The big announcement that the Wachovia Historical Society had received a gift of $10,500 from two “interested friends,” came at the 1928 annual meeting. The money was to be used for the enlargement of the building that housed the society’s collection of historical artifacts. In fact, the article also included a drawing of the proposed enlarged building.
The Wachovia Historical Society owns an extensive collection of papers and artifacts, and had long expressed an interest in better and larger storage facilities. The present building was the former Boys School at the corner of South Main and Academy Streets (shown in the photo). The building would be enlarged to the east along Academy Street. The money would also pay for a new roof and help to dust-proof the building. Cyril Pfohl, of Fogle Brothers, drew the plans for the addition.
But the building enlargement did not come to fruition at this time. Years later, in 1936, the society embarked on a building project with a grant from the WPA and funds raised locally, and the Hall of History opened in 1937. The addition was built to the north of the Boys School, along South Main Street.
Postcard courtesy of Molly Grogan Rawls.
