From These Roots

North Greenville has had three administration buildings in its 130 history. Today, we will take a look at the very first one.

When you walked up to the first administration building, you were met with porches that ran across the front and down the sides. As you walked in, you would see two rooms separated by a hallway that ran across the front of the building. Behind these two rooms, there was a third room. The partitions between the rooms could be removed so that the entire building could become one room when necessary. The little building included a piano and a bell that would call the students to class each day. At the time, it was the only building on campus. Students had to live off campus with their families or board with another family.

In 1906 it was decided that the school needed a new administration building. The original building was moved 100 feet and transformed into a girls’ dorm. A second floor was added after the chimneys and building were made safe enough to support the additional level. In 1906, the first girls moved into the former administration building.

In 1911, the girls’ dorm underwent an expansion. The front of the girls’ dorm was changed to the east end and two wings were added- one on either corner of the east end.

On the night of Saturday, March 11, 1916, tragedy struck the North Greenville campus. According to Jean Martin Flynn in her book “A History of North Greenville Junior College”, the girls had been preparing for a big campus event. In their preparations, they had used irons and it is believed one of the irons was put away hot and started a fire. The original administration building which had been turned into a girls’ dorm burned down. No one was injured, but the building was a complete loss and only a few items and furniture pieces were able to be saved. Mrs. Wingo, who was living there at the time, lost everything. The heartbroken students still went to church the next day and the community came together to temporarily house students and replace lost possessions while a new dorm was constructed.