Brevard College Has Undergone Transitions

In April 1933 the Women’s Missionary Council of the Methodist Church, South, decided to close Brevard Institute after 35 years of operation.  Brevard Institute had grown out of Rev. and Mrs. Fitch Taylor’s school for girls established in 1895.  Within a few years it was providing accredited high school education for both girls and boys, along with religious, moral and physical training.

Also in 1933, the Western North Carolina Methodist Conference had been looking for a site for a new junior college being created by the merger of Weaver College and Rutherford College.  In July it was announced that the Brevard Institute property was donated to the conference for this purpose.

Brevard College map, drawn by T. McNeil, Oct. 11, 1939.

The Minutes of the Forty-Fourth Session of the Western North Carolina Annual Conference held November 15-20, 1933 in Charlotte included an itemized list of Brevard properties.  Included were “about 106 acres of splendid farm land in a high state of cultivation with about sixteen acres in an apple orchard”, as well as buildings.

The oldest building on the campus was Taylor Hall.  In a 1906-07 Brevard Institute catalog it was described as “new, modern in design, and contains over fifty large well lighted, well ventilated rooms.”  It had a furnace, electricity and running water on each floor.

From left:  new Taylor Hall, Spencer Hall, West (old Taylor) Hall.

By 1933 the building was in poor condition.  Brevard Methodist Church pastor Joseph West lead a crew of men to completely update and remodel it to serve as a girls’ dormitory, with a kitchen and dining hall.  At that time it was renamed West Hall.  The building served as the heart of the campus for many years until it was torn down in 1953 to make room for modern, up-to-date facilities.

The boys were housed in Ross Hall and a previously unnamed building that was renamed Taylor Hall.  Both were modern brick structures that had been constructed in the 1920s.  Taylor and Ross Halls, along with the barn, are the last remaining original buildings from the Brevard Institute era.

The barn had been built shortly before Brevard Institute’s closure.  It continued to be used for agricultural purposes until 1957 when it was converted into a gym.  Later it was used by the theater department for many years.

Spencer Hall was located between Taylor Hall and West Hall but faced west toward Hwy 64 (Broad St.).  It contained the administration offices, class rooms, laboratories and an auditorium that would seat about 250 people.  Built in 1914 Spencer Hall was renamed Dunham Hall in 1949.  In 1957 it became known simply as the Classroom Building.  It was torn down in 1971.

The value of the property was about $250,000.  Additional property was donated, leased or purchased from W. E. Breese, J.H. Picklesimer, C.W. Picklesimer, Mrs. Carrie Zachary, Miss Florence Kearn, the Brevard Building and Loan Association and the Town of Brevard.

In addition the Women’s Council and Brevard Institute donated or sold at very low cost farm implements, office equipment and dormitory furniture and fixtures to the college.  The Town of Brevard agreed to provide free water for the first 6 years.

The first Brevard College annual lists 39 members in the Class of 1935.  There were also 264 freshmen, 40 members of a commercial class and 11 preparatory students that first year.

Next week Picturing the Past will cover the struggles and growth of Brevard College’s early years.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

James Was First Coach At Brevard College

When Brevard College opened on September 17, 1934 Ralph James became the first Director of Physical Education.  James was the coach for football, basketball and baseball for the first two years.

A Brevard News article on the first football game refers to the team as the “Brevard College Blue Devils.”  A later article calls them the “Blues”.  Throughout November they were called the “Jamesmen”.  The first mention of “Brevard College Tornadoes” was found in two November 29, 1934 news stories, although no mention of the origin of the name was found.

1941 Brevard College baseball team.  Front, left to right:  George Gordon,
Myatt Johnson, Wiley Comer, Gil Coan, Kirby Kirkman, R.W, Norman.
Back, left to right:  Coach Beatty, Harold Stallcup, Kenneth Proctor, Robert Elliot,
Harry Bryan, Wayne Kernodle, Frank Wellons, Julian Reeves, Richard Gauldin,
June Keeter, Jimmie Scott, Clyde Cleetwood, Coach Bradley.

Overall James’ teams were successful during their first season.  The football team finished with a record of 5-2-2 and shared the conference championship with Mars Hill College.  The basketball team was 6-7 and the baseball team was 8-3.

The school’s first gymnasium was completed in 1939. Students designed and built much of the building which stood the test of time for over 20 years until a larger facility was needed.  It was used for athletic events, dances and student body parties.  The gym was located just beyond the end of the stone wall on East French Broad Street.

Brevard College girls' flag football game, 1950s.

Women were also required to participate in a physical education program.  Activities included archery, bowling, calisthenics, tennis, track and tumbling.  Intramural teams competed in basketball and softball.

Intercollegiate women’s teams began in the mid-1940s with a basketball team that competed against teams from Lees-McRae, Pfeiffer and Wingate, as well as industrial league teams like Ecusta and Enka.

Boshamer gymnasium and natatorium was constructed in 1962.  The gym housed a basketball court with seating for approximately 1200 spectators, training and class rooms, showers and offices.  The natatorium opened on January 4, 1963 after a delay because the 75 foot long pool was three quarters of an inch short.  Although the swimming pool was closed and filled in several years ago the gym remains in use today.

The football program at Brevard College was suspended following the 1950 season.  A new era of Tornado football began in 2006.   

 

In 2009 the cycling team won their first National Championship as a team.  They continue to add team and individual honors in mountain and road biking, as well as cyclo-cross.  Cyclo-cross combines grass, mud and sand courses with man-made obstacles.

Today Brevard College offers the sports of baseball, basketball, cheer and dance, cross country, cycling, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

Beginning next week Picturing the Past will feature a series of articles on the history of Brevard College,  

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Baseball Standouts Grew Up On These Diamonds

Baseball grew in popularity throughout North Carolina following the Civil War.  By the late 1800s most towns, colleges and high schools had teams.  Transylvania County has been home to town teams, industrial league teams and Major Leaguers since the early 1900s.

In 1903 the Brevard Baseball Club played 28 games against other town teams, including Hendersonville, Tryon and Spartanburg.  They finished the season with a 17-11 record.  Newspaper articles boast of defeating their archrivals, Hendersonville, several times.

Within a few years other Transylvania communities and the Brevard Institute also had baseball teams.  Information on these early teams is limited to scattered reports in local newspapers.

In 1931 the Sylvan Valley League in Transylvania County consisted of teams from Lake Toxaway, Penrose, Pisgah Forest and Rosman.

Can you help identify these 1941 Ecusta ball players?

Industrial or textile league baseball was popular from the 1930s through the 1960s.  Local teams began forming in 1934.  The Gloucester CCC Camp, Pisgah Cotton Mills, Rosman Tannery and Transylvania Tanning all had teams.  Ecusta formed a baseball team in 1940.  Their first game was against Brevard Tannery on April 27, 1940.  Ecusta won by a score of 6-4.  The team finished their first season in 5^th place but won the WNC Industrial League pennant in 1941.



Gil Coan came to Brevard College to play baseball in 1941.  Coan worked for Ecusta in the early 1940s before signing to play professional baseball with the Washington Senators.  His first major league game was April 27, 1946.  Over the course of an 11 year career he also played for the Baltimore Orioles, New York Giants and Chicago White Sox.  Coan had a .254 batting average with 39 home runs and 83 stolen bases in 2877 at bats.

This Brevard team made up of mostly African-American players
played teams from Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina.
Back, l to r:  William Mills, Eddie Moss, Jake Smith, Charles Whitmire,
Joe Lewis Norman, Dolphus Robinson, Arthur Robinson, Johnny Whitmire
and Lewis Howell.
Front, l to r:  Willie Bussey, Herbert Avery, Charles Gardin, Charles Whitmire, Jr., 
Hugh Whitmire, Lawrence Mills, Dennis Robinson and Walter Mall Benjamin.

Transylvania County native Art Hefner played baseball in the Negro Leagues for five years.  Hefner played minor league ball for the Nashville Black Vols in 1945 and the Asheville Blues in 1946 and part of 1947.  On the Major League level he played part of 1947 and 1948 with the New York Black yankees and 1949 with the Philadelphia Stars of the Negro National League.  Few Negro League statistices survive but Hefner did hit .273 with the Stars.






Next week Picturing the Past  will feature athletics at Brevard College.  A short series of articles on the history of Brevard College will begin on October 26.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 x242.

Locals Play Golf For More Than 100 Years

It is generally accepted that modern golf developed in Scotland in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  The earliest U.S. golf organization dates to the late 1700s but it was not until the late 1800s to early 1900s that the popularity of golf erupted across the U.S.

The first golf course in Transylvania County was at Lake Toxaway.  “Extensive Improvements and Additions for Lake Toxaway Hotel Property” were announced in the Sylvan Valley News on November 6, 1911.  This included a 9-hole golf course and a 20 room clubhouse for guests at the Toxaway Inn.  That course, which was located near present day Lake Cardinal, closed in 1916 when the dam burst ending Lake Toxaway’s tourism boom. 

In the 1960s the dam was rebuilt and the lake restored.  The new Lake Toxaway Country Club included an 18-hole golf course.  The old Moltz mansion, with its pool and tennis and croquet courts, served as the club house.  Since that time improvements have included new clubhouses, a new pool and tennis courts, as well as major renovations to the golf course and croquet lawn.

In 1912 a man-made lake was built in the Seeoff community with the intention of creating a resort that would include a golf course.  In 1921 plans were made for a summer resort with a lake and golf course in the Blantyre community.  Neither project was successful however.

A group of golfers at the Hunter home which served as the original Club House
for the Brevard Country Club.

Plans for the Brevard Country Club and golf course, a half miles northwest of Brevard, were announced in 1925.  The first 9-holes were opened the next summer with the Hunter Mansion serving as the temporary clubhouse.  Original plans were for 18-holes, a residential development and a large hotel. 

A 1929 tourism brochure states, “For scenic grandeur the Brevard golf course can hardly be equalled anywhere.  Part of the course is located in the wide valley of the French Broad River, but the most fascinating fairways are situated on rolling plateaus that command a view of the entire links with distant mountain peaks in every back-ground.”

Miss Barbara Talley at the Ecusta's 3-hole practice course at
Camp Strauss, July 1953.

Although the Brevard Country Club never grew as planned it did serve the community for about 40 years until the communities of Lake Toxaway (1965), Glen Cannon (1966) and Sherwood Forest (1967) built golf courses.  Connestee Falls golf course opened in 1974.

Today nearly 50% of the golf courses in the world are in the US.  In Transylvania County there are currently four golf courses—Burlingame Country Club, Connestee Falls, Lake Toxaway and Sherwood Forest.

Visit the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit, “Hometown Teams” at the Library through October 24, 2015.

 Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.