achieve “True Womanhood.” Memorializing Carroll as their devoted, Christian, comforter helped the students and media excuse some of Carroll’s less “True Womanhood-like” qualities: the 1903 Agromeck admitted she looked “rugged” and her speech was “blunt,” while MP said she had “a strong personality.” No students mentioned that Carroll’s strong personality was probably necessary after her husband’s death in 1884, according to an obituary. She may have entered NC State’s workforce, then, to support her eleven-year-old son. But the school wanted her to be a mother only metaphorically. Minutes show the Board of Trustees were reluctant to allow her son to stay with her, charging him board and ruling he must leave after one year. Carroll circumnavigated rules by enrolling him in the school at fourteen, according to the 1894 Academic Catalog. She used the same resourcefulness to help students get jobs and financial loans, as the Red and White and Caldwell recalled. Alumni repaid her with a plaque calling her “a student’s friend,” although it hardly acknowledged her logistical skills. Students also reduced Ellen McGuire to a caricature, but racism influenced their descriptions as much as her gender. Technician articles from 1925 and 1939 noted she had been the school’s seamstress, laundress, and cook since its opening. However, the reporters forgot to mention the 1922 city directory called McGuire a nurse. Even worse, Technician reporters referred to McGuire as “Aunt Ella,” and made the “horrible editorial decision to depict her voice in a demeaning dialect,” as University Archivist Todd Kosmerick noted in a blog post about the 1925 article. Technician staff praised her for a “cheerful disposition,” for “faithfulness,” and for “being willing to do anything for the boys.” Their word choice evoked what American Studies scholar Kimberly Wallace-Sanders called the “standard” image of the Black “mammy:” a “jolly presence” speaking “ungrammatical ‘plantation dialect’” whose “devotion to her white family reflects her racial inferiority.” In the 1910s and 1920s there was a “surge in popularity in faithful slave narratives,” noted historian Micki McElya, including stories with mammies. She argued narrative techniques like those the students used exposed Southern nostalgia for the legally sanctioned white supremacy on antebellum plantations. McGuire, however, was an entrepreneur and community member, not anybody’s “mammy.” The Technician cheerfully reported McGuire hand-laundered clothes for twenty-six students a week. They did not explain the income supplemented her poor pay as “hospital washer and cook.” In their May 1909 minutes, the Board of Trustees appropriated $72 and board for her annual wage--$228 less than they appropriated for the white hospital matron and $110 less than the poorest Black laundresses made in the 1900s, according to historians Lorenzo Greene and Carter G. Woodson. Reporters did not mention McGuire was a landlord. From 1929-1936, she rented out the house she and her husband lived in before he died in 1906, according to cemetery records and realty company receipts. A 1930 building permit demonstrated she earned enough to build a second home. McGuire was a longtime member of Oberlin Village, a neighborhood where African Americans owned land since the 1870s, according to architectural historian M. Ruth Little. Although Technician reporters said she “had no plans for the future” in 1925, report cards, envelopes, and receipts show she was simultaneously active in Oberlin School, Oberlin Baptist Church, and The Daughters of Oberlin lodge. She also corresponded regularly with her son, a New York City-based World War I veteran. Winslow Hall holds important stories about women’s labor—and the silence around women’s struggles and successes. Bibliography: Original Source References 1860 United States Slave Schedule, Turkey District, Sampson County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. "John Colwell," FamilySearch.org. 1870 United States Census, Turkey Township, Sampson County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. "Susan Colwell," FamilySearch.org. 1880 United States Census, Town of Magnolia, Duplin County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. "Susan Colwell," FamilySearch.org. “Aunt Ellen McGuire Saw College Begin.” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.), September 29, 1939. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v20n3f-1939-09-29. “Colonel J.C.L. Harris.” Alumni News (Raleigh, N.C.), April 1, 1918. North Carolina State University, Office of Alumni Relations Publications (UA010.200), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/ua010_200-001-bx0012-v1-006. “Death of Mrs. Sue Carroll.” Morning Post (Raleigh, N.C.), September 7, 1901. https://newscomnc.newspapers.com/image/58167949. “Editorial.” Red and White 3, no. 3 (January 1902): 6. Red and White (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 R4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/LH1-N6-R4-v3n3. “Have You Ever Met Aunt Ella McGuire?” Technician (Raleigh, N.C.), November 6, 1925. Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1 .N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v6n9-1925-11-06. Hill Directory Co., comp. Hill Directory Co.'s (Incorporated) Raleigh, N.C. City Directory. Richmond, VA: Hill Directory Co., 1922. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25780?ln=en North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Agromeck. Raleigh, NC: 1903. North Carolina State University, Agromeck (LD3928 .N75), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries, https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/agromeck1903nort. North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Agromeck. Raleigh, NC: 1904. North Carolina State University, Agromeck (LD3928 .N75), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries, https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/agromeck1904nort. North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Sixth Annual Catalogue. Raleigh, NC: 1894. North Carolina State University. Undergraduate catalog (LD3928 .A22), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries. https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/LD3928-A22-1894-1895. North Carolina State University, Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, UA 001.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Committees, Physical Environment Committee Records, UA 022.008, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Office of the Chancellor Annual Reports, UA 002.002, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Administration, Facilities Division, Construction Services Records, UA 003.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, Office of Public Affairs Records, UA 014.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center. "North Carolina Certificate of Death," s.v. "John McGuire" (1887-1953), FamilySearch.org PC.2061, Samuel Patrick and Ella McGuire Family Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA. “Students Honor Her Memory.” North Carolinian (Raleigh, N.C.), September 4, 1902. https://newscomnc.newspapers.com/image/57858204. Secondary Reference Sources Greene, Lorenzo Johnston, and Carter Godwin Woodson. The Negro Wage Earner. Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc., 1930. Kosmerick, Todd. “Honoring the Caregivers of the 1918 Flu Pandemic, Part 1.” Libraries News – Special Collections. April 10, 2020. https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/news/special-collections/honoring-caregivers-1918-flu-pandemic-part-1. Little, M. Ruth. “History of Oberlin Village.” Friends of Oberlin Village. May 2012. https://legacy.friendsofoberlinvillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/History-of-Oberlin-Village.pdf McElya, Micki. Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2007. University Architect, Office of the. “Winslow Hall (Active Building).” Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina State University, 2021. Emailed to author, 9 April, 2021. University Architect, Office of the. “Winslow Hall (004).” Raleigh, N.C.: North Carolina State University, 2021. Emailed to author, 9 April, 2021. Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly. Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern Memory. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008. Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860." American Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1966): 151-174.