Southwood College was a private two-year college founded in 1965 in Salemburg, North Carolina and closed in 1973. For many years, two schools, Edwards Military Institute and Pineland College, operated on the same site; on July 1, 1965, the institutions officially became Southwood College.
History The history of Southwood College began in 1875. Isham Royal founded Salemburg Academy, a one-room, private educational institution for girls. Private academies such as Salemburg flourished before the widespread introduction of public schools. One of the first principals was Marion Butler, later U.S. senator from North Carolina. In 1914, the program reorganized as the Pineland School for Girls following receipt of a donation of $70,000 from Benjamin N. Duke, son of Washington Duke, namesake of Duke University, and a commensurate contribution from local citizens"NC Marker I-53, Pineland College - Edwards Military Institute".
In 1926, the curriculum was broadened, several more buildings constructed, and the library expanded. The school became Pineland Junior College and served as a female only institution. The Edwards Military Institute, was added and was named for Methodist minister Anderson Edwards, who had contributed his life savings to the construction of the military academy.
In 1952, the schools had the youngest college president in the United States, Willard Jackson Blanchard, a World War II veteran, who at the time was thirty-two years old.
On July 1, 1965, the two schools merged and became Southwood College. The school closed its doors in 1973. That year, the North Carolina Department of Justice took over the grounds, and developed the North Carolina Justice Academy for the training of North Carolina criminal justice officers. The North Carolina Justice Academy still utilizes the Blanchard Learning Resource Center, the Royal Classroom Building, the Jones Auditorium, a cafeteria and an office building that were originally part of Southwood College."History of the Justice Academy".
+Names Through the YearsSalem Academy/Salem High School 1874-1905Salemburg Academy/Salemburg High School 1905-1914Pineland School for Girls 1914-1924Pineland Junior College 1924-1965Edwards Memorial School 1933-1935Edwards Military Institute 1935-1965Southwood College 1965-1973
Administration +Principals, Headmasters, and Presidents of Southwood College and its predecessors"Sharon J. Kellam, We were Sandspurs within the Dash, 1874-1974 "Isham T. Royall 1875–1886 Marion F. Butler 1886–1889Major George Edwin Butler 1889–1892William Edward Darden 1892–1893Alexander Franklin Howard 1893–1895Rev. William Charles Barrett 1895–1898Rev. Franklin T. Wooten 1898–1899John J. Hendren/George Franklin Edwards 1899–1900George Franklin Edwards/ Mollie Roberts Edwards 1902–1907Mr. Claude C. Howard/Mrs. George Franklin Edwards 1907–1908William Jackson Jones/Mollie Roberts Edwards Jones 1908–1945William Jackson Jones 1945–1949Willard Jackson Blanchard 1949–1957Robert Burnes Isner 1957–1958Joseph Davis Farrar 1958–1959Robert Burnes Isner 1959–1962Willard Jackson Blanchard 1962–1972
Notes
References
Oscar M. Bizzell, The Heritage of Sampson County (1983) William S. Powell, Higher Education in North Carolina (1964) (Raleigh) News and Observer, October 30, 1949 Paul Pleasants, "One Small College Pays its Own Way," The State (July 1952) Don Britt, "Outstanding and Unique Facts About Pineland College-Edwards Military Institute," (typescript report in files of Research Branch, North Carolina Office of Archives and History, n.d.)