Weaver College, originally Weaverville College (1873–1934), was an American co-educational school and college in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
Pre-history
It was preceded by Weaverville School, a neighborhood school founded in the c. 1850s and operated by the Sons of Temperance.[1] The school and town, originally named Dry Ridge, were renamed for Montraville Weaver who donated land and money to both.[1][2]
History
In 1872, the earlier school building burned down, and the towns people decided to build a brick building to serve as a school, for grades 1 through four years of college. Established in 1873, it became a Methodist institution in 1883, property of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.[1][3][4] James Americus Reagan was its first president of Weaverville College, serving from 1872 to 1875.[3][4] The yearbook was named Mountaineer. Property around Lake Juanita, a man-made spring fed lake, was donated to the school and was renamed Lake Louise to honor Louise Moore, widow of Charles Moore.[3][5]
The four-year program was reduced to two years as a junior college in 1911[6] and it was renamed Weaver College. In 1915 the state legislature gave it a new charter.[3]
In 1934 it was merged with the Rutherford Colleges, to form Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina.[6]
The Weaver Room at Brevard College's library and the Weaver College Bell Tower commemorate its history. In Weaverville, its admission building remains and became a masonic lodge and the White House dormitory remains.[6] It was built on South College Street as the home of the college's president.[3] A historical marker commemorates its history.[7][8]
