TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY
1838 — Brantley York (1805-1891) became principal of Brown’s Schoolhouse, a private subscription school in Randolph County.
1839 — Brown’s Schoolhouse was formally organized by the Union Institute Society, a group of Methodists and Quakers under the leadership of Reverend Brantley York. Union Institute (so-called because it represented the united effort of local Quakers and Methodists) was founded at Trinity by Professor Brantley York, born in Sandy Creek area. It became Normal College in 1851, Trinity College in 1859, and moved to Durham in 1892. The first building was a one-story frame structure 25×50 feet, divided into two rooms of equal size by an 8-foot central hallway. Each classroom was heated by two fireplaces.
1841 — The State of North Carolina issued a charter for Union Institute Academy.
1842 — Braxton Craven (1822-1882) became head of the institution.
1851 — The school was re-chartered by the Legislature of North Carolina as Normal College, and its graduates are licensed to teach in the public schools of the state. The following year, the state authorized Normal College to grant degrees, and the first were awarded in 1853.
1859 — The name was changed to Trinity College upon affiliation with the Methodist Church. The motto “Eruditio et Religio,” meaning “Knowledge and Religion,” was adopted.
1861 - 3,000 men and boys left Randolph County to become part of the Confederate forces.
Companies: I,L and M of the 22d N.C. Regiment; H of the 38th N.C. Regiment, F and G of the 46th N.C. Regiment, B of the 52d N.C. Regiment, F of the 70th N.C. Regiment, F of the 2d Battalion, H of the 3d N.C. Regiment, half of E of the 44th N.C. Regiment, and companies H of the 44th N,C. Regiment A and D of the 8th Battalion.
In an effort to keep Trinity College students in school, Braxton Craven organized the student body into the Trinity Guards, a company of home guard reserves. In December 1861 they were sent to guard the Confederate prison established at Salisbury, NC; after this assignment the troops were assigned to other units and few students remained at Trinity.
1888 — Thanksgiving Day. Trinity defeated the University of North Carolina 16 to 0 in one of the first modern football games played in the South.
1892 — Trinity College relocated to Durham. Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr persuaded the Board of Trustees to move the college to their progressive “New South” city. Duke contributed $85,000 for buildings and endowment and Carr donated the site, which is now East Campus. When Trinity College was moved to Durham in 1892, the old college buildings were turned into a private college preparatory school, which became a public school in the early 20th century.
1924 — Duke University is founded, being named in honor of Washington Duke and his family. On December 11, James B. Duke signed the indenture of trust establishing The Duke Endowment, a family philanthropic foundation that supports education, religion and health care in the Carolinas. Each Fall, Founders’ Day commemorates the event. Trinity College would become the new university’s undergraduate college for men. A special school tax district was established in Trinity township and a new elementary school and high school building was built on the site of the college.
1968 - Eastern Randolph High School opened near Ramseur. Trinity High School (new building) opened.
1981 — The school was in turn torn down, and the historic site is now a parking lot. The gazebo is squeezed between NC 62 and the fence around the lot.
Trinity College History ( Summary )
During the 1830s, Brantley York helped start Brown’s School in Trinity Township in Randolph County. In 1839, the school was later renamed Union Institute in honor of the collaborative educational efforts among Methodist and Quaker educators in the area and Braxton Craven served as a teacher there until 1841. He then became school headmaster.
For decades, Craven struggled to raise the financial means to keep the school’s doors open. A decade later and under Craven’s direction, the school’s name changed to Normal College. The school helped meet the demand for qualified teachers. In 1859 the name changed to Trinity College, for Craven had successfully sought funding from the Methodist denomination.
During the two decades before the American Civil War, Braxton Craven used the teacher’s college as a forum for political discussion. Faculty criticized what they considered northern economic hegemony and called for southern economic independence. Normal College (and later as Trinity College) hosted a lecture series that featured debates regarding slavery and the economic differences between the northern and southern regions. In an 1860 speech at Trinity College, Craven argued that the southern states had never been free: “The Revolution broke our servitude to England and left the South subject to the North . . . it is time to commence business on our own resources,” the educator informed his audience. As a result of such speeches, Trinity College became a forum where speakers called for the industrialization of the South and the advent of the Market Revolution below the Mason-Dixon line.
When war came in 1861, approximately forty Trinity students volunteered to fight for the Confederacy, so Trinity College administrators formed the Trinity Guard as an effort to keep students enrolled yet help the Confederate war effort. The Trinity Guard was a Home Guard unit that kept order in the Piedmont (an area divided between secessionists and unionists). For a few weeks during the first year of the war, Trinity students served as prison guards at the Salisbury Prison. The unit spent most of the time at Trinity in Randolph County, however.
Even after surviving the tumultuous war years, the institution continued struggling financially. Wealthy Methodist businessmen rescued the institution from financial despair, however. After the 1882 death of Craven, President John F. Crowell transformed Trinity into a liberal-arts college.
For another ten years, Trinity College remained in Randolph County.
For decades, Craven struggled to raise the financial means to keep the school’s doors open. A decade later and under Craven’s direction, the school’s name changed to Normal College. The school helped meet the demand for qualified teachers. In 1859 the name changed to Trinity College, for Craven had successfully sought funding from the Methodist denomination.
During the two decades before the American Civil War, Braxton Craven used the teacher’s college as a forum for political discussion. Faculty criticized what they considered northern economic hegemony and called for southern economic independence. Normal College (and later as Trinity College) hosted a lecture series that featured debates regarding slavery and the economic differences between the northern and southern regions. In an 1860 speech at Trinity College, Craven argued that the southern states had never been free: “The Revolution broke our servitude to England and left the South subject to the North . . . it is time to commence business on our own resources,” the educator informed his audience. As a result of such speeches, Trinity College became a forum where speakers called for the industrialization of the South and the advent of the Market Revolution below the Mason-Dixon line.
When war came in 1861, approximately forty Trinity students volunteered to fight for the Confederacy, so Trinity College administrators formed the Trinity Guard as an effort to keep students enrolled yet help the Confederate war effort. The Trinity Guard was a Home Guard unit that kept order in the Piedmont (an area divided between secessionists and unionists). For a few weeks during the first year of the war, Trinity students served as prison guards at the Salisbury Prison. The unit spent most of the time at Trinity in Randolph County, however.
Even after surviving the tumultuous war years, the institution continued struggling financially. Wealthy Methodist businessmen rescued the institution from financial despair, however. After the 1882 death of Craven, President John F. Crowell transformed Trinity into a liberal-arts college.
For another ten years, Trinity College remained in Randolph County.
In 1890, the college made a deal with Washington Duke: for $85,000 and 60 acres, Trinity College moved to Durham.
In 1892, Trinity College moved to Durham and the Board of Trustees changed its name to Duke University.
In 1896, the Board of Trustees made another deal with Washington Duke: for a $100,000 endowment, the college admitted not only female students but also considered male and female enrollees as academic equals. According to historian Robert Durden, the Duke family donations eventually turned the school into top-notch liberal arts university.
TRINITY HISTORICAL PHOTOS
Brantley York
Brantley York
Braxton Craven
Braxton Craven
THS High School Building
THS Gymnasium
