The home for the inspector, or headmaster, of the Girls’ Boarding School was built in 1810. Located on the corner of Academy and Church Streets, the house was later used for Salem College and Academy administrative offices.
Behind the Inspectors’ House was Memorial Hall, started in 1902 to commemorate the centennial of the college and academy. When Memorial Hall (the tall building) was in the planning stages, the original thought was to tear down the Inspectors’ House (center), and Memorial Hall would be more visible and compliment Main Hall and South Hall, both large buildings also located around Salem Square.
Instead, Memorial Hall lived its life (1907-1965) behind and towering over the Inspectors’ House. Memorial Hall was demolished in 1965, and the Salem Academy and College Fine Arts Center (now called the Robert E. Elberson Fine Arts Center) fulfilled its function as a practice, performance, and meeting hall.
The area behind the Inspectors’ House is vacant today. There is at least one home in Forsyth County that was built with the bricks from the demolished Memorial Hall.
Postcard courtesy of Molly Grogan Rawls.
Stay tuned for the next delicious post on February 8th: Pot Roast Ala Cranberry
My father took piano lessons in Memorial Hall