The football team of 1927 poses with Dean of Men Sinclair B. Conley.
1927 football team, University Archives
The football team of 1927 poses with Dean of Men Sinclair B. Conley.
1927 football team, University Archives
In 1927 the Buncombe County School Board established Buncombe County Junior
College as part of the public school system. The college operated as a free
public institution until 1930, when the Depression forced it to begin charging
tuition.
During this period the college was on Hendersonville Road. At that location the
Biltmore Schools under superintendent W. H. Jones included Biltmore High School,
Biltmore Elementary School and Buncombe County Junior College.
The building in which the college held classes later housed the Buncombe County
Sheriff's Department.
Biltmore High School, University Archives
Lee H. Edwards High School,
Ewart M. Ball Collection
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.
The 1932 graduating class of Biltmore Junior College includes familiar last
names
such as Crawford (#6), Weaver (#12), Ramsey (#16), DeBruhl (#26),
Schandler (#28), Reynolds (#29), Coggins (#32), Ingle (#36), and Nesbitt (#42).
Names of 1932 graduates
From 1934 to 1940, the college was housed in a wing of David Millard Junior High School, at the northeast corner of Oak and College Streets. In 1934 the authority of the institution, which had been held for three years by the faculty, was placed with a board of trustees and a charter was secured under the name of Biltmore College.
David Millard Junior High School, Ewart M.
Ball Collection
A-B College Faculty, The Summit, 1939
The first edition of the college year-book, The Summit of 1939,
pictured the faculty. Dean of Girls Virginia Bryan Schreiber (front, center)
recalls in her interview in the Louis D. Silveri Oral History Collection, 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
Control of the institution passed in 1936 from the trustees to the Asheville
City School Board. The City of Asheville then provided financial support, and
the chartered name was changed to Asheville-Biltmore College. However,
following general usage, the school continued to be called "Biltmore College" in
newspaper articles and other sources. Students won prizes for their literary
magazine Bluets and 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
Ewart M. Ball Collection
Buncombe County Children's Home, Ewart M. Ball
Collection
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.
Commercial Science, University Archives
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.
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.
"Seely's Castle" ("Overlook"), Ewart M. Ball
Collection
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.
Debenture Certificate, University Archives
The estate and additional property on Sunset Mountain were purchased after an
extensive development campaign by the Board of Directors, a citizens' committee
organized to implement the plan, contributions from Mrs. Evelyn Seely, wife of
Fred Seely, and an enthusiastic response by the general public. A total of
1,464 people contributed to the fund to buy Seely's
Castle for the college.
"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
Asheville-Biltmore College Bulldogs
The Summit, 1950
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.
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.
Six Associates plan for an expanded Sunset Mountain campus, University
Archives
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
Broadway, between the present sites of
Phillips Hall and Rhoades Hall.
University Archives
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."
The Summit, 1961
Asheville-Biltmore Botanical Gardens, Inc.,
The Summit, 1964
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.
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.
Names of "66 in the Class of '66"
Graduating class of 1966
Asheville Times, June 26, 1966
The expanding campus before construction of Dormitory Village in 1967,
Summit, 1966
The 1966 Summit titled this picture "Asheville-Biltmore
College:
A Progressive Idea, Encouraging Individual Growth for Social Fulfillment."
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.
SGA president Ed Harris
and Chancellor William Highsmith
Plan for Dormitory Village
The Summit, 1967
Sixteen Chancellors, University Archives
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.
Updated: August 2004
Created by Betsy Murray, Special Collections Assistant, 2002
All images from the collections of D. H. Ramsey Library Special
Collections/University Archives