Piedmont High School

Lawndale, NC

The history of this school is remarkable. Much has been written about this school and thankfully numerous catalogues, photos, and other documents have been preserved. At one time, it was the crown jewel in the educational infrastructure of Cleveland County, claiming its place as a truly special piece of Cleveland County’s history.

From the collection of Joe Southards; printed in Cleveland County People and Places by Barry Hambright and Rusty Patterson, 2002.

The following timeline was constructed using information from the sources listed in the endnotes below.1234

  • 1895

    The need for a quality education is recognized by Major Henry F. Schenck while attending a children’s Christmas program directed by his daughter, Minnie Schenck Ramseur.

  • 1896

    Major Schenck makes plans to improve on the four-month school that had been operating there. With the support of Rev. J. V. Devinney and others at New Bethel Baptist Church, a plan comes together to hire William Banks Dove as the new school’s first principal. It is said Mr. Dove came up with the name “Piedmont” for the school.

    The original school was situated near Schenck’s Cleveland Cotton Mill on Knob Creek. Frances Ramseur Ramsey had a photo of the school–a two-story wood frame building. A second building–the former brick home of Mr. and Mrs. Schenck–served as a dormitory.

  • 1897-1898

    Principal Dove takes a new job in Lexington and is replaced by William David Burns, a recent graduate of Wake Forest College.

    Mr. Burns is a native of Onslow County, NC–an advantage in attracting students from the eastern side of the state.

  • 1900

    A new school is constructed on a high hill closer to Lawndale. The large wood structure is described as “32 feet wide, 132 feet long with two stories and verandas.”

    In the same year, a 32 ft. X 40 ft. two-story annex was built.

  • 1906

    David Hall, a boys dormitory, is built.

  • 1907-1908 Academic Year

    Total enrollment is 309. These students came from four states other than North Carolina and from fourteen counties in North Carolina other than Cleveland County.

    1907 trunk of boarding student “W. L. White.”
    Inscription inside the 1907 trunk.

  • It is unclear exactly when Elam and Newton Halls were built.

  • March 7, 1910

    A fire starts in the girls dormitory, then spreads to the main building. Here the recitation rooms, dining hall, auditorium, and a dormitory for boys is destroyed . Only two dormitories for boys and the society hall remain. No students are injured.

    1910

    After securing funding through public gifts, three new buildings are ready for occupancy for the 1910-1911 school year. The main building, named Schenck Hall, has four recitation rooms, a large dining hall, kitchen, an office, and rooms for the principal and his family; the entire top story serves as a girls’ dormitory. Another building contains a large auditorium, and quarters for the music, business, and elementary departments. Construction on the Waters Library (now the Spangler Library) begins with a financial gift from Miss Sallie Waters in memory of her brother, Abraham G. Waters. Captain Waters died at the Battle of Gainsville during the Civil War.

  • February 15, 1913

    A fire destroys Newton Hall. It is promptly rebuilt.

    October, 1913

  • 1910s-1920

    Piedmont High School reaches its pinnacle becoming one of the largest of the non-denominational schools in the state.

  • c. 1915

    The coaches pictured were Lawton Blanton and cousin, G. Thurman Blanton. Photo from the collection of Howard M. Blanton, son of Thurman.

  • Early-1920s

    Public high schools spring up all over North Carolina and neighboring states. Coupled with improved roads and communication, private boarding schools such as Piedmont experience declining enrollment.

    1921-1924

    Piedmont begins receiving financial aid from the state.

    Beginning with the opening session of the 1924-1925 term, Piedmont becomes a public state-supported high school. Board and dormitory facilities remain privately operated.

    January 23, 1924

    William Banks Dove, Piedmont’s first Principal, dies at his home in Columbia, SC. At the time of his death, he had served as South Carolina’s Secretary of State for 15 years. Dove was 54.

  • 1925

    The Piedmont Corporation deeds the Cleveland County Board of Education a lot on top of the hill just east of the Waters Building. The county board constructs a large brick building containing classrooms and an auditorium.

  • 1924-1925

    The privately held Piedmont High School became a public high school in the 1924-1925 academic year. This school served students in Lawndale and other upper Cleveland communities until its closure in 1967. At that time its students began attending the newly constructed Burns High School on Stagecoach Road in Lawndale.

    There is an article on Piedmont High School, the public school that operated from 1924-1967, here.

  1. Heritage of Cleveland County, Vol. I, 1982; Article no. 28, pg. 24. Sources: Material, memories and interviews with Frances Ramseur Forney, Mary Lattimore, Ada Turner Nevins, Charles H. Long, R. E. Price, J. H. Grigg, Hugh Covington, J. R. Davis and Charles D. Forney, Jr. ↩︎
  2. Forney, Sr., Thomas Jacob. “Old Piedmont High School at Cleveland Mills: Remembrances of Frances Ramseur Forney.” The Lawndale Historical Society, n.d. http://www.lawndalenc.org/Piedmont01.html ↩︎
  3. Sketches of Piedmont High School. Raleigh, NC: DigitalNC, 1960. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/105319 ↩︎
  4. Piedmont High School catalogues, 1903-1925 DigitalNC ↩︎