Service And Leadership: Remembering T.C. Henderson

T.C. Henderson returned to Transylvania County to serve as Superintendent of Schools for a second time in 1923. 

In a 1924 report on the state of Transylvania County schools Henderson offers an early history and a statement of progress made over the past sixteen to eighteen year including the addition of standard high schools at Brevard and Rosman, as well as a reorganized high school at Davidson River.  

The new Brevard High School opened in September 1925.

He continues, “It is the plan of the State Department of Education and the hope of the county board of education and the county superintendent of public instruction very soon to have high school instruction within reach of every boy and girl who has completed the elementary course in our public schools.  This can be accomplished by means of transportation for high school pupils.  One of the greatest needs of our schools, especially the high schools, is the installation of shops, laboratories and scientific paraphernalia for the addition of courses in vocational agriculture and home economics.”

Henderson proposed establishing one county wide tax district so every child would have an equal opportunity.  This policy was being used in the more progressive counties in the eastern part of the state and included a recommendation for an eight month school term for all schools.

After the Uniform Tax passed on December 15, 1925, Henderson received high praise from across the state.  A.T. Allen, State Superintendent wrote, “The success that you have had will put heart into many of the fellows in other counties.  This is the best bit of information we have had in support of the State-wide eight month school term, and I can’t think of enough to say to you in commendation of the wonderful way in which you have handled this election.”

At the start of the 1925-26 school year Transylvania County’s first school truck (bus) began transporting high school students from Calvert, Cherryfield, Quebec and Lake Toxaway to attend Rosman High.  By Spring 1927 there were four school trucks operating in the county.

T.C. Henderson would serve as Superintendent of Transylvania County Schools from 1905 through 1917 and 1923 through 1929.  Following his “retirement” Henderson taught for several more years at Rosman and in the Gloucester and Hogback townships. 

 The North Carolina retirement law stated that teachers must retire at the end of the school year after reaching the age of 70.  T.C. Henderson’s final year as a teacher was the 1941-42 school year when he taught twelve students at the Montvale School, the same school where his brother Charlie had once taught 72 students. 

T.C. Elementary School in 1962.

Whether as Superintendent of Schools or teaching in the county’s smallest one-teacher school T.C. Henderson always worked for the good of the students.  He was a leader in education advancement in Transylvania and Robeson counties and across the state.  His brother, Charlie stated, “His entire life was spent in laying the foundation for others to build upon.” 

When the last of the rural schools were consolidated the new elementary school in Quebec, not far from where T.C. Henderson was raised, was named for him.  T.C. Henderson Elementary School opened on August 26, 1957, just fourteen months after Henderson died on June 17, 1956.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. For more information contact the NC Room staff at 828-884-1820 or ncroom@transylvaniacounty.org.