Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission

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First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

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THE FIRST ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

 

 

First A. R. P. before the 1985 fire


First A. R. P. after the fire

This report was written on September 7, 1987

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is located at the corner of N. Tryon Street and West Eleventh Street in Charlotte, North Carolina.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property: The owner of the property is:

Bentink Corp. N.V.
Pietermaai 15
Curacao
Netherlands Antilles

Telephone: Not available

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property.

4. A map depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map which depicts the location of the property.

 

Click on the map to browse

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent reference to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg Deed Book 5332, Page 751. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is: 078-045-03.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Dr. William H. Huffman, Ph.D.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Dr. Dan L. Morrill, Ph.D.

8. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-399.4:

 

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was designed by James Mackson McMichael (1870-1944), an architect of local and regional importance; 2) the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, although a ruin, is the only vestige of a Christian congregation which once played an important role in the religious life of this community; 3) the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is one of a collection of imposing church edifices which adorns North Tryon Street; and 4) the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church occupies a significant place in terms of the cityscape of the Fourth Ward neighborhood.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description by Dr. Dan L. Morrill which is included in this report demonstrates that the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, although a ruin, does possess its essential integrity in terms of overall form and massing.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current appraised value of the improvement is $600. The current appraised value of the 1.117 acres of land is $632,280. The total appraised value of the property is $632,880. The most recent property tax bill on the property was $4,259.44. The property is zoned UMUD.

Date of Preparation of this Report: September 7, 1987

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
1225 S. Caldwell St. Box D
Charlotte, N.C., 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

 

 

Architectural Description

 

Dr. Dan L. Morrill
September 7, 1987

The First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (1927), a Gothic Revival style, gable-roofed, random rubble granite ruined sanctuary with a two-story, flat-roof-with-parapet ruined education building on the rear or western portion of the main structure, and a detached two and one-half story Gothic Revival style manse near the northwestern corner of the property, was designed by James Mackson McMichael (1870-1944). 1 McMichael, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., moved to Charlotte in 1901, where he flourished as an architect for over forty years, specializing in churches, built both in Charlotte and throughout the southeastern United States. 2 Unlike McMichael’s earlier designs, most especially that of First Baptist Church (1909), in which the architect exhibited boldness, innovation, and even flamboyance, First Associate Reformed Presbyterian (A.R.P.) Church is a somewhat unimaginative and predictable expression of Gothic Revivalism. 3

Taking its inspiration from the romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which rejected rationalism and extolled the supposed virtues of Medieval Christendom, the Gothic Revival style, at least in the United States, gained greatest and most enduring favor in church architecture. 4 In keeping with this design tradition, the overall massing of First A.R.P. Church, which faces east toward North Tryon Street, approximates a cruciform with a taller north transept tower and a shorter south transept tower. Throughout the edifice, except for the interior, which was totally destroyed by fire in November, 1985, one encounters the architectural details readily associated with Gothic Revivalism. Such features as crenelated battlements, trefoils, tracery, buttresses, a steep gable roof atop the main sanctuary (now destroyed) and above the entrance portico, pedimented center merlons on the transcept towers, a stone finial at the apex of the front gable, and, of course, the pointed arch, employed with special dramatic impact in a large window (now destroyed) above the front entrance and in a deeply recessed front doorway surround, combine to produce the perpendicularity that constitutes the essential aesthetic motif of the Gothic Revival style. 5

The manse, which happily was not seriously damaged by the fire of 1985, mimics the architectural adornments of the church, even to the extent of having a tower with crenelated battlements. A garage with connecting breezeway, subsequently enclosed, is original, thereby revealing that by 1927 an automobile had become a necessity, even for a Christian minister. 6 Unfortunately, the interior of the manse has lost its significant architectural details, most likely to vandalism. The grounds are generally undistinguished, and sufficient ground disturbance has occurred over the years to render them unimportant for archeological purposes. Two stone stanchions, most likely used to support electric lights, flank a broad cement sidewalk which leads to the ten steps that rise to the front doorway. Steps and sidewalks also lead to entrances near the front of either side of the sanctuary and to another in the north transept tower. A driveway extends from West Eleventh Street to the entrance to the garage at the manse. The Tryon Street edge of the property is delineated by a low concrete curb.

That James Mackson McMichael developed a restrained and conservative design for the First A.R.P. Church is not surprising. Tryon Street is Charlotte’s grandest uptown thoroughfare and one of the two axials which make Charlotte historically a crossroads town. Consequently, its streetscape has tended to reflect changes in the dominant aesthetic values of Charlotte’s social and political elite. At the turn of the century, when aggressive entrepreneurs, like Edward Dilworth Latta and Daniel Augustus Tompkins, were transforming Charlotte into a major industrial and commercial center of the two Carolinas, architects, like McMichael in his First Baptist Church or William H. Peeps in his Latta Arcade (1915), were free to give physical expression to the excitement of that pioneering era in Charlotte’s history. 7 But, as architectural historian Thomas W. Hanchett writes:

 

The new leaders (in the 1920’s) seemed much less adventuresome, more willing to follow in the directions set by their predecessors. Their homes and offices reflected this increased interest in tradition over innovation, in social correctness rather than risk-taking. 8

To summarize, although the First A.R.P. Church is not among McMichael’s better designs, although much of the main building has been destroyed by fire, this collection of edifices does occupy a significant place in Charlotte’s architectural history. The only other Gothic Revival building in Charlotte that McMichael fashioned is Myers Park Presbyterian Church (1928), which survives in the Myers Park neighborhood. 9 Therefore, First A.R.P. Church allows one to appreciate more fully the corpus of McMichael’s work. Also, First A.R.P. Church is an integral component of a group of imposing churches or former churches that adorns North Tryon Street, including First Baptist Church (now Spirit Square), First United Methodist Church, and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Finally, First A.R.P. Church is extremely significant in terms of the cityscape of Fourth Ward, a revitalized center city neighborhood. Standing at the corner of North Tryon and Eleventh Streets, the property is an anchor for the northeastern edge of the Fourth Ward neighborhood.

 

 

Notes

1 Dr. William H. Huffman, “A Historical Sketch of the First A.R.P. Church” (October, 1986), an unpublished manuscript prepared for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission.

2 Charlotte News, October 2, 1907. Charlotte Observer, October 4, 1944.

3 For information on the dedication of First Baptist Church on May 2, 1909 and on the impact of its design, see Charlotte Observer, May 3, 1909. Evening Chronicle, May 1, 3, 1909. For an early photograph of First Baptist Church, see Charlotte Observer, April 11, 1909.

4 Marcus Whiffen, American Architecture Since 1780: A Guide to the Styles (Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1969), pp.l73-177. John Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, and Nancy B. Schwartz, “What Style Is It? Part Two.” Historic Preservation (July-September, 1976), pp. 39-42. Hereinafter cited as Poppeliers.

5 Poppeliers.

6 Sanborn Insurance Map , Charlotte, North Carolina (1929), Vol. 2, p. 306.

7 For a detailed analysis of the New South period in Charlotte’s history, see Dr. Dan L. Morrill, “Edward Dilworth Latta and the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company: Builders of a New South City,” in the North Carolina Historical Review, July, 1985, pp. 293-316.

8 Thomas W. Hanchett, “Charlotte And Its Neighborhoods. The Growth of a New South City, 1850-1930″ (An unpublished manuscript in the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission), Chapter 3, Part 3, p. 8.

9 Charlotte Observer, October 4, 1944. For a detailed analysis of the architecture of North Carolina’s early twentieth century suburbs, see Catherine W. Bishir and Lawrence S. Early, Early Twentieth-Century Suburbs in North Carolina: Essays on History, Architecture and Planning (Raleigh: Archeology and Historic Preservation Section, Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1985).

 

 

Historical Overview

 

Dr. William H. Huffman
October, 1986

The First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church building on North Tryon Street in Charlotte is a product of the robust character of the city’s booming economy in the 1920s. Built in 1926 from a design by noted architect J. M. McMichael, it was Charlotte’s first Associate Reformed church, and it played an active and important role in the city’s history. Its subsequent demise also reflected the changing character of the city, which made it impossible for the church to maintain its center-city congregation.

The Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church originated in eighteenth-century Scotland, when the Associate Presbyterian Church was formed in 1740, and the Reformed Presbyterian in 1743 as dissenters from the official state church. The two bodies merged on these shores in 1782, thus forming the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. In the South, the first two Presbyteries were set up in South Carolina in 1790 and 1801, and they joined to form the Associate Reformed Synod of the South in 1843. Because of growing differences with the Assembly and the Northern Synods over the slavery issue, the Synod of the South withdrew its affiliation with the national body and became independent in 1833. 1

The First A. R. P. Church in Charlotte first came into being in 1873, when Dr. H. T. Sloan of Cedar Springs, S. C. (where the Second Presbytery was organized in 1801), opened a mission in Miller Hall. On March 1, 1874, the church was formally organized with fourteen members. The first quarters for the new congregation was a small frame building on the corner of College and Fifth Streets, and its first pastor was the Reverend C. E. Todd. From these humble beginnings, the church flourished and in 1891 it moved to a prestigious location at the northwest corner of South Tryon and Third Streets. 2

Beginning in the 1880s, The city experienced an almost uninterrupted economic boom until the end of the 1920s based on the construction of cotton mills in the city and county, and the fact that Charlotte became a regional banking, brokerage, distribution and supply center for the textile industry in the Piedmont Carolinas. The First A. R. P. Church directly benefited from this grown through a great increase in both its membership and the value of its land at Third and Tryon. Cashing in on the latter to better serve the former, the church sold its South Tryon property in 1925 and thereby reaped a windfall that was more than enough to build a large, handsome stone church building at the corner of North Tryon and Eleventh Streets, right on the edge of the prosperous Fourth Ward community. 3

To design the new building, First A. R. P. hired Charlotte architect J. M. McMichael, who was well-known nationally for the many fine churches that came from his studio, which include numerous ones for black congregations.4 James Mackson McMichael ( 1870- 1944) was a Pennsylvania native who came to Charlotte in 1901. Some of his most important commissions in the city include the old Charlotte Public Library (now demolished), and its companion building on North Tryon Street, the former First Baptist Church, now Spirit Square; the Little Rock AME Zion Church, now the Afro-American Cultural Center; the Tabernacle A. R. P. Church on Trade Street; the Myers Park Presbyterian Church; St. John’s Baptist Church on Hawthorne Lane; and the North Carolina Medical College building at Poplar and Sixth Streets. In all, McMichael designed fifty-two churches and some one hundred eighty-seven buildings in the Charlotte area, and well over nine hundred buildings throughout the country. 5

On March 6, 1926, Charlotte builders Blythe and Isenhour took out a building permit, and estimated the construction cost to be $ 139,000. 6 The following year, 1927, the new budding was dedicated. 7 Total costs for land and buildings came to $280,000 and so the church, which had sold its other property for $300,000, was able to completely finance the acquisition of land and construction of a 500-seat stone Gothic church and have $20,000 left over. “It may be the only church in Charlotte that can make that claim,” said pastor Rev. R. Marshall Wilson in 1957, speaking of the fact that it “didn’t cost the congregation a penny.” 8

The church was indeed fortunate in that it had no debt prior to the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, and it continued to thrive until about 1950. During that time it was one of the city’s most active churches, and it helped launch other A. R. P. churches in Charlotte, including the Tabernacle, Glenwood, Statesville Avenue (later Covenant), and Chalmers Memorial churches. 9

About 1950, First A. R. P. began a decline from which it never recovered. The previous year, Rev. William Boyce left its pastorate after ten years of service, following which 300 of the 750 members left to form the Westminster Presbyterian Church in 1952. Subsequently, the postwar growth of suburban areas, the decline of the center city, particularly Fourth Ward, and other problems caused a steady loss of membership, until, in the late 1970s, the church could no longer afford to heat the sanctuary and make needed renovations, so the property was put up for sale. 10 In 1981, a proposed condominium development proposed for the site fell through, but the property was sold the following year to the Chateau Fourth Ward Corporation, the present owners. Disaster struck a heavy blow to the structure when a fire, set by vagrants trying to keep warm, completely destroyed the interior on November 14, 1985. 11 The First A. R. P. Church building was at one time a proud member of the several majestic churches, large and small, in the city center, and the community would be well served if it were to be preserved as a historic anchor to that otherwise undistinguished end of North Tryon Street.

 

 

Notes

1 First A. R. P. Church Directory for 1960.

2 Ibid.

3 Deed Book 601, p. 516.

4 City of Charlotte Building Permit 6719, dated 6 March 1926.

5 Information on file at Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission; brochure, Historic Architecture Foundation, Washington, D. C., 1984.

6 See note 4.

7 Inscription on church entry.

8 Charlotte News. April 27, 1957, p. ?

9 Ibid., September 23, 1978, p. 5A.

10 Ibid.; LeGette Blythe and Charles Brockmann, Hornet’s Nest The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (Charlotte: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1961),pp.209-210.

11 Deed Book 4552, p. 577; Charlotte Observer. November 15, 1986, p. 7

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image001Survey and Research Report on Falls Store, Davidson N.C.

  1. Name and location of the property:  The property known as Falls Store is located at 300 Mock Road, Davidson, NC 28036.
  2. Name, address, and telephone number of the current owner of the property: 

JAMES EDWARD RAEFORD SR.

DAISY LEE RAEFORD

PO Box 571

Davidson, NC 28036

(704) 892-8912

 

  1. Representative photographs of the property. This report contains representative photographs of the property
  2. A map depicting the location of the property.
  3. Current Deed Book Reference To The Property. The most recent deed information for this property is found in Mecklenburg County Deed Reference Book # 15254, pg. 63.   The tax parcel number for the property is 00323406. 
  4. A Brief Historical Essay On The Property. This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by William Jeffers.
  5. A Brief Physical Description Of The Property.  This report contains a brief physical description of the property prepared by William Jeffers.
  6. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria for designation set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-400.5.
  7. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission judges that Falls Store possesses special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.  The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations:
  8. The Falls Store is one of the few surviving commercial structures associated with an African American community in northern Mecklenburg County that dates from the period of Jim Crow segregation. 
  9. The Falls Store is an important artifact for understanding the development of Davidson, NC.  Davidson contains a well preserved historically African American neighborhood centered around Mock Circle in the west side of the town.  The Falls store is one of the few commercial buildings that has survived in the neighborhood.
  10. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling and/or association:  The Commission judges that the physical description included in this report demonstrates that the property known as Falls Store meets this criterion.
  11. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes a designated “historic landmark”.  The current appraised value of Falls Store is .  The property is zoned R 1.
  12. This report finds that the exterior of Falls Store should be included in any landmark designation of the property.

Date of preparation of this report:           

          March 1, 2010

 Prepared by: 

            William Jeffers

Contextual Essay

          The town of Davidson, N.C. in Mecklenburg County is arguably the only small town in the county that does not owe its existence primarily to the agrarian enterprise of farming or to the expansion of rail transportation.  Instead, the unique origins of this town are directly related to the pursuit of higher education.  In 1837, Davidson College, founded by the Presbyterian Church, opened in northern Mecklenburg County.  This institution would form the nexus for the area and exert a major influence over its built environment.  The first businesses in what would become the town of Davidson were originally built on land that was leased by the school.[1]  The college would initially serve two functions; an educational institution as well as the local governmental authority. 

            After the Civil War and Reconstruction, the village incorporated in 1879 and chose “Davidson College” as its municipal moniker.  However, in 1891, the town shortened this name to Davidson.”[2]  By the twentieth century, the school still played a central role in the town’s development “not just as the largest business but also providing the first water and electricity systems to the town.”[3]

African American history in Davidson is almost as old as the town itself.  While there is some evidence of African Americans in the area prior to the Civil War, it is at the turn of the century where more documentation on the establishment of the African American community in Davidson exists.  While some African Americans were able to establish businesses in the area, the majority of the population (by the early twentieth century) worked either at Davidson College or at the Carolina Asbestos Company (formerly the Davidson Cotton Mill).  And while many in the community remember the past as amicable between black and white, history shows that was not necessarily the case. 

As Grey Timberlake in her study Trapped by Tradition:  Davidson’s African American Community from 1930 to 1970 comments, “Segregation in Davidson was typical of Southern Towns.”[4]  The railroad tracks divided Davidson into two separate and unequal areas.  On the east side of town stood Davidson College, Main Street, and the majority of the white population who dwelled in large, one and two story substantial homes and boarding houses.  However behind Main Street, across the railroad tracks, the west side of town was a different story entirely.  Here was the poor side of Davidson, and disparities between the two, especially in the areas of housing and education were more than obvious if anyone living in east Davidson cared to look.  Originally the area was a mix of black and white because these people worked in the nearby mills.  However, Jim Crow segregation and the trend towards more industrial development in the area caused a transition to a more predominantly African-American demographic.  Most of the homes in this area were viewed as overcrowded and lacking in indoor plumbing.  Many of these residents rented their homes from more well-to-do whites in Davidson but by the 1950’s, “the ‘stacks,’ ‘shoeboxes,’ or ‘shotgun houses,’ were so run down that occupants rarely even tried to improve them.”[5]

While overt acts of racism in the town were few, there was a strong sense of paternalism which underscored the separation and segregation of the races.  Even the school publication, the Davidsonian, reinforced this unequal arrangement in the way it described the mannerisms and speech of its black population.  One example is seen in an article in the September 19, 1934 edition of the paper describing a young porter named Hurdle, who worked at the school carrying student luggage to the dormitories:

“Hey mistuh, lemme ca’y yo’ trunk up to the dormitories.” “Although the object of their pleas is very much doubtful of the ability of such a small coon to “tote” such a large trunk, he invariable (sic) either gives in to amusement, or hardboiled, tells Hurdle to clear out. For little Hurdle, known to every old Davidson man, is sure to be among the foremost of the crowd. His lower lip sticks out in advance to warn you that he too totes trunks with abandon and skill.”[6] 

While statements like the one above would be considered racist today, in the 1930’s such statements were the norm rather than the exception to the rule as further research shows this was hardly the only instance in the Davidsonian where racist language was employed when describing the town’s African-American population.  According to Timberlake, local African American residents were torn on how to counteract such injustice.  If they protested, they could anger the college, which was one of their primary employers, and suffer repercussions.  And many an anonymous interviewee in Timberlake’s study attested to the fact that “one could not complain outwardly, because ‘you can’t bite the hand that feeds you.’”[7]

            Timberlake also contends that “the most significant aspect of segregation was the sub-standard education at the schools that Davidson’s black children had to accept for years.”[8]  The Davidson Colored School emphasized vocational training over academic instruction with the assumption that many, if not all, of the children attending would wind up working in a factory or as janitorial or cooking staff for the college.  This unequal arrangement would foster incorrect and ignorant assumptions about the educational abilities of African Americans in Davidson that would transcend generations.  A prime example of this is seen in the United States Supreme Court decision, Brown vs. Board of Education, which mandated integration.  Many whites in the town opposed the move generally arguing, “. . . that the presence of black teachers and students would retard progress in the classroom.”[9]

Jim Crow’s reach in Davidson extended to Main Street as well.  All of the businesses were white owned and for white customers and “wherever the paths of blacks and whites crossed, blacks were expected to remain separate.”[10]  Until the 1950’s, Cole’s Café on Main Street would not allow blacks into the restaurant.  “With the undermining of Jim Crow laws by the mid-1950’s, the owners designated one side for blacks.  However,” as Timberlake highlights, “blacks and whites had to enter through separate doors.  While whites could sit comfortably enjoying their sandwiches, blacks had to stand.”[11]  The movie theater in Davidson also initially excluded African-Americans but began to allow them in during the mid-1950’s.  “Even then, black movie goers had to sit on the floor,”[12]  As a result of this, the local African-Americans of Davidson began to remove themselves from mainstream Davidson life.  Timberlake argues the reason for this was, “many (black) parents would not allow their children to enter the town’s restaurants or move theater and humiliate themselves by giving in to segregation.”[13]  They chose, instead, to invest their social capital into their own separate communities.  

African Americans in Davidson concentrated themselves in three particular areas.  The first area was known as “Brady Alley’ or more simply as, “the Alley.”  In the twentieth century, the neighborhood was, “home to factory workers and domestics as well as to community leaders, such as Ralph Johnson, a minister and owner of several rental properties in the neighborhood, and Ada Jenkins, a principal of the Davidson Colored School (Now known as the Ada Jenkins Community Center), which is situated in the southwestern edge of the neighborhood.”[14]    Located beside Brady Alley, and constructed partially in response to a Brady Alley fire which threatened white owned Main Street, was the neighborhood of Mock Hill, centered on Mock Circle and Mock Road.  Also, another small African American community called Shearer Town, named after Davidson College President John B. Shearer, exists just north of the town limits. 

            Right next to the Davidson Colored School, in the Mock Hill neighborhood of Davidson stands Falls Store.  This simple cinder block structure was constructed by Mr. Webb Shinn during World War II and replaced an older wood structure.[15] The building was constructed for Ms. Edna Falls (2/22/1892 – 10/24/1979)[16], who purchased the property in 1917 from T.E. Lothery[17].  Ms. Falls was known as an “outspoken” and well remembered figure in the local African-American community.[18]  She, like many others in the neighborhood, worked at Davidson College where she cooked and prepared meals for the members of the Kappa Alpha and Kappa Sigma Fraternities.[19]  This, however, was not her only means of income, for she also ran a boarding house in Brady Alley which catered to some of the teachers of the Davidson Colored School.[20]  In addition to this, she also found time to operate the small store in Mock Hill. 

            When she first opened the store, Ms. Falls sold simple conveniences.  Mrs. Daisy Raeford (09/22/1941) recalls that, “snacks, cookies, cakes, potato chips, etc.” were the main selections at Ms. Falls store. [21]  This was because the majority of her clientele were neighborhood children.  To that end, Ms. Falls operating hours varied, but generally, she opened the store early in the morning and then closed it down after school began.  She then re-opened the store around 2 P.M. so as to be ready for the children when they were let out of school.  This method ensured that she would get that target demographic on the way to school as well as on the way home.  Also, since adults in the neighborhood came home later than the children, she would close the store for the day around 7 or 7:30 P.M. after everyone was home and usually in for the evening. 

            While many in Mock Hill and Brady Alley remember the selection at Ms. Falls’ store, others remember the home baked treats she served up there too.  Mr. Joe Mclean (02/18/1930) remembers that the sweet treats were so good he, “used to go by there and buy cinnamon buns.”[22]  Ron Raeford (02/05/1962) recalled with nostalgia how he, “used to ask for a honey bun from Ms. Falls during recess from school.”[23] So many kids liked the wares offered at the store that Ms. Falls was compelled to institute a “one-at-a-time” policy to keep the children from overwhelming her whilst searching for something sweet![24]

            Neighborhood children, however, were not her only clients.  As mentioned earlier she kept her store open to catch potential customers as they came home from work too.  In order to meet the demands of her adult clientele, Ms. Falls, “started selling groceries like chicken, bread, milk, etc.”[25]  These new additions would ensure that her store would appeal to different age groups thereby reaching a wider market for her wares.  

            Another aspect of Ms. Falls’ store that made it popular with the local residents was its location.  Situated on Mock Circle near the Davidson Colored School, the building was situated in the middle of Brady Alley and Mock Hill.  Most residents had to pass it whether on their way to work or school.  This central location would make the store a focal point for both neighborhoods; a kind of local landmark, which the residents could use to orient themselves within the rest of the neighborhood.  

            Sometime in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s, Ms. Falls rented the building out to a tenant named Nora Bell Torrence.  Ms. Torrence, as Daisy Raeford recalls, “pretty much sold the same things (as Ms. Falls), but she started selling fish and chicken dinners.”[26] 

After Ms. Torrence, the building was sold to Talmadge and Cecelia Conner [27].  Talmadge Conner actually grew up in the house (still extant) beside the store.[28]  The Conner’s let their oldest son Michael run the store and he ran it as a convenience store and continued to sell basically the same things that Ms. Falls and Ms. Torrence had sold.  However, the Conner’s relied less on home baked goods and opted for prepackaged pastries, pies, cinnamon buns, etc. As Cecelia Conner remembers, “we mostly bought what we sold.”[29]    In addition to the traditional fare, Michael also installed an ice cream cabinet, a “showcase” which was used to market various candies and sweets, and introduced Coca Cola as new products.[30]  For a time, the building also housed a flower shop when the Conner’s daughter Castella took over operation of the store. 

In 2004, the building was sold to James [31] and Daisy Raeford[32] who returned the building to its original use.  The Raeford’s also added a small grill which enabled them to offer breakfast and lunch sandwiches in addition to the snacks and treats traditionally sold there.[33] Currently, there are plans to open a barbeque take-out restaurant in the building. 

            As Grey Timberlake concludes, “while North Carolina African-Americans experienced less persecution than those in the Deep South, segregation and racism prevailed.”[34]  While this persecution Timberlake mentions could turn hostile, for the most part, it was delivered upon the Davidson African-American community in the form of paternalism.  As a result, many local African-Americans removed themselves from mainstream Davidson society and focused inward on their own community.  The Falls Store stands as a symbol of this sense of African-American community in Davidson during the twentieth century.  It also stands as a testament to the neighborhood it serves.  From its central location between Mock Hill and Brady Alley this small building occupies a prominent position in the social history of this community.  As Cecelia Conner remembered, the building served as a major convenience for the neighborhood’s residents because it was the only place where one could get simple staples or even the occasional meal because, “all the other stores were uptown.”[35]  Daisy Raeford was quick to point out, since the building stood in the middle of two major African-American Davidson neighborhoods, between home, work and school, it was always “a good place to meet.”[36]  The building not only stood at the intersection of these communities, it also exerted a powerful and positive influence on their residents.  As Ken Norton put it, “It’s a landmark place.”[37]  To be sure, the building is well known and loved throughout the neighborhood:  The testimonies of local residents cited throughout this essay only confirm that fact.  And because of this, Ms. Falls little store has endeared itself to multiple generations of Davidson residents some of which have never known a time when the building wasn’t there.  As the world around Davidson and Brady Alley continues to evolve and change, it is in places like Falls Store where one can get a continual snapshot of this community, and by proxy, a small town African-American community, both yesterday and today.

[1] The Town of Davidson, Town History Timeline, http://www.ci.davidson.nc.us/index.aspx?NID=129, (accessed December 3, 2009).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Grey Timberlake, “Trapped by Tradition:  Davidson’s African-American Community from 1930-1970” (Honors Thesis, Davidson College, April 1993), p. 27.

[5][5] Timberlake, p. 28.

[6] Anonymous, “Students Welcomed by Negro’s Usual Appeal,” Davidsonian, September 19, 1934, p.6.

[7] Timberlake, p. 55.

[8] Timberlake, p. 8.

[9] Timberlake, p. 20.

[10] Timberlake, p. 22.

[11] Timberlake, p. 21.

[12] Timberlake, p. 22.

[13] Timberlake, p. 24.

[14] Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, Survey of African American Buildings and Sites in Mecklenburg County:  The African American Presence in the Mecklenburg County Built Environment, 1850-1950, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, no date, http://www.cmhpf.org/surveyafricancontext.htm, (accessed November 29, 2009).

[15] Interview with Mr. Joe Mclean by Bill Jeffers (December 5, 2009).

[16] Death Certificate #1979002782, Mecklenburg County Register of Deeds.

[17] Mecklenburg County Deed Reference Book # 378, pg. 63.

[18] Interview with Mr. Kenneth Norton by Bill Jeffers (November 19, 2009).

[19] Joe Mclean Interview.

[20] Interview with Mrs. Daisy Lee Raeford by Bill Jeffers (December 2, 2009).

[21] Ibid.

[22] Joe Mclean Interview.

[23] Interview with Mr. Ron Raeford by Bill Jeffers (November 19, 2009).

[24] Daisy Lee Raeford Interview.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Brenna Boyd, Cecelia Conner, Davidson College, 2005, http://franklin.davidson.edu/academic/psychology/

krmulthaup/public/reminiscencef05/boyd/oapwebsite/homepage.htm, (accessed January 21, 2010).

[28] Interview with Ms. Cecelia Conner by Bill Jeffers (January 25, 2010).

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Daisy Lee Raeford Interview.

[32] Mecklenburg County Deed Reference Book # 15254, pg. 63.

[33] Ron Raeford Interview.

[34] Timberlake, p. 61.

[35] Cecelia Conner Interview.

[36] Daisy Lee Raeford Interview.

[37] Kenneth Norton Interview.

 

 

Architectural Description 

Falls’ Store (Aka Raeford’s Grill) sits at the intersection of Mock Circle and Mock Road in the Brady Alley Community of Davidson, NC.  It is a small cinder block building with an asphalt shingle gable roof with white trim.  Its front elevation comprises an offset white door and large window with a five over six window pane pattern set against white trim.  There is also a large sign situated over the door and window which reads: “Raeford’s Grill 704-655-1293”.  A long concrete walkway leads from the intersection of Mock Circle and Mock Road to the front elevation of the building.  The side elevation facing Mock Circle slopes downward towards the rear of the building and has a window mounted air conditioner as the only ornamentation on this elevation. The rear elevation consists of a small offset door and small window which is covered.  There is also a small set of stairs and a railing leading from said door to a small concrete patio which stands next to the building’s rear (gravel) parking area.  The roof supports two large exhaust vents.  Security lights are present at both the front and rear elevations mounted over the doors.

 

Excelsior Club

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 The Excelsior Club

 

Click here to view Charlotte Observer Article on the Excelsior Club

This report was written on Sept. 4, 1985

1. Name and location of the property: The property known as the Excelsior Club is located at 921 Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, N.C.

2. Name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the property:
The owner of the property is:

HKL, Inc.
603 Hawthorne Ln.
Charlotte, N.C., 28204

Telephone: (704) 334-5709

3. Representative photographs of the property: This report contains representative photographs of the property.

4. A map depicting the location of the property: This report contains a map which depicts the location of the property.

 

 

 

5. Current Deed Book Reference to the property: The most recent deed to this property is recorded in Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4929, Page 452. The Tax Parcel Number of the property is 069-066-21.

6. A brief historical sketch of the property: This report contains a brief historical sketch of the property prepared by Dr. William H. Huffman.

7. A brief architectural description of the property: This report contains a brief architectural description of the property prepared by Mr. Thomas W. Hanchett, architectural historian.

8. Documentation of why and in what ways the property meets the criteria set forth in N.C.G.S. 160A-399.4:

 

a. Special significance in terms of its history, architecture, and/or cultural importance: The Commission judges that the property known as the Excelsior Club does possess special significance in terms of Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The Commission bases its judgment on the following considerations: 1) the original owner, “Jimmie” McKee (1913-1985), was a leading black philanthropist, political activist, and businessman in Charlotte; 2) the Excelsior Club has enjoyed the reputation as being among: the most influential social institutions in the black community of Charlotte; and 3) the Excelsior Club attained architectural appointments in 1952 which make it perhaps the finest example of the Art Moderne style in Mecklenburg County.

b. Integrity of design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and/or association: The Commission contends that the architectural description included in this report demonstrates that the property known as the Excelsior Club meets this criterion.

9. Ad Valorem Tax Appraisal: The Commission is aware that designation would allow the owner to apply for an automatic deferral of 50% of the Ad Valorem taxes on all or any portion of the property which becomes “historic property.” The current appraised value of the .189 acres of land is $9,080. The current appraised value of the structure is $99,620. The total appraised-value is $108,700. The property is zoned B1.

Date of Preparation of this Report: September 4, 1985

Prepared by: Dr. Dan L. Morrill
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Properties Commission
1225 S. Caldwell St. Box D
Charlotte, N.C. 28203

Telephone: 704/376-9115

 

 

 

Historical Overview

 

by Dr. William H. Huffman
August, 1985

The Excelsior Grub, located on Beatties Ford Road about one-half mile north of the main entrance to Johnson C. Smith University, was for many years the leading private black social club in the Southeast, and one of the largest of its kind on the East Coast. In addition to its importance as the only social club for black professionals in the area, it also became a political focal point of the city and county for both black and white candidates for office, and a meeting place for boosters of Johnson C. Smith University. Started in 1944 in a house built in the 1910s, the club took on its present appearance in the early 1950s.

The story of the founding and the success of the Excelsior Club is that of its original owner, James Robert “Jimmie” McKee (1913-1985). Born in South Carolina but raised in the village of Biddleville, McKee dropped out of school at the age of fourteen to go to work so that his athlete older brother could finish school following the death of their father. About 1934, when he was twenty-one, he managed to get a job as mail clerk with Horton Motor Lines, and over the next ten years rose to head mail clerk supervising six employees. In order to help support his two brothers and four sisters, he also served at parties and tended bar at the city’s country clubs, and about 1939 began to entertain the idea of the need for such a club for the black community, which had nothing comparable. Over the next few years he gathered information from friends who worked in other private clubs and researched the organization schemes of the existing white ones. It was also in 1939 that he was married to the former Minnie Jackson of Charlotte, to whom he remained dedicated all his life. Mrs. McKee received her B. A. from a teacher’s college in Winston-Salem and an M.A. in Elementary Education from Columbia University in New York, and taught at the Double Oaks School in Charlotte for a number of years. 1

In 1944 Jimmie McKee was able to make his dream a reality when a suitable property became available: a seven-room, two story house on Beatties Ford Road, which he bought at public sale for $3510 in July. 2 The house was originally built about the late Teens or early Twenties by Laura Davidson, a domestic, who sold it in 1929 to I. D. L. Torrence, a real estate agent, and it subsequently remained a rental property until Jimmie McKee bought it fifteen years later. 3 It had been a part of Washington Heights, a suburban development for middle-class blacks, which was put together by banker-developer W. S. Alexander through his Freehold Realty Co. (1912-1920). 4

Once the new club had a home, plans proceeded apace to get it into business. In the same month as the purchase of the property, Jimmie McKee, Oscar Jackson (McKee’s father-in-law), John Black, Ruben McKissick and Edward B. Pharr became the original incorporators of the Excelsior Club. 5 The name was suggested by Jimmie’s attorney, who had always advised him to “exceed all others” in his endeavors, and the subsequent history of the club bore out its appropriateness. 6 By September, 1944, all the necessary paperwork and remodeling were completed, and the club opened with a small bar and seating capacity for seventy-five. 7

From the beginning, the club was exclusive: candidates for membership were carefully screened after being recommended by a member. It was also very successful. Over the next few years, the membership grew from the original twenty five to many times that number, and came to include a large proportion of Charlotte -Mecklenburg’s black professionals: doctors, lawyers, educators, ministers, businessmen and others. “The club’s growth has come because from the very beginning I’ve tried to give the best service I could, not only to the members of the club, but to the community as well,” Jimmie McKee explained in a 1977 interview. 8 At times, some of the best talent available entertained at the Excelsior, including the legendary Nat “King” Cole. The club also became the home for a number of bridge, social and civic clubs (both men’s and women’s) as well as for fraternity and sorority meetings. 9 One of the most notable of these organizations was the “100 Club,” which was organized in 1965 by Jimmie McKee, Dr. Emery L. Rann, a lifelong friend of Jimmie’s, and others to help raise funds for Johnson C. Smith University. Not only did they reach their initial goal of $12,500, by 1967 they had given the University $50,000 as their part of the school’s centennial fund-raising drive. 10

About 1952, the original two-story house was incorporated into the much larger building that one sees today as part of a major expansion of the facility. It was the most extensive of several renovations undertaken to modernize the building. McKee himself subcontracted all the work, and the design appears to have been his own. 11

An unintended, but eventually very important, feature of the club was its significance for local and statewide politics. Since its members included so many leading citizens of the black community, it was a natural political meeting place. Starting in 1946, when the Democratic candidate for county sheriff made a campaign stop at the club and went on to win the election, a succession of white and later, black, political candidates have made it a point to try and pick up support from black voters by campaigning at the Excelsior. 12 In 1957, Jimmie McKee and three other members of the board of directors of the club organized political support to get a black elected to the Charlotte City Council. 13 For his efforts on behalf of local politics, in 1975 McKee was awarded a plaque in a ceremony at the club which read in part, “To Jimmy McKee. Thanks for the many years of dedicated, untiring support of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party. 10/30/75. D. Kelly, Chairman.” 14 For the occasion he also received the congratulations of U. S. Senator Robert Morgan (D-N.C.) and N. C. Attorney General Rufus Edmisten. 15

The social and political importance of the Excelsior Club, however, do not complete the measure of Jimmie McKee. His was, in fact, an impressive success story in the best tradition of the American dream: a youth who dropped out of school to help support his brothers and sisters, who worked hard and put together a unique institution that was based on his own vision and succeeded by the force of his own personality. But above all, he cared about others. This is the quality that underlies much of what he did, but his philanthropy, good will, and boosterism extended beyond the better known activities of the club, and he put much of himself back into the community where he had achieved his success.

His philanthropic contributions included sponsoring membership for any boy who wanted to join the YMCA’s boy’s club in the 1940s; the purchase of a building on Oaklawn Avenue in the early ’60s which was then turned into a nursery and kindergarten; numerous contributions to charitable organizations; and many transactions that were done quietly behind the scenes. 16 For promoting racial cooperation and opportunities for blacks, one could cite, in addition to the political activity mentioned above, Jimmie’s bringing a golf tournament to Charlotte that was held at the Meadowbrook Golf Course in 1948, which resulted in blacks being able to use the course at all times. 17 That same year, he had talks with Francis Fitzgerald, the president of a new radio station, WGIV, about broadcasting live from the Excelsior Club and having “Genial Gene” Potts as MC to entertain black listeners. Thus was launched a nearly thirty-year career for the highly popular “Genial Gene” with the station, and his success paved the way for for other black radio talent in the city. 18 For these and other achievements, Jimmie McKee was elected to receive the Charlotte Post‘ s Sepia Man of the Year award in 1957. 19

In November, 1984, a Fortieth Anniversary celebration was held at the club to honor its founder. It was both a happy and sad occasion, for many of his friends were able to offer their congratulations and an anniversary booklet had been published, but Jimmie McKee had contracted cancer and was retiring from ownership of the Excelsior. That same month he sold the club to two Charlotte businessmen, Ken Koontz and Phil Hachett, who intend to carry on the traditional role the Excelsior Club has played in the community for over forty years. 20 It is a fitting personal testimonial to a truly significant part of Charlotte’s history.

 

 

NOTES

1 Charlotte Post February 23,1957, p.1; Charlotte Observer. Nov.17, 1984, p.1; Ibid., 1977 (Copy in following citation ); Anniversary Booklet, Excelsior Club, Nov. 16, 1984.

2 Mecklenburg County Deed Book 1121, p.539, 25 July 1944.

3 Ibid., Book 312, p. 340, 30 June 1913; Book 751, p. 181, 18 Sept. 1929; Charlotte City Directories. 1913-1945.

4 Mecklenburg County Record of Corporations, Book 3, p.468; Ibid., Book: 6, p. 345.

5 Certificate of Incorporation # 49667, July, 1944, on file at Excelsior Club.

6 Charlotte Observer. 1977, copy in Anniversary Booklet.

7 Anniversary Booklet, cited above.

8 See note 6.

9 Anniversary Booklet; interview With Ken Koontz, Charlotte, NC, 25 July 1985.

10 Anniversary Booklet; letters of organization on file at the Excelsior Club.

11 Interview with Minnie McKee, Charlotte, NC, 24 July 1985.

12 See note 6; Charlotte Observer. Nov.17, 1984, p. 1; Ibid., July 26, 1985, p. lC.

13 Letter dated 24 April 1957 from J. Arthur Twitty, Dr. J. M. Villains, “Genial Gene” Potts, and Jimmie McKee, reproduced in Anniversary Booklet.

14 Photograph on file at Excelsior Club.

15 Charlotte Post.1975, article reproduced in Anniversary Booklet.

16 See note 1.

17 Charlotte Post. February 23,1957, p.1; Anniversary Booklet.

18 Ibid.; Charlotte Observer. August 4, 1985, p. IF.

19 Charlotte Post, February 23,1957, p. 1.

20 Mecklenburg County Deed Book 4929, p. 452, 9 November 1984.

 

 

 

Architectural Description

 

by Thomas W. Hanchett

The Excelsior Club began its existence in 1944 in a two-story wood-frame Four Square type house built in the teens or twenties. About 1952 the structure was heavily remodeled under the direction of owner James R. McKee in the Art Moderne style. Today it is perhaps the finest example of this rare style of architecture in Mecklenburg County.

The Club building dates back to the first years of Washington Heights, developed as a middle- and upper-income black streetcar suburb beginning in 1913. As in most Charlotte suburbs of the day, the main avenues along the trolley lines were reserved for the finest houses, while humbler bungalows lined the side streets. Beatties Ford Road formed the major street of Washington Heights, and the house erected at #921 was among the larger in the neighborhood. Like the R.C. Biberstein House recently nominated for historic designation on analogous Elizabeth Avenue in the Elizabeth neighborhood, #921 was a two-story example of the Four Square style. It had a high hip roof with a front dormer, weatherboarded exterior walls, and a broad one-story front porch that wrapped around the sides of the structure.

When Beatties Ford — like most of the city’s major suburban thoroughfares — began to turn commercial in the 1940s, James R. McKee bought #921 for his new social club and as soon as possible remodeled it in a fitting manner. Long-time associates and the tradesmen who worked on the job have all told historian William Huffman that McKee created the design himself. He visited clubs in other parts of the country, and returned with a vision of a clean, up-to-date design in the style that architectural historians now call the Art Moderne.

The Art Moderne style is the clean-cut cousin of the more ornamental Art Deco style popular from the late 1920s into the 1940s and 1950s. Art Moderne is characterized by flat roofs, horizontal trim, smooth surfaces, and use of such modernistic materials as glass block and aluminum. McKee’s Excelsior Club is a fully-realized example of this mode, such a thorough remodeling that even the practiced eye can see little evidence of the original house.

McKee had the hip roof replaced with a flat parapet roof. A two-story concrete block addition to the rear — including a small one-story stage -greatly increased the club’s capacity. The porch was extended and enclosed, and fitted with frameless glass-block windows. The two-story main block of the building received matching glass-block front windows, and aluminum-sash side and rear windows. All exterior walls were sheathed with a uniform coat of white stucco. At the corners of the porch roof and main roof, the parapet steps up for decorative emphasis, and is trimmed with horizontal black raised bands. The overall effect is no longer that of a house with an enclosed porch, but rather of a modernistic ziggurat with a small square second story centered on a larger square first story. The Art Moderne effect was heightened shortly after the main remodeling by the addition of an elegant canopied entrance. An elaborate formed canopy of aluminum -complete with port-hole like openings in the sides — shelters arrivals as they walk from Beatties Ford Road up the concrete steps and through the glass-and-aluminum double doors.

The inside of the Excelsior Club is homier than its exterior might suggest. Walls throughout are finished in wood-grained paneling — the 1952 solid-wood variety in most cases. Floors are carpeted and ceilings finished in acoustical tile. Photographs in the collection of owner Ken Koontz indicate that even when wear-and-tear over the years has necessitated replacement of 1950s materials, the new work has essentially replicated the old.

One enters through the front doors into a small lobby that incorporates the stairhall of the original house. To the left, on the enclosed porch, are a coat-check room, a storage room, and the owner’s office. At the rear of the lobby is the winding stairway to the second floor. It originally retained the old wooden balustrade and simple newel, but now features a “wrought” iron balustrade. At the base of the stair is a massive tropical-fish tank on a stone base, the focus of the lobby in recent years. There is evidence offered by the sinking floor in the vicinity that its weight is causing structural problems in the building. To the right of the lobby is the long barroom. It has a leather-upholstered bar with recent bar-stools. The impressive bar back consists of a mirrored wall above cabinets handsomely stippled with paint to resemble exotic wood. In the days before liquor-by-the-drink, the cabinets provided a place where patrons could lock their personal stock of bottled beverages — a common feature of bars at white country clubs. Today the cabinet doors are gone and the area has been refitted with glass shelving and indirect lighting to display the club’s liquor selection. Next to the bar in the enclosed porch area is the pantry and kitchen with its massive gas stove. Here, too, is the remains of a buzzer system that allowed the owner to be notified of phone calls, or of visiting law enforcement officials interested in the club’s two slot-machines, remembers current owner Koontz.

At the rear of the lobby is the main dining and entertainment room. It retains all its early dark wood paneling. In an archway at the rear is the cramped stage which is said to have held such notables as Sam Cooke and Nat “King” Cole.

At the top of the stairs on the second floor are the men’s and women’s restrooms, a medium-sized conference room that was probably the master bedroom of the original house, and one other tiny meeting area. If one moves back through this last room, one comes to the sizable upstairs dining room. This area has been recently refinished in black wood-grained paneling. In the northeast corner of the room is a serving niche that includes the opening for a dumbwaiter that once brought food up directly from the kitchen.

As in most clubs and restaurants, furniture and light fixtures at the Excelsior Club have changed periodically over the years. This makes worthy of notice the fact that several notable pieces of Art Moderne furniture survive in the upstairs rooms. There are three over-sized arm-chairs and a matching sofa that feature rounded arms, streamlined backs, and slick blue and yellow leather-like upholstery.

Since retirement of founder James McKee, the new owners have added a fire exit in the main dining room, remodeled the women’s restroom, and expanded and updated the men’s restroom. They express a strong desire to keep the Excelsior Club as it has always been. Today the building is an impressive period piece, rivaled as a Charlotte Art Moderne landmark only by the 1939 Woolworth Store downtown on North Tryon Street. In both its well-thought-out crisply modern exterior and in its warm and unpretentious interior, the Excelsior Club is an important symbol of the cultural aspirations of Charlotte’s middle- and upper-income blacks in the post World War II era.

Eumenean Hall, Davidson College Campus

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Davidson College: Eumenean Hall

From the Nomination Form for the National Register of Historic Places, Dec. 8, 1971

 

Eumenean Hall, like its counterpart, Philanthropic Hall, is a two-story temple-form brick structure three bays wide and three bays long with the second level expressed as a piano nobile. Dominating the main (southeast) facade is a tetrastyle Doric portico. The brick walls of the front and side are laid in common bond, while the rear, facing the road, is in Flemish.

The pediment of the portico is covered with flush siding and supported by four massive columns of stuccoed brick that rise from the stuccoed water table which continues around the building. The two outer columns are set on heavy square stuccoed piers which rise to the second level while the inner columns are uninterrupted. Corresponding pilaster corner posts complete the facade. A basement screen wall of brick surmounted by a turned balustrade shields the lower sides of the portico, but the portico, unlike that of Philanthropic Hall, is open at both levels at the front. A stair rises on each side in a broken double flight, meeting at an entrance landing at the upper level. The slender grace of the double stair with its molded handrail and thin turned balusters is set off by the contrasting massiveness of the portico columns that support it. The main entrance, Palladian in design, consists of a double door, each leaf containing five flat panels crowned by a fanlight and flanked by five-pane sidelights. A fluted architrave with rounder corner blocks outlines the elements. The secondary entrance, at the basement level, repeats the design of the main one, but a transom occurs instead of the fanlight. Flanking the main door are large windows with nine-over-nine sash, featuring stone sills, wooden lintels, and fine flat arches.

Like Philanthropic Hall, Eumenean Hall has stuccoed pilasters dividing the bays of the sides and supporting a simple wooden cornice. In each pilaster can be seen the head of an iron tie rod that runs through the building between the stories. A simple double door with transom occurs in the central bay at the first level on each side; the remaining bays at both levels are marked by windows like those of the front. The splayed arches above the basement windows consist of a double row of brick stretchers, while a single row forms the arch above the upper windows. The rear is dominated by a fine Palladian window, repeating the elements of the main entrance. At the basement level a window has been filled with brick. Rear interior chimneys with molded caps rise on either side of the ridge of the roof.

The interior of fine main hall, which occupies the whole upper floor, contains fine classical trim. The original plaster cornice and ceiling medallion has been removed, but their replacements maintain the dignity and character of the room. A wide plain baseboard and heavy plaster cornice with a grapevine frieze and rope molding punctuated by acanthus cartouches accentuate the boundaries of the room. The central oval plaster medallion is ornamented with palmetto, tulip, and pea pod motifs. Fluted architraves with rounder corner blocks like those on the exterior Palladian openings surround the large windows and the entrance. The plain chimney breasts project slightly into the chamber on either side of the rear Palladian window. The elevated platform at the rear of the hall contains its original furniture, consisting of a large desk with the emblem of the society, inscribed “Eumenean Hall, 1837,” its chair, and two smaller flanking desks with chairs. The Victorian chandelier was a later addition. The entire structure is in excellent condition, having been completely restored in 1956. The basement, which was remodeled at that time for office use, retains none of its original interior trim.

Eumenean Society Hall, Interior ca. 1893

From the earliest days of Davidson College until the turn of the twentieth century, student life and government centered around two debating societies, the Eumenean and Philanthropic Societies.

The Concord Presbytery voted to establish learning in western North Carolina on March 12, 1835; on August 25 the presbytery resolved to purchase two tracts of land in Mecklenburg County from William L. Davidson; and on the following day they voted to name the school Davidson College in honor of Davidson’s father, William Davidson, a Revolutionary War hero. The college began exercises March 1, 1837, and by the end of that year a number of buildings had been constructed on the new campus.

The first of the two debating societies to be formed was the Eumenean Society, organized as the Polemic Debating Society on April 14, 1837; it assumed its present name in 1838. The records of the group begin with the thirty-ninth meeting, on November 9, 1838; for several years their meetings were held in “Professor Sparrow’s classroom.” Both societies, secret and formal in nature, were primarily debating organizations, but they had a much more important influence than their avowed purpose might suggest. Society rules were very strict about the behavior of their members, imposing fines for fighting, swearing, intoxication, and “lying to the faculty.” There were “vigilance committees” for reporting offenses. Since nearly all students were members of one society or the other, “student government really dates from the beginning,” with regulation of behavior coming from the two societies. It is said that “around the two halls centered college loyalty and affection.” That provided excellent libraries, and from the first commencement until 1913 the societies joined in selecting and paying the expenses of the commencement orator, “known as the Orator before the Literary Society and for years an honorary member of one of them.” The chief marshall, an office alternating between the two societies, was the highest office of the student body. He presided at commencement and wore elegant regalia, a fringed and ornamented sash.

On November 12, 1842; the members of the Eumenean Society unanimously approved the motion of Mr. A. M. Boger “that we make an attempt to erect a Society Hall.” In January a committee from the Philanthropic Society, who also wished to construct a hall, met with the Eumeneans to confer about the design of the two buildings. Despite long rivalry between the two group a spirit of cooperation attended the planning and construction of the halls It was decided that “each Society should act independently, but that the halls should be ‘alike in site, material, and magnificence,’ and cost $1,500 apiece.” Sites ware selected December 14, 1848, and construction began soon afterward. The two halls were designed to complete the open-ended quadrangle plan of the campus. Eumenean on the west and Philanthropic on the east are two-story pavilions with tetrastyle prostyle porticos. Their form as well as their position at the ends of the quadrangle, with one-story dormitory “rows” between them and the axial Chapel, give the campus an arrangement similar to the more elaborate quadrangle at the University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Eumenean Hall was the first to be dedicated – in November, 1849, with an address by “Mr. McDowell.” A paper found in an old bottle, discovered during the 1956 renovations, is dated June 11 of that year. The purpose of the document meet, signed by A. Alexander, is explicit; “Should it stand two hundred Posterity may find this and know who were persons who built and those who had it built.” It lists the twenty-five members of the society at the time and mentions that the library had 1,200 volumes and that the cost of erecting the hall was $2,500. The names of the contractors (Lewis Dinkins and Daniel Alexander), plasterer, and carpenters of the structure are included as well. The document concludes hopefully, “May peace prosperity & liberty always pervade the land of America. May the day always be when the citizen of American [sic] will feel proud to say I am an American.”

In 1853 lightning rods, blinds, and “spit boxes” were ordered for Eumenean Hall, and $1,000 was borrowed to buy furniture, which arrived in July, 1854. In the following year the hall and “‘the property appertaining thereto’ was transferred” to the two men who had signed the note for the loan. Ten years later, an honorary member, William L. Davidson of Alabama, “saved them by a legacy of a thousand dollars,” part of which was used to settle the debt.

The Civil War had a drastic effect upon the life of the college. The Eumeneans met on April 19, 1861, but not again until February 13, 1862. Though their numbers were much reduced, they remained active through February, 1865, and were able to open again in March, 1866. After the war, the subjects for their debates reflected the disturbing events of the Reconstruction period. Some names of honorary members were stricken because of “offensive prominence in the carpet-bagger days,” and new honorary members included a number of well known Confederate generals.

On October 4, 1873, Davidson freshman Thomas Woodrow Wilson (president of the United States, 1913-1921) was initiated into the Eumenean Society. As a member of the society, he led debates, delivered an original oration, and read compositions. He was elected corresponding secretary. The dais furniture Wilson is said to have used is still in the hall. The story is told that when President Wilson visited Davidson in 1916, he was requested to make a speech from the balcony of Eumenean Hall. He responded, “I failed in my first speech in this hall and will not attempt to make another.”

Toward the end of the nineteenth century and increasingly in the twentieth, the dominance of the debating societies began to wane. The colors of the two societies, pink (Eumenean) and blue (Philanthropic) had traditionally been combined to form the school colors, but in 1895 the students voted to adopt crimson and black as Davidson’s official colors. Debating had long been the societies’ exclusive territory, but in 1907 Davidson students began taking part in the intercollegiate debating. During the nineteenth century nearly all students had belonged to one of the societies, but by 1920 society members included only thirty-five percent of the students. The societies no longer run student life, but they continue as literary societies, still using their original halls and providing a link with the early years of the college.

The intention of the building committee that Eumenean Hall and Philanthropic Hall, which face one another across the original quadrangle of Davidson College, be “alike in size, material, and magnificence” was realize for the structures correspond in both size and basic configuration. The subtle variations in the treatment of the portico, the main entrance, and the brick bond of the wall surfaces of each hall, as well as the distinction in the interior trim, result in a sophisticated interplay of repetition and variation. The crisp use of the Greek Revival forms as well as the balance achieved between the abstract classical purity of the applied elements and the warmth of the brick surfaces make these buildings one of the few truly architectonic Greek Revival complexes in the state.