Yarbrough Court
description: Surrounded by buildings bearing the names of successful and prominent men from the school’s history, such as Peele, Leazar and Holladay, Yarbrough Court stands as a beautifully manicured landscape on North Carolina State University’s North Campus. The person for whom this court is named for holds an equally important spot in the school’s history. In 1927, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough was the first woman to receive a Master’s degree at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. Born in 1904 to Louis T. Yarbrough and Lula Ellis Yarbrough, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough grew up with a connection to North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. Louis Yarbrough, her father, was a member of the first graduating class of the school in 1893. His daughter would make history on the school’s campus thirty four years later. The Yarbrough-Ellis family lived just down the road from the college on Hillsborough street, while Louis Yarbrough worked as a United States Postal Inspector, and before that an engineer. Mary Yarbrough grew up walking the campus with her family and meeting university administrators and seeing students; she even attended some of the courses and lectures provided at the school during the summer time as a young girl. She attended Saint Mary’s School, a private Episcopalian school for girls close to downtown Raleigh for high school but when it came time for her to go to college, Mary Yarbrough could not attend the college she had grown up so close to because of the university policy against admitting female students. During the summer of 1899, the Board of Trustees at North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering made the decision to admit women to the school but the ruling was met with protests and controversy so Trustees reversed the decision at their next meeting. Mary Yarbrough ended up attending Meredith College, just down the road from North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, where she received Bach…
creator: Kelly Scott
date: 2019/12/04

Witherspoon Student Center
description: The Student Center Annex (SCA), now the Witherspoon Student Center, was completed in the fall of 1990 and opened in January 1991. Raleigh contractor Clancy and Theys Construction Company built the SCA and Michael Rickenbaker served as the consulting architect. The SCA was built to adjust to the increase of students and their need for space. Additional space also meant the shuffling of student organization headquarters. Some of the organizations that moved from the Talley Student Center to the SCA were WKNC, NC State's radio station; the Agromeck, NC State's yearbook; the Technician, one of the university's newspaper; and Windhover, the school's literary and arts magazine. On April 1, 1995, the SCA was renamed the Witherspoon Student Center after Dr. Augustus Witherspoon who taught botany at NC State from 1969 to 1994. He began as an instructor and rose to full professor in 1982. Witherspoon was the second African American to earn a doctorate degree from NCSU and authored or co-authored fifteen publications. He served as principal investigator for ten-federally funded environmental studies. Witherspoon was influential in North Carolina’s and the university’s communities. Dr. Witherspoon was a pastor of St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church from 1981 until his death in 1994, and a member of St. Paul AME Church. He served on the Executive Board of City Vista Volunteers, was a part of North Carolina Alcohol Research Authority, and Neighborhood Arts Council. He helped organize the African American Parents Educational Advocacy Association. Witherspoon also had a major role in African American student retention and enrollment at NC State. The day after the Witherspoon Student Center naming ceremony, the university held a gathering for the Raleigh African American community and NC State African American faculty and staff at the Martin Street Baptist Church to discuss the relationship between the university and the African American community. Chancellor Larry Mon…
creator: Jordan Scott
date: 2019/03/23

William Neal Reynolds Coliseum
description: William Neal Reynolds, Jr. Coliseum is located next to Talley Student Union on Central Campus. According to the dedication program for Reynolds Coliseum, the idea for the building came from David Clark, an alumnus of NC State, during the 1940 Farmer’s Week Meetings. They were scheduled to be held at the outdoor Riddick Stadium, but were rained out for two days. Clark was struck by the idea that NC State needed a coliseum to hold indoor events. According to a Technician article from 1974, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Coliseum’s opening, construction originally began in 1942, but was halted in 1943, due to World War II. Construction began again in 1948. The first event held at the Coliseum was a 1949 basketball game between NC State and Washington and Lee University. Reynolds Coliseum was also outfitted with special pipes which allowed them to turn it into an ice rink. It was at the April 22, 1950 intermission of “Ice Cycles of 1950” that the building was officially dedicated. The Coliseum was named after William Neal Reynolds, Jr., former chairman of the Board of directors of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolds was an alumni of Duke, but many sources list him as being a generous benefactor of NC State through the years. An April 1950 News & Observer article quotes Chancellor Harrelson as saying the Coliseum was named for Reynolds as “an act in appreciation of the industrial and humanitarian leadership of Mr. Reynolds.” It was Reynold’s niece, Mary Katherine Reynolds Babcock, who suggested naming the building after her uncle, and who made the original financial contributions for erecting the coliseum, as well as additional funds later in order to construct the ice rink. Reynolds Coliseum held many events through the years including basketball games, ice shows, and musical concerts. Famous musical acts such as the Rolling Stones and Elton John have played the venue. Reynolds hosted speakers like campaigning, sitting, and former presidents, John F. Kenned…
creator: Emma Stout
date: 2021/05/23

Watauga Hall
description: Watauga Hall has the honor of being the oldest residence hall on North Carolina State University’s campus; it was the designated residence hall for NC State’s first Black students and first women students. The University built Watauga Hall in 1896 and named the building after the Watauga Club, a group of prominent, young, white men in Raleigh whose efforts were integral in creating North Carolina State University, then, the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. While the Watauga Club was meant to be a Progressive club, the members did not want to call it “Progressive Club,” which would have stirred up controversy amongst politicians. In his book, Universal Education in the South, founding member Charles W. Dabney explains the members chose the name Watauga because, “this would suggest nothing in particular to the public.” In many publications Watauga is credited as being an “Indian word” but does not specify the national or linguistic origins. Many competing translations have been given such as “sparkling water,” “the land beyond,” or “the river of many islands.” For the men, the name Watauga also connoted the Watauga Association, an early group of white settlers in Western Appalachia, as well as North Carolina’s Watauga County. The Club began as a forum for members to discuss economic issues facing North Carolina after the U.S. Civil War. Members set themselves in opposition to the old-guard legislators whom they referred to as “fossils” and “mummies” and who Club members saw as inhibiting modern education based in scientific methods and principles. Of the members, none were older than their thirties. Early members of the Watauga Club included several well-known men of the era, many of whom are the namesake of other buildings at NC State. William J. Peele, for whom the University named Peele Hall, served as the group’s first President. Peele was a lawyer and also helped to create the State Literary and Historical Association. A prominent member a…
creator: Emma Stout
date: 2020/09/05

Universal Design
description: Evidence of the principle called Universal Design is all around the NC State campus. It is in the form of, for example, levered door handles, curb cuts, automated doors, drinking fountains at different heights, and even in university mailrooms that have scissors usable by both left-handed and right-handed people. One of the most important theories of 20th century design, it continues to influence architecture, landscapes, and the products we use everyday. Universal Design at NC State, however, has an even deeper history: the concept was born at NC State University. In 1966, Ronald L. Mace earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the School of Design. He used his training, creative abilities, and experiences as a wheelchair user to produce not only innovative designs but a new philosophy of accessibility. His education came at a time when disability rights activists—led by veterans and workers—were beginning to make significant gains in dismantling the stigmas and discriminations imposed upon people with disabilities. Like many civil rights activists, disability rights advocates used the law. In the 1960s and 70s and led by activists, local and state organizations started to alter codes and regulations that eliminated physical barriers in housing, public buildings, and transportation. The Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibited discrimination based on ability, became federal law in 1991. Activists dealt with the backlash from those who thought accessibility was too costly and ugly, especially when it altered historic buildings considered stately. Mace and his colleagues at NC State shifted the public dialogue considerably. In the book Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design, design historian Bess Williamson explains that Mace coined the term “universal design” in 1985 that “gave a name to the idea that many designers, engineers, medical specialists, and individual with disabilities had articulated for years--namely, that designing for p…
creator: Tammy Gordon
date: 2019/12/11

Tompkins Hall
description: Tompkins Hall has been between Hillsborough Street and the Court of North Carolina on North Carolina State University’s North Campus since 1902, although students knew the mill-like structure as the “Textile Building” before 1918. Its namesake, Daniel Augustus Tompkins advanced textiles education at NC State but also promoted white supremacist views in the early 20th century. D.A. Tompkins was born on a South Carolina plantation on October 12, 1851, according to biographer George Winston. He moved north to study engineering and apprentice for the nation’s top steelmaker, Bethlehem Iron Works. After concluding that the South was poorer than the North because it imported food and produced only raw cotton, Tompkins “devoted his life to the promotion of cotton manufacturing industries and the diversification of Southern agriculture,” as Winston recounted. From Charlotte, North Carolina, Tompkins designed more than 300 textile mills, cotton seed oil refineries and electrical plants, according to scholar Gary Mock. Tompkins and others then lobbied for textile schools in both Carolinas like those in the North. He told the North Carolina House Committee on Education in 1899, “as we promote a knowledge of cotton milling, its cost is decreased.” North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (NC A&M) offered its first textile courses that year, but The Alumni News lamented that students “learned only by observation” at cotton mills.” So in 1900, the Board of Trustees (which included Tompkins) borrowed $10,000 from the NC General Assembly to “build and equip a Textile Department,” according to meeting minutes. In 1901, minutes show Tompkins designed the building. By 1902, Red and White articles reported, the building was almost complete enough for students to move $25,000 worth of real equipment—all donated by textile companies—into the space. Even though Thomas Nelson, Dean of the Textile Department, reported the building lacked electrical lights in 1906, his 1907 An…
creator: Alanna Natanson
date: 2020/28/01

The Free Expression Tunnel
description: The real value of the Free Expression Tunnel is that it is an icon. It is the embodiment of free speech, a place where we can air our thoughts openly….And it’s a place where frustrations are aired even when those frustrations take on the most negative tones. But here’s the reality: the Free Expression Tunnel is us. What we say and do there says as much about us as the clothes we wear, the ethics we live by and the politics we practice. The question for all of us is are we going to practice the politics of hate and destruction, or are we going to be a force for respectful dialog even where there are differences of opinion? stated Chancellor Randy Woodson on November 2, 2010, two days after a sexually explicit depiction of Former President Barack Obama with racist comments was painted on the wall. Woodson then followed these sentences affirming that these expressions represent NC State. However, he also asked members of the university whether they are going to continue posting hateful messages or have respectful dialogue. As Woodson stated, the tunnel is indeed “an icon,” but the 2010 issue is nothing new. In 1926, the Pullen Literary Society, a student organization, debated whether university faculty should censor the Technician. Some argued that the freedom students had to publish what they liked led to articles that contradicted the college’s values. And at times the articles could lead to a student’s expulsion. Other students argued that censoring was a violation of the first amendment. They also argued that since students fund and run the newspaper, regulation would mean that the faculty did not trust the students. At the end of the debate, the Society judges unanimously decided not to censor the paper. About forty years later discussion on free speech moved from paper to paint. In October 1967 NC State’s student government passed a recommendation that allowed painting on the surfaces inside the tunnel. Landscape and Design Professor Randy Hester introduced the “…
creator: Jordan Scott
date: 2019/09/25

The Brickyard
description: The school colors of red and white at North Carolina State University make their appearances across the school’s 2,099-acre property, but nowhere is it more prominent than the Brickyard. The space known as the Brickyard lies in the heart of NC State’s North Campus and to this day the plaza serves as a popular site for socializing and exchange among students, staff and visitors. This popular campus landmark has seen its fair share of protests, memorials and even preaching since its conception in the mid-1960s. In 1966, officials at North Carolina State University made the decision to pave the muddy expanse of ground between the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Center and Harrelson Hall that had previously been covered with wooden planks. Construction of a walkway made of bricks started in 1966 when university officials hired landscape architect Richard C. Bell, a graduate of the North Carolina State University College of Design. Bell’s original design called for the area to be covered in granite stones; however, bricks proved to be cheaper as they were made in-state, more could be produced and on top of that they were free. The university worked with a state-granted budget of $160,000 to create the paved walkway and Bell covered the area with 588,060 red and white bricks that had been donated by the North Carolina Bricklayers Association. Bell arranged the bricks in a pattern that reminded him of the Piazza San Marco, a plaza in Venice that Bell had studied early in his professional career. After two years of construction, the bricks were laid and the design was completed in 1968. Chancellor John Caldwell officially dedicated the walkway as “University Plaza” in March 1968 on the university’s 81st Founders Day; however, students at North Carolina State University began calling it “The Brickyard” due to the vast number of red and white bricks covering the area. After the Brickyard’s creation, it quickly grew to be a place where students and staff met to socialize and discuss poli…
creator: Kelly Scott
date: 2019/09/23

Talley Student Union
description: Talley Student Union is the home of North Carolina State University’s Student Union. Today, dining venues, coffee shops, the university bookstore and multiple student organizations, such as the Student Body Government, the Women’s Center, the GLBT Center, and Multicultural Student Affairs do their work in the student union. Prospective and enrolled students alike walk its halls daily to either understand daily life on campus or live that life. Talley Student Union is at the heart of the university’s campus and its history dates to the 1950s with the inception of the college union idea at NC State. Talley Student Union is the second iteration of NC State’s College Union, the first being the Erdahl-Cloyd Union. The first version was named after Gerald Erdahl, the first director of the college union, and Dean Edward Cloyd, previous Director of Students. Cloyd hired Erdahl to help create a space for students, staff and faculty to interact with each other outside of the classroom setting. The Erdahl-Cloyd Union was completed in 1954 and after years of housing the college union, it was moved in 1972 to create the west wing of D.H. Hill Library and the new college union, the University Student Center, opened on Cates Avenue. The Talley Student Union is the namesake of Banks C. Talley Jr., the first Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. The center was named after Talley in 1998, in response to his many years of service to the university and the state of North Carolina. Talley started working at NC State in 1951, following his college graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received a BA in History in 1950, followed by an MA and PhD in Education in 1956 and 1966 respectively. Not long into Talley’s tenure at the university, President John F. Kennedy signed the executive order for Affirmative Action, legislation intended to increase opportunities for previously excluded, minority groups. In educational fields, Affirmative Action created access f…
creator: Kelly Scott
date: 2019/03/22

Spring Hill House
description: Spring Hill house is the oldest structure on campus, built sometime between 1816 and 1820. The house is located on Centennial Campus on Barbour Dr. The house was built by the Hunters, a prominent family in Raleigh’s history and was later used by Dorthea Dix Hospital before being transferred to NC State. The Hunters enslaved African people to farm the land around the house for at least two generations. While there is a good deal of information about the Hunters and about Dorothea Dix Hospital, more research needs to be done to better understand the lives of the enslaved Africans who worked the land. In 1757, King George II of England granted 565 acres of this land to John Giles Thomas, a large landowner and enslaver. This land was passed to Colonel Theophilus Hunter, Sr., who served in the Revolutionary War and is considered one of the founding fathers of Raleigh. Hunter, Sr., with James Bloodworth, donated land for Raleigh’s first courthouse. Colonel Hunter served as the first justice for the first county court held in Wake county and was elected to the North Carolina Assembly. He was also a county surveyor and tax assessor. Colonel Hunter and his family moved to Spring Hill sometime between 1771 and 1798, after their previous residence in Raleigh, Hunter’s Lodge, burned. The 1790 census indicates he enslaved 45 people, making him the second largest enslaver in the county. Colonel Hunter died in 1798, and his grave is located near Spring Hill House. According to the Dix Park Legacy Report of 2018, his will names 56 enslaved people. Colonel Hunter left his property to his son, Theophilus Hunter, Jr., who oversaw the building of Spring Hill House, which was completed in 1820. The 1830 census indicates Hunter, Jr., enslaved 65 people and according to the Dix Park Legacy Report, his will names 67 enslaved people. According to Spring Hill’s National Historic Nomination form, at his death in 1840 Hunter Jr. left the property to his three daughters. In 1850, his daughter M…
creator: Emma Stout
date: 2020/10/06