Have you ever attended a class on the Forsyth Technical Community College’s main campus? If so, you probably had some interaction with the building called Snyder Hall, particularly in the early days of the school.
Snyder Hall was completed in the spring of 1970 and opened to students in the fall of 1970. The building was dedicated in 1971 and featured a modern exterior and interior design. Even before the April 1971 dedication date, the building was known as Snyder Hall because it was so named in October 1970.
Henry Frank “Hank” Snyder (shown below) worked for Western Electric Company from 1912 to 1961. He began working at age 15 as an assembler in the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago. Later, he was responsible for establishing new operations for Western Electric at Bayonne, New Jersey, during World War II. Henry was a member of the task force that came to Winston-Salem in 1946 to open Western Electric. He served as superintendent of the Winston-Salem Western Electric shops and was assistant manager of the North Carolina Works of Western Electric’s operations when he retired in 1961.
Henry Snyder served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Forsyth Technical Institute (its earlier name) from 1963 to 1972. Snyder led the campaign to raise money for the $1.3 million structure. The building housed a cafeteria, student center, classrooms, and other facilities. It was the first formally named structure at the school. Mr. Snyder passed away in 1977.
Photographs from the Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
Stay tuned for the next delicious post on April 22nd and the next historical post on May 1st.
