Schools - Page Three

The day school opened, there were forty pupils, and within a month there were one hundred. By the end of the first year there were 108 and two more teachers were added, Letcher S. Shires to teach science and mathematics, and Miss Pattie Feamster to teach art.

The school was an immediate success and the Alderson Community proudly supported it by sending its children there and contributing to its finances. However, it was the Alderson family and its kin who over many years were the most generous contributors, both in time and money. Miss Emma’s brother, J. Cary Alderson, a banker of Logan, later contributed $80,000.00 to the new building north of town. His wife, Julia Altizer Alderson, gathered children to send to school, in many cases paying their expenses. During the school’s entire lifetime John Marshall Alderson of Alderson was President of the Board of Trustees, and devoted his skill, time, influence and money to the Academy.

The school had a respectable curriculum and it was not just another strictly religious little Bible school. For example, the second year such courses as zoology, botany, geology, chemistry and physics, as well as the usual academics, music, and art courses were taught. The first graduation was in June 1903, in the Baptist Church with one graduate, Bernard O. Swope of Monroe County. (In 1902 two other pupils, Mark Jarrett and Carrie Morris Jones, finished in commencement exercises but were not awarded diplomas, probably because the school had not been completely certified or chartered.)

Alderson Academy continued to educate predominantly southern West Virginia youth with Miss Emma in an important capacity. She worked for years, day and night, without pay, for the love of the school. The General Baptist Association of West Virginia assumed control in 1911, and the name was changed to Alderson Baptist Academy.

During the years, fifty acres of land had been bought by the people of the town, and funds raised to build a large modern building on the northern edge of town. After much financial difficulty, the school moved into the new $300,000.00 building in 1922. The old Alex McVeigh Miller property of thirty-two acres, The Cedars, also had been acquired. Shortly thereafter, the school became a junior college, and the name was changed to Alderson Junior College. Enrollment rose as financial difficulties grew. The peak enrollment was in 1929-1930 school year, 439. During many years Harry B. Rowe, as Treasurer for the Board of Trustees, devoted his time and talent in the financial management of the school.

The Baptists in West Virginia were trying to operate two schools, the other being Broaddus College in Philippi. Modern public high schools and more splendid colleges and universities throughout the nation were making the small private academies and denominational colleges obsolete. With the coming of the great depression in the thirties, West Virginia Baptists simply could not afford to operate two schools, and Alderson Junior College was doomed. Harry B. Rowe pled that the schools, if combined, be located in Alderson. He lost. There came into being in 1932 Alderson-Broaddus at Philippi, West Virginia. At least the honored old name became part of the new institution, and the college continues to grow and serve West Virginia.

Alderson Academy, Alderson Baptist Academy, and Alderson Junior College surely left their educational mark on this area. The present generation knows little of them but names should be remembered. Miss Emma heads the list, of course, and the town has no monument of any kind to her memory. She died August 31, 1942. There are others, many others: John Marshall Alderson, Harry B. Rowe, J. Cary Alderson and Julia Altizer Alderson, Professor Bernard C. Alderson, Dr. J. C. Killian, Dr. N. P. Forbell, the Reverend F. C. Herod, Dr. J. A. Tolman, and Dr. W. S. Dunlop, the last President in Alderson and the first of Alderson-Broaddus. Then there were dozens of the people of the town of Alderson who worked hard over the thirty-one years the school existed.

In 1932 Armstrong College occupied the building. Dr. I. B. Bush of Charleston founded this college and it was operated until 1935 when it went out of existence.

Ref: Alderson Baptist Academy and Junior College and it's Founders.
Thesis of Emma Frances Alderson, West Virginia University, 1942. M. A. Degree


In 1953 the fine building which had been occupied by Alderson Junior College was purchased for $40,000.00 by a group of Independent Baptists to operate a Christian High School. These Baptists were not affiliated with any Baptist denomination; they had no organized widespread support and had few members of any substantial wealth. None were local people, and the school has never enjoyed much local encouragement or assistance.

Mountain State Christian High School was incorporated as a non-profit, non-stock West Virginia corporation. The school opened August 29, 1955, with the Reverend Owen P. Lilly, Beckley, a former high school principal, as principal. The school has had a rough time but it has survived, and it has every prospect of growing. From the first, the school has had three obstacles: finances, failure to be accredited by the State Department of Education, and poor publicity. The first school year, 1955/1956 produced one graduate, Grace Annette Holliday, Richwood, West Virginia, May 17, 1956.

The school is supported by gifts from churches and individuals from several states and by the very low tuition paid by students.

But about one half of the large building is in use, and the large acreage of the junior college is not owned by the school. Unlike most public high schools, more than half of the graduates go on to college. The cost of board, room and tuition per year is but $$432.00, and all other fees for books, insurance and entrance are but $18.00 per year, an amazingly low cost. Every student works about one hour per day in the maintenance of the school, and all are required to take Bible study. Discipline is strict. Gambling, drinking, smoking, attending movies, and dancing are forbidden.

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The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008