Presidential Perspectives

On July 1, 1965, the North Carolina General Assembly is­sued a charter creating the Craven Industrial Education Center, a unit of Lenoir County Community College. Upon issuance of the charter, an Advisory Board composed of local citizens was appointed. Their first duty was to employ a director for the center and to find appropriate space for operating. Under the existing state laws, each extension unit was controlled directly by the local county commissioners, the local school board, and the board of trustees of the sponsoring institution. 

Prior to the issuance of the charter, a group of citizens, under the leadership of then Superintendent of Craven County Schools Robert L. Pugh, had initiated a local study to document the need for an adult vocational education center. Superintendent Pugh assigned that task to Thurman E. Brock, who was vocational director for the county schools. When the Ad­visory Board undertook the task of selecting a director, they unanimously agreed that no one was in a better posi­tion to lead this new organization than Thurman Brock, who had spent the previous year developing the study. Consequently, he was appointed as the first director.  

Lenoir County Community College was already con­ducting a licensed practical nursing program in coopera­tion with Craven County Hospital, and supervision of the program was transferred from the Community College to the new Craven IEC in its first year of operation. In order to house both the administrative offices of the IEC and the nursing program, the advisory board, with the cooperation of Craven County, secured the third floor (the operating rooms) of what was St. Luke's Hospital at the comer of Broad and George streets. 

Director Brock then set about employing the staff. He hired secretary /bookkeeper Kathleen Tyndall, and he, Mrs. Tyndall, and nursing teacher Maxine Cliatt moved into the third floor of the hospital building to begin operations on July 1, 1965. 

During the previous year, Brock had also been setting up numerous adult education courses throughout the county. These courses were in the fields of typing, weld­ing, adult basic education, and adult high school educa­tion. Most were conducted at night using public school facilities. During the fall of that year, I was employed on a part-time basis to help with the visitation and supervision of these nighttime courses. I was teaching industrial arts at New Bern High School then. My job for Director Brock was to deliver educational materials, collect teacher re­ports, and conduct testing for evening adult students. In the spring of 1966, I joined Director Brock on a full-time basis as Director of Extension, supervising an evolving adult education program throughout the county.  It was certainly obvious to the Advisory Board as well as to Brock that, if the school was going to expand to full­time, programs of a vocational educational nature for adults of Craven County, it would need more than three rooms.

Brock and the Advisory Board looked for larger quarters to house the growing curriculum. The long-range goal of the board was the creation of an independent tech­nical institute to serve Craven County. Such an endeavor would mandate a permanent campus, but that was farther down the road. So, the search in 1966 was for larger temporary accommodations. About the time I joined the staff full-time, arrange­ments were made to rent the four-story Henderson House Apartments or Harvey Mansion at 221 Tryon Palace Drive, in addition to a two-story duplex located on the rear of the property. 

Other arrangements were made for the new school to occupy the Leona Tolson Elementary School lo­cated in the Croatan vicinity on Highway 70 just west of the Croatan Presbyterian Church. On or about June 1, 1966, we moved what was then a very small organization into the facilities mentioned above. 

In the Croatan school we located a machinist program, drafting program, phys­ics lab and welding shop. On Tryon Palace Drive we lo­cated the already existing licensed practical nursing pro­gram on the third floor of the apartment building. The second floor was allocated for new courses in business administration and secretarial science, and the first floor became the first adult learning lab and the beginnings of our library. 

Administrative offices moved into the two-story duplex in the backyard. Adapting the Henderson Apartments for our use re­quired some renovation. Needless to say, the new IEC had little money to hire professionals, so most of the renova­tions were accomplished by the administrative staff using hammers and saws. Some students who were then enrolled in a short-term carpentry program helped. Prior to our taking occupancy, the Henderson House was divided into six apartments—two on each of the three floors—in addition to two apartments in the backyard duplex. Only two apartments were occupied, however, when the IEC concluded the lease agreement. 

One of the first things to be done was cutting door­ways on each floor to allow traffic to flow from one side of the building to the other. The next thing was to install heat; open-flame gas heaters were chosen for each class­room as the most economical solution. The job of painting the outside of the structure was left to professionals, but the staff agreed to paint the inside. The final task was the introduction of fluorescent lighting and numerous electri­cal receptacles for business machines, audiovisual projec­tors, and other educational equipment. The original kitchen for the Harvey Mansion was located on the ground floor or basement. This room with a partial concrete floor had a large functioning fireplace. We decided to make the room, approximately 15' x 15', our student lounge and brought in furniture acquired from the Salvation Army and vending machines for snacks and beverages. 

The room on the opposite corner of the build­ing was used for storage. Unfortunately, that room had a dirt floor and was always humid, so we had to be very careful what we put in there.  

In the fall of 1966, the Craven IEC opened to the citi­zens of Craven County with a much expanded curriculum. During the first year we had nearly 80 students attending the IEC with about 50 utilizing facilities on Tryon Palace Drive and 30 at Leona Tolson School. 

In the early months of operation on Tryon Palace Drive, it seemed as though we had more space than we could ever use. We certainly had more than we could fur­nish at that time, but as the years went on the enrollment increased, and it was not very long before space at both locations was falling far short of that necessary for the numbers of students who were seeking admission. 

Some two years after we occupied the Harvey Mansion we also leased a two-story frame dwelling next-door at 217 Tryon Palace Drive. Into that structure we moved the library and the learning lab. One room was set up as the office for all faculty, which by that time had grown to eight instructors. We then utilized the first floor of the Harvey Mansion (left vacant when the library and learning lab moved next­ door) for additional business classrooms and labs. 

By this time the number of students and staff—both day and night—was putting a strain on quarters not designed for such intense use. We lived with constant problems of overloaded elec­trical circuits, inadequate plumbing, and insufficient heat and air conditioning. One Monday morning when we ar­rived, the thick old plaster ceiling in one classroom had  broken loose and fallen to the floor.  Fortunately, that room only housed desks and chairs, so damage to the furnish­ings was minimal. It took all day to clean the mess,but during the next two days staff members installed a new drywall ceiling and painted the room. Classes resumed Wednesday evening. 

In the backyard duplex Director Brock had one office; our bookkeeper occupied another. I had an office, and our Dean of Students had one. The reception area was down­stairs. Before we vacated these facilities, our staff had grown to the extent that on the last day I was sharing my office with four other people. It might not seem like such a hardship, but the room was only large enough for two desks, so we had to share a desk with one of us working on one side and one on the other. It was pretty much that way throughout the school. 

Both the two-story administration building in the backyard and the dwelling house next door were demol­ished during the Central Waterfront Urban Renewal Proj­ect in the early 1970s.  

Another problem which became paramount early on was parking. Eventually the IEC had the opportunity to rent property across the street when the Elijah Ellis House (1882) was torn down. Though it was totally unpaved and not even rocked, we were able to accommodate 25 auto­mobiles in our first parking lot. Without marked spaces we often had to assist drivers in getting out of the crowded lot.  As an educational facility ,the Harvey Mansion left much to be desired. However, it also offered a degree of permanency that allowed our institution not only to con­duct its business but also to grow and gain stature in the eyes of the community. 

By 1967 the General Assembly had granted a charter for an independent institution named Craven Technical Institute. The voters of Craven County showed their support by passing the required ref­erendum in the latter part of 1967, and thus completed the last step in establishing a fully independent college for Craven County. At that point, a Board of Trustees was ap­pointed which consisted of Chairman Lynn N. Kelso, Vice Chairman Albert Salem, Edwin J. Cella, Edward C. How­ard, James B. Wiggins, Hiram Mayo, John R. Hill, Leah  Ipock, Charles T. Denham, Dr. Charles T. Barker, James F. Gavin, and Evelyn Haire. 

Included in the referendum was a half million dollar bond to purchase land for the permanent campus along with matching funds to construct the first two buildings. By 1969 the 100-acre campus on Racetrack Road (now Glenburnie Road) had been purchased from Weyer­haeuser; and contracts to build the first two buildings had been let to Trader Construction Company of New Bern. In 1971 Craven Technical Institute moved from Leona Tolson School and the Harvey Mansion to its new home. By that time the enrollment at the technical institute had grown to approximately 300 students. 

During its initial two years at the new site enrollment exceeded 500 students. In the suc­ceeding years one of the original two buildings underwent a major expansion and three additional buildings were erected. Today, the sixth facility is under construction on the campus. Enrollment in the college now includes 2,200 curricu­lum students and between 8,000 and 10,000 continuing education students. 

The first official home of what is now Craven Com­munity College has a long and interesting history which parallels that of our town. The short period of time that Craven Community College occupied the facilities amounts to but a fraction of the history of the Harvey Mansion. On the other hand, in the short history of Cra­ven Community College, the building on Tryon Palace Drive known as the Harvey Mansion played a significant role in the history of our college. It was during these few years that the college took its place as a permanent educa­tional institution, fulfilling a vital role for the citizens of our area in addition to assuming its natural position in a statewide system of 58 community colleges. 

While the Mansion lacked some of the modem conveniences which we now take for granted, the years that I spent working in, nurturing, and patching those facilities will remain fond memories with me forever.