By Ed Morris (Ed Morris, the retiring director of the Wake Forest Historical Museum, says he wrote this for The Wake Weekly and the Wake Forest College Birthplace Society’s newsletter in January of 2009, the year of the town’s centennial. Today Wake Forest University is a nationally known university with a reputation for its many achievements in science, medicine, business, law and; this week I would be amiss, not to mention the number one basketball team in America. However, in its 175-year history it first entered the national spotlight in the 1920s. Dr. Charles E. Taylor had served admirably as its sixth president and oversaw the establishment of the law school and the school of medicine; however, Taylor was very much a man of the nineteenth century. The first Wake Forest president of the twentieth century was Taylor’s successor Dr. William Louis Poteat (1905-1927), who would serve though some of

Everyone is invited to participate in the National Day of Prayer in Wake Forest on Thursday, May 4. The National Day of Prayer begins with multiple churches joining together at 11:15 a.m. at any of these three locations: — Wake Forest United Methodist Church at 905 South Main Street — Feggins & Feggins Funeral Home at 430 North White Street — Olive Branch Church at 326 East Juniper Avenue. The three groups will each hold a 20-minute prayer walk to the Wake Forest Town Hall Plaza at 301 S Brooks St. At town hall we will gather at 12 noon by the flagpoles and hear proclamations for the National Day of Prayer from President Joe Biden, Governor Roy Cooper and Mayor Vivian Jones and prayers by our guest speakers. Afterwards, we all are invited to the Southeastern Baptist Seminary grounds at 1 p.m. for a wonderful outdoor community worship experience.

For the 41st time the town’s largest celebration, Meet in the Street, will draw crowds of people and over 200 artists and artisans and business vendors. Meet in the Street opens at 10 a.m. and continues to 4 p.m. There will be two areas for a variety of food trucks, a children’s village with a foam party and magician, a live music stage in a central position and something happening along multiple downtown streets closed to traffic. It is all hosted by the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce and presented by Capital Chevrolet. The free event will be held rain or shine. ###

May is Building, Electrical, and Deck Safety Month, and the Wake Forest Inspections Department is launching the observance with a “Building, Electrical & Deck Safety Month Kick-Off” Saturday, April 29, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Town & Country Hardware, 910 Gateway Commons Circle. Free and open to the public, the event will include free hot dogs – while they last. Inspections staff will also be on hand throughout the occasion to answer questions about building, electrical, and deck safety, along with the building permit process. Area residents are invited to come out and learn about the services the department offers, including Online Plan Review. Attendees can also talk one-on-one with Town inspectors about building safety, codes, and inspections as they pertain to common residential projects, such as decks, kitchen and bath remodels, and screened porches. The Inspections Department will also help raise awareness of building, electrical and deck safety by

Coach Chuck Hess will be the special guest speaker at the 43rd annual Trentini Scholarship Banquet on Saturday, April 29, at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre for the Arts. Hess is a NC Sport Hall of Fame and a former Wake Forest High School coach. Please plan to attend to help celebrate our local extraordinary student athletes. Purchase tickets by going to the website at www.trentinifoundation.org. ###