|
||||
University of North Carolina
Asheville
|
||||
|
|
||||
1927: Buncombe County Junior College |
||||
|
|
Under A.C. Reynolds, former Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools, the first campus of what is now the University of North Carolina at Asheville, was created. In May of 1927, A.C. Reynold's campus, called Buncombe County Junior College, was established as part of the Buncombe County public school system. It shared a campus on Hendersonville Road with Biltmore Elementary School and Biltmore High School, and provided a continuous educational experience for the community that was amazingly free of charge. As part of the Biltmore Schools public system, the college operated under the direction of W.H. Jones, Superintendent, as a free public institution until 1930, when the Depression forced it to begin charging tuition. |
|||
| The Directory of the Public Schools of Buncombe County, North Carolina, 1928-29, lists S.B. Conley as Dean of Buncombe County Junior College and W.M. Hunt, Registrar. The following individuals are listed as instructors: | ||||
This first site later became the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department and served in this capacity until recently when the building was abandoned due to the need for major renovation. A brief attempt to repurpose the site as a museum for the Buncombe County Historical Society was unsuccessful and the building, now privately owned, is not yet purposed. |
|
|||
1930: Biltmore Junior College |
||||
|
|
The College of the City of Asheville, established in 1928, held
classes for two
years on the campus of Asheville's Lee H. Edwards High School on McDowell
Street. In 1930 this junior college ceased operation. Buncombe
County Junior College was renamed Biltmore Junior College, becoming, in effect,
successor to both Buncombe County Junior College and the College of the City of
Asheville.
|
|||
|
|
||||
| By 1934 the need to re-evaluate the status of Biltmore Junior College and to consider reorganization following more traditional college models, was evident, and a board of trustees was sought to govern an independent institution. | ||||
1934: Biltmore College |
||||
|
In March of 1934, the new college was chartered under the name Biltmore College and a board of trustees was given authority to govern the institution. The board of trustees replaced the faculty who had held governing authority for the previous three years. From 1934 to 1940, the newly chartered Biltmore College was housed in a wing of David Millard Junior High School, at the northeast corner of Oak and College Streets. David Millard Junior High School was an architectural landmark, designed by W.H. Lord, a noted local architect and father of architect Anthony Lord. |
|
|||
1936: Asheville-Biltmore College |
||||
 A-B College Faculty, The Summit, 1939. Virginia Bryan Schreiber is front and center. |
In August of 1936, the chartered name of the college changed again. This name took in the name of the city which was its main service area, and became Asheville-Biltmore College. The college was again placed under the control of the public schools, this time under the Asheville City School Board. This alignment provided additional funding for the school from the City Administration. By 1939 the city and the county were both providing revenues to support the institution. However, following general usage, the school continued to be called "Biltmore College" in newspaper articles and other sources. | |||
| The first edition of the college year-book, The Summit of 1939, pictured the faculty, including Virginia Bryan who had married and taken the name "Schrieber." Now acting as Dean of Girls Virginia Bryan Schreiber (front, center), moved into another role with the college. She recalls in an oral interview with Louis D. Silveri in August of 1976, that during the Depression the college was reduced to bartering for tuition. Schreiber said, "I remember the Dean got up in the chapel and said, 'Bring a bushel of potatoes, bring a bag of potatoes, bring anything you can! We just have to have something!' This is true!" | ||||
 Biltmore Players, The Summit, 1940 |
The activities of students were recorded in the early year book called The Summit. Students won prizes for their literary magazine Bluets --a venue of creative writing. One of Asheville-Biltmore College's most famous graduates, Wilma Dykeman, contributed poems and fiction for the magazine. Budding actors, members of the Biltmore Players, were also awarded prizes for dramatic productions at the 1940 North Carolina Drama Festival. | |||
In 1940 the college leased a building on the campus of Asheville College, formerly known as Asheville Normal and Collegiate Institute. The site is now occupied by Memorial Mission Hospital. Classes were scheduled so that the two colleges would not interfere with each other. The arrangement was unsatisfactory, and in 1942 Asheville-Biltmore College moved again.
Lawrence Hall, Asheville Normal and
Collegiate Institute, later Asheville College |
 |
|||
 |
Asheville-Biltmore College relocated to the former Buncombe County Children's
Home in 1942. The property was made available by the Board of County
Commissioners.
The educational building of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church on Merrimon Avenue now occupies the site. Buncombe County Children's Home |
|||
 |
In her oral history interview with Louis D, Silveri, Virginia Bryan Schreiber
recalls the effect on faculty of frequent moves from one campus to another. "When we
moved in those early days, many of us hauled books from the library in our own
cars in order to save money to help. The men would work extra hours establishing
their laboratories." Here Mrs. Adele P. Lowrance teaches at the new location on Merrimon Avenue.
Commercial Science, University Archives |
|||
| The official chartered name Asheville-Biltmore College first appeared in the
college catalog for 1946.
At the end of World War II, the college was inundated by returning veterans whose tuition and fees were paid by the G.I. Bill. The increase in enrollment made it necessary to look at the availability of building space and faculty. The Board of Trustees saw the need for a gymnasium, an auditorium and more classrooms. Federal funds were now available for such facilities. |
 |
|||
1949: "The College in the Sky" |
||||
 |
In 1949 Asheville-Biltmore College moved again. The new location
was Overlook Mansion, also known as "Seely's Castle". The mansion had been built as the private residence of
Fred Seely and his wife, Evelyn
Seely, daughter of E. W. Grove. Fred Seely built and managed the Grove Park Inn
and the Biltmore
Industires Homespun Shops.
"Seely's Castle" ("Overlook") |
|||
|
|
||||
Debenture Certificate, University Archives |
||||
 "Seely's Castle" ("Overlook") |
 "Seely's Castle" ("Overlook") Driveway |
|||
| Asheville-Biltmore College was now known as "The College in the
Sky." The students were proud of their campus in the castle, but
access was difficult in bad weather, and the steep terrain left little space for parking or for
expansion. Dr. William Highsmith recalls in his history of the university,
"Students hitchhiked up and down the road, and it was common
practice to pick them up and take them to the big gate on Town Mountain
Road." Highsmith, The University of North Carolina: The First Sixty Years, p. 33 |
||||
 |
The number of veterans enrolled began to decline. With falling
enrollment and the increasing expense of upkeep and repair of Seely
Castle, the college was no longer able to afford the cost of a football
program.1953-54 was the last football season.
Asheville-Biltmore College Bulldogs |
|||
| The North Carolina legislature gave its first appropriation for the college
in 1955. In 1957 the college was the NC first institution to qualify as a
state-supported community college under the newly-enacted state Community
College Act. The Board of Directors was again reorganized, with the City
of Asheville and Buncombe County receiving matching funds from the state.
The school was accredited as a junior college in 1958.
Folk Dancing at "Seely's Castle" |
 |
|||
| The college quickly outgrew the Overlook property. In 1958 residents of Buncombe County voted three to one in favor of a bond issue to expand and improve Asheville-Biltmore College. The architectural firm of Six Associates offered, free of charge, a plan for enlarging the Sunset Mountain campus, but the mountain location was severely limited. Board members looked for a more accessible and convenient location. | ||||
|
|
||||
| Negotiations began to acquire 161.9 acres between Merrimon Avenue and
Broadway in North Asheville, owned primarily by Landon Roberts, a civic-minded
local attorney. During 1959 landowners sold their property to the college
at rock-bottom prices. Six Associates began working on plans for the
new campus.
Site of the current campus, facing |
 |
|||
| The first two buildings on the campus were completed and occupied by the
fall term of 1961. Phillips Hall housed offices, the library, and classrooms. Further funding in 1961, from the legislature and from
a second local bond referendum, provided for the construction of five additional buildings.
"The Realization of a
Dream." |
 |
|||
 |
Botanical Gardens were developed on a ten-acre tract on the campus set aside by the Board of Trustees. A non-profit corporation, Asheville-Biltmore Botanical Gardens, Inc., was formed to create and maintain the gardens. Plans were completed by Doan R. Ogden, Asheville landscape architect.
Asheville-Biltmore Botanical Gardens, Inc.,
|
|||
In 1963, an act of the state legislature converted Asheville-Biltmore College into a state-supported four-year institution under a new Board of Trustees. The first baccalaureate degrees were awarded in June of 1966. Full accreditation as a four-year institution was granted in late 1967, retroactive to the graduating classes of 1966 and 1967. Graduating class of 1966 |
|
|||
|
The 1966 Summit titled this picture "Asheville-Biltmore College: |
||||
1969: University of North Carolina at Asheville |
||||
 |
In 1969 Asheville-Biltmore College became The University of North Carolina at Asheville, one of six members of the Consolidated University. Later that year, the ten remaining state-supported institutions were merged into a unified sixteen-campus University of North Carolina. In this first group photo of President Friday and the sixteen chancellors, UNCA Chancellor William Highsmith stands behind and to the left of President Friday. Sixteen Chancellors, University Archives |
|||
|
GROWING Prior to 1967, UNCA was a commuter college. Construction of dormitories began a transition to a more "traditional" student body and more students from outside Buncombe County. In 2001 the Village was demolished to make way for modern dorms. Today construction and remodeling continue to change the face of the university. The New Science & Multi Media Building will add a state-of-the-art science building for UNCA's Biology and Chemistry departments and the renovation of the Highsmith University Center will upgrade UNCA's student center to meet the expanded needs of a growing university. New Residence Halls such as the one seen in the plan to the right will provide comfort and elegance for students in an institution already known for its unique and beautiful mountain setting. |
click thumbnail for larger (111KB) image
SGA president Ed Harris |
|||
The Present:
|
||||
|
Updated: August 2004 ; December 14, 2005 ; April
15, 2006 Created by Betsy Murray, Special Collections Assistant, 2002 ; revised H.W. and Special Collections Staff 2004, 2005, 2006 All images from the collections of D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections/University Archives Go back to the Top | Special Collections Home | Ramsey Library | UNCA |
||||
