History of Warnersville includes Bennett founding
Left out of the column by Lorraine Ahearn (Aug. 31) regarding the Warnersville community was a very important item about the first black high school established in 1873 by the pastor of Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by the Rev. Matthew Alston (known now as St. Matthews United Methodist Church) in 1866. Knowing the church was interested in establishing a school in the Guilford area, the black minister took the lead in offering the church as its site.
On June 18, 1873, the newspaper announced a meeting was to take place at Warnersville Church and “inviting any of the whites who were interested to consider the question of the establishment of colored Normal School or College. The institution will be established under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church North.”
Nearly 70 students enrolled the first year. The school was named Normal School and gained the attention of a wealthy benefactor, Lyman Bennett of Troy, N.Y. His generous donation of $10,000 enabled the struggling school to purchase land for a permanent campus.
A dormitory was added and the institution became known as Bennett Seminary. In 1926, it became a four-year college for women with continued support from the National Women’s Home Missionary Society.
Zepplyn S. Humphrey
Greensboro
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