From These Roots

North Greenville has had three administration buildings over the course of its 132 years. All three of these main buildings stood in the same spot at the highest point on campus. At the top of this hill, over a century of students have been able to gaze out of the windows of the administration buildings to view Hogback and Glassy Mountains while dreaming about their futures. The last of these central buildings, The Donnan Administration Building, was completed in 1955 and has stood longer than any of the others. “The Admin” or simply “Donnan” has served thousands of students over the decades, and with the recent renovations, will hopefully serve many generations to come.

The first administration building was once the only building on campus. It was a wood structure with a porch that wrapped around the front and had a tower at the top. Inside the building, there were three rooms divided by partitions and the partitions could be removed to make one big room when necessary. In 1906 it was decided that the school needed a new administration building. The original building was moved 100 feet and transformed into the first girls’ dorm. A second floor was added at that time and further additions were made in 1911. Disaster struck on March 11, 1916 when a fire broke out and destroyed the building. Thankfully, no one was injured.

The second administration building was built in 1906 and was much larger than the first. It was a two-story building with three classrooms and an assembly room on the first floor along with three additional classrooms on the second floor. Like the first administration building, there were partitions on the first floor that could be removed to make one large room. In 1911, the building was expanded, renovated, and the first floor was covered in brick. By 1933, there was a need for an auditorium so one was built on the backside of the second administration building. The auditorium would remain in place, even after the construction of the Donnan Administration Building, until 1967.

As the years passed, North Greenville became a junior college, and a more modern administration building was needed for accreditation purposes. In February 1954, it was announced that the trustees had approved for a third administration building to be constructed. Harold Woodward of Spartanburg was chosen as the architect, Justice Jones was selected as the contractor, and construction was to begin in June of that year. The estimated cost of the new building was $150,000-$165,000. At the time, the school had $85,000 in the building fund, expected to receive $40,000 from the Baptist Cooperative Fund, and hoped to raise another $40,000 from alumni and friends.

The groundbreaking for the new administration building was held June 30, 1954. Dr. Donnan was the first to break ground followed by Dr. Charles Sims of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Rev. J.E. Rouse as chairman of the board of trustees, Dr. H. Dan Williams as alumni representative, Rev. Roy Robinson as the representative for local churches, Dr. W.C. Lamm as the faculty representative, and Ed Smith as the student body president. Dr. S.H. Jones of the Baptist Courier was the speaker for the ceremony.

The new administration building was constructed with a steal frame while the outside was brick, tile, and glass. The front of the building was covered in windows which allowed for mountain views while bringing in natural light. The second floor of the building included seven classrooms and several offices while the downstairs housed the library, offices, the post office, conference rooms, and space to store records.

The front of the new administration building included a unique feature- a mosaic mural depicting the history of the school. The mural was created by Joseph H. Cox, a professor in the School of Design in the Department of Architecture at North Carolina State College. Prof. Cox chose tile and glass materials due to their resilience in the outdoor elements. Due to the modern style of the building, Prof. Cox decided to use a semi-abstract style to depict the history of North Greenville rather than a literal one.

The story of North Greenville begins at the top lefthand corner of the mural where the school’s founding year is shown. Cox used a man with a gun and darker colors to represent “The Dark Corner”. As you follow the line from the date at the top of the mural, the colors lighten, and the man is now shown holding a book. This was meant to represent education bringing light to “The Dark Corner”. The family represents “the good Christian life” and the two men shaking hands represent mutual trust, counsel, companionship, faith, and other related ideas. The rest of the symbols on the mural depict various aspects of the Liberal Arts. According to a story passed down from former North Greenville history professor Dr. Shirley Hickson to former North Greenville Dean of Humanities Dr. Catherine Sepko, each department at the school was able to choose the symbol which represented their area.

Professor Cox stated, “The primary intent of the mural is to enrich the architecture and become a focal point in the façade of the building. The abstracted elements of the subject matter attempt to broadly interpret the spirit and aspirations of the school as a cultural contributor to humanity. It is not intended to inform the observer primarily, words and actual contact can succeed here more graphically than a picture; but it does intend to enrich the visual climate of the campus and to encourage each individual to interpret, in his own way, its meaning and significance.”

One of the most needed aspects of the new building was the construction of a dedicated library space. Previously, the school’s library had been little more than a converted classroom full of books and a separate classroom with some tables and chairs. The insufficient library was hindering the school from being accredited so the new facility met that need.

Before the second administration building was torn down, the books had to be temporarily moved into the basement of Wingo Hall, a former women’s dorm which sat next to White Hall at the time. To accomplish this, the students formed a line from the second administration building down to Wingo Hall. The students then passed books down the line, from one student to the next, until the entire collection had been moved. When the new Donnan Administration Building was complete, the students came together again to form a line and pass the books back up to the new building.

The new library consisted of a large reading room, a work room with a sink and cabinets, offices for the librarian, and a conference room. Edith Sayer, the librarian at the time, was given a budget of $1,200 to expand the book collection and a magazine corner was created to house the sixty-five magazine subscriptions and the eight newspaper subscriptions.

Construction was completed in 1955 with a final price tag of $245,732.28 and classes began meeting in the new building in the fall semester.  That same year, on Thanksgiving Day and the following Sunday, an open house was held as the official opening of the building to the public. More than 250 alumni and friends came to tour the new main building including the building’s architect, Mr. Woodward.  

 The dedication was held on Founders Day 1957 in conjunction with the 65^th anniversary of the school. The date, which also happened to be Dr. Donnan’s birthday, was January 11^th. Dr. S.H. Jones, the editor of the Baptist Courier, gave the invocation and introduced the Founder’s Day speaker. Dr. Dotson M. Nelson Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church Greenville, gave the Founder’s Day speech where he emphasized the six pluses of a Christian education: truth plus virtue, work plus faith, knowledge plus wisdom, reputation plus character, books plus the Book, and the buildings of brick plus the building of men and women.

Following the Founder’s Day service, a dedication ceremony was held in the lobby of the new building. The administration building was named “The Donnan Administration Building” in honor of Dr. Donnan, and the library was named “Hester Memorial Library” in honor of the Rev. H.C. Hester who was the principal of North Greenville before Dr. Donnan. Dr. Charles F. Sims, the secretary-treasurer of the General Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, led in the dedicatory prayer. Dr. M.A. Alewine, the director of the board of trustees, gave an outline of the future expansion plans for the school. The Rev. B.B. Jernigan of the Sunday School Division of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and alumnus of North Greenville gave the tribute speech for Rev. H.C. Hester where he emphasized Rev. Hester’s humility, honesty, and patience. The Rev. R.L. Pinson, president of the North Greenville Alumni Association, gave the tribute speech for Dr. M.C. Donnan where he expressed his gratitude for everything Dr. Donnan had done for the school. The North Greenville choir, led by Mr. Gatwood, sang Mendelssohn’s “For the Lord is a Mighty God” and the alma mater. The service ended with a benediction by the Rev. Boyd Turner, pastor of Sans Succi Baptist Church in Greenville.

In 1957, The Donnan Administration Building won a Special Merit Award from the South Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. There were nearly 150 entries for the award, but the Donnan Administration Building was chosen due to the mural and the economical construction of the building. Paul Hefferman, head of the Department of Architecture at Georgia Tech, served as the jury for the selection and stated that the Donnan Administration Building’s design was “crisp and integrated the arts.”

By 1969, it was clear that the library needed more space. More than ten thousand volumes had been added in the few years prior. To accommodate the growing library, partitions were removed from three of the upstairs classrooms. The back issues of periodicals, audio-visual materials, a listening area, and the general book collection were moved upstairs. Downstairs housed the card catalog, study carrels, tables, the reference collection, and a reading corner where the current periodicals were held.

The library would, again, lead to changes in the Donnan Administration Building in 1975. The library moved out of Donnan in 1974 with the completion of The Edwin F. Averyt Learning Center. The former library space in the Donnan Administration Building was given new uses during a complete renovation of the building. In the upstairs library space, five new classrooms were added. In the downstairs area, offices for the president, a trustee room, and offices and a workroom for the development and public relations departments were added. Central air conditioning was installed and many of the windows were covered by brick at this time to save energy. The building had a new look on both the inside and outside and the final cost came to around $130,000.

In 1998, students saw a need for an elevator in the administration building. The Resident Assistant Association and the Student Alumni Council came together and raised $15,000 for the elevator project. The school also budgeted funds for the elevator and a dedication service was held on November 6, 1998. Dr. Epting stated, “The dedication and commitment of our students to see this project through to completion is overwhelming. We are truly grateful for their support.”

The Donnan Administration Building was damaged during the summer of 2008 when a severe thunderstorm ripped through Tigerville. Over half of the roof was torn off during the storm and a large part of it landed on Neves Hall. Thankfully, the flat roof under the sloped roof remained intact and the damage to the Donnan Administration Building was not significant. However, there were boxes of archived school documents in the exposed attic. Dr. Epting, the president at the time, and Billy Watson, Director of Student Services at the time, along with some others attempted to retrieve the boxes until the fire chief forced them to evacuate. There was also a Centrifuge Camp taking place at the time, but the campers were all in Turner Chapel for a service and no one was injured.

Nearly seventy years after its construction and nearly fifty years after its last major renovation, it was announced in 2022 that the Donnan Administration Building would be going through another change. The entire building was once again renovated to house the school’s College of Business and Entrepreneurship (COBE) and the senior administration. The project was designed by Greenville’s Equip Studio and was managed by Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL). Hood Construction served as the general contractor.

As a part of the renovations, everyone was invited to sign a steel beam which was placed in the building during construction. A new foyer was built onto the front of the building and the mosaic mural will now be protected indoors. Once construction is complete, the senior administration offices will be located on the second floor. There will also be five modern classrooms, student collaboration spaces, and offices for the COBE faculty.

 The building has been renamed “The Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center” after a large grant was provided by the Robert W. Plaster Foundation. A student gathering area on the main floor has been named the “Murphree. C. Donnan Commons” as a way of preserving Dr. Donnan’s legacy and there will be a heritage center depicting school history.

As a part of the renovation, NGU is holding the “Light on a Hill” campaign. Alumni and friends of the college can purchase an engraved brick that will be a part of the walkway leading into the newly renovated building. This would be a great way to honor or memorialize anyone with a connection to North Greenville by making their name a permanent part of our historical campus.