History of Concord Normal School - Mercer Co. WV The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 630-631 CONCORD NORMAL SCHOOL, NOW CONCORD COLLEGE. In the year 1865, at the close of the Civil war, Mercer County, like many of her sister counties in Virginia and other Southern states was without a Court House, it having been burned with almost the entire town of Princeton, by order of Colonel Jenifer, in 1862. As soon as it was determined to rebuild the Court House the question of relocation began to be agitated by the people in the lower section of the county, who had long been complaining of the injustice to them in the location of the Court House at Princeton. Through the influence of the "Board of Registration" the question was submitted to a vote of the people, which resulted in the location of the Court House at Concord Church, a little village which had been built around a Methodist Church and a post office, Concord Church. After the Court House had been removed from Princeton to Con- cord the people of Princeton, now in possession of the registration machinery, became very anxious to obtain it again. Before the Court House was completed another vote was taken, which resulted in re-locating at Princeton. The lower end of the county having been cut off to help form Summers County, there was left no hope of ever re- gaining the Court House for Concord, the unfinished Court House and jail reverting to the original owner of the land on which they stoed. He tendered it to the state on con- dition that a branch of the State Normal School be established at Concord. Accordingly, on the 28th day of February, 1872, the Legislature passed "An act to locate a Branch State Normal School at Concord in the County of Mercer." This act re- quired buildings to be fitted and furnished for the con- venience of said school, free of charge to the state. Before anything was done toward the completion of the building the owner of the land died, leaving his affairs in such con- fusion as to render it impossible to procure such a title to the property as the state would accept. The friends of the measure, on the 2nd day of December, 1873, procured the passage of an act authorizing the procurement of a title to any other lot in Concord and the erection of suitable buildings thereon without cost to the state. The act further provided this should be done within twelve months from the passage of the bill or the school would be transferred to Princeton. The last named provision stimulated the people to supreme effort, and to a realization that immediate action was necessary to retain the school. The village consisted of five families, a small number for so great and momentous an undertaking. Capt. William Holroyd, who was the oldest resident, took the matter in hand and impressed the people with the great advantages and benefits to be derived from such a school. On the 29th day of May, 1874, William H. Martin and wife, conveyed to the State of West Virginia six acres of land upon which to erect the Normal School building. One of the conditions was that no money was to be appropriated by the state for the buildings, so the money had to be secured by subscription. With this money a wooden structure was erected at a cost of about $1,700. On February 22, 1874, the corner stone was laid with Masonic honors. April 21, 1875, Capt. John A. Douglass and Hon. William M. Reynolds appeared before the Board of Regents of the normal schools then in session at Charleston and presented the deed made by William H. Martin and wife to the State of West Virginia. The board accepted it in compliance with the act of the Legislature. At this meeting of the Regents, Capt. James Harvey French was appointed principal, salary $700 and Hon. French M. Reynolds, assistant, salary $600. The Regents ordered that Concord Normal School should begin on the tenth of May, 1875, and continue twenty weeks, then take an inter- mission until the first Monday in March, 1876. The environ- ment was not very inviting on that memorable morning, May 10, 1875 when the school was first opened. Imagine the beautiful rolling lawn, upon the summit of which now stands the Concord Normal Training School, once occupied by the splendid and commodious brick building which was burned in November, 1910, but on that momentous occasion was a wilderness of red brush, chinquopin bushes and stumps, in the midst of which stood a rough, unfinished wooden frame building about 39x48 feet, two stories in height, without either windows or doors, and you can gain a faint idea of the appearance of the first school building as it stood in the May sunshine, guiltless of paint or ornament. The inside was not more inviting. There was a floor in the lower story, with a partition of rough boards across the building, dividing it into unequal rooms. With an unob- structed view of the weather-boarding without and the rafters overhead, many of the boys, for want of better seats, sat upon the joists and studied. There was no apparatus whatever. No stoves or furnace, so, on chilly spring days the students, when not reciting, were hovering around fires out of doors made of the logs and debris which were plentiful. There was no bell to ring the assembling of school, the arrangement for that purpose being rather primi- tive, consisting of a cow's horn, which in 1878 gave place to a very sweet toned bell. The frame building was used until commencement, July 2, 1886. Early in July of that year work was begun on the new brick building for which the Legislature of 1885 had made an appropriation of $5,000. It was completed the first week in January, 1887. On the 10th of January, with Captain French unable to leave his room, and John D. Sweeney in the Legislature, James F. Holroyd began school in the new building. The transfer of the school from the old church to the new school house marks the beginning of a period of progress beyond the most sanguine expectations of the friends of the institution. The Legislature of 1887 appropriated $3,000 to complete and furnish the building. It was enlarged in 1888 by an addition costing $3,500. The Legislature of 1897, realizing the beneficent influence of this progressive school, appropriated $20,000 for the erection of a still larger building, which, with its many convenient class rooms, fine library, its large auditorium, capable of seating 1,000 people, its literary society halls, its "model school" rooms, was the one destroyed by fire in 1910. In 1891 a Ladies Hall was built on a lot donated by Captain Holroyd. This building has thirty rooms and is now occupied by young men, as the handsome and com- modious new Woman's Hall has been built on the campus of the New School Building with a capacity of 150 girls. In 1886 the name of the post office was changed from Concord Church to Athens, but the school still retains the name of Concord. On the morning of November 10, 1910, three o'clock, peals from a church bell roused the citizens of Athens to witness the deplorable spectacle of the handsome Normal School building being consumed by fire. Even while the massive columns of this structure of architectural beauty were tottering upon their foundations and the costly equipment was smouldering in the debris, plans for the con- tinuance of school were being laid and by daybreak sixteen rooms were at the disposal of the school officials. Students, teachers and citizens, all loyal and enthusiastic, met at eight o'clock in one of the churches and they were all so per- fectly in accord in their sentiments and determination to go on in spite of all obstacles that the hymn they sang seemed very appropriate, "Blest be the tie that binds." Many other towns and communities were anxious candidates for the relocation of the school, but the people of Mercer County and especially of Athens had made many sacrifices, and had struggled with many discouraging problems in fostering the growth of the school and making it an institu- tion worthy of the name it now proudly maintains among the leading educational centers of the state, and so, after many anxious days, were made glad by its relocation at Athens, with the provision that the community donate the land for the new building. Twenty-six acres were secured on which now stands a large, commodious building, fireproof, excelled by none in the state. A fine baseball and athletic field, tennis courts, a bowling alley in the basement, and the management is planning for a new gymnasium. This year's summer school enrolled 550, and at the last meeting of the State Board of Education, Concord State Normal was placed on a Teachers College basis and is now Concord College, granting degrees. Thus, from a very small beginning, has risen to eminence and distinction the Concord State Normal School. Submitted by Valerie Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************