When was the Benton Building, a white concrete school that reportedly housed grades one through 11, built? It stood on South Main Street across from what is now Bright’s Funeral Home, and it was demolished in 1991 to allow for an expansion of the Wake Forest Elementary School.
There had apparently been a time when there was no white high school in town. During an email search, John Rich reported, “I remember Leland Jones and Allen Paschal talking at Rotary Meetings about going to high school at Mars Hill, and Aunt Edith Daniel Shearon (Cecil’s mother) telling about going to a boarding school in Cary.”
There was, of course, a full grade one through 11 school for Black students at the Wake Forest Normal & Industrial School on Spring Street that included music in the curriculum and help from Wake Forest College students.
I knew what is now called the Forrest Building on West Sycamore Avenue had been built before the spring of 1933 because it burned to the ground on May 31, 1933, the second victim of an arsonist. (It was rebuilt using the original plans.) It housed grades one through 11 before and after the fire.
The search for information about the Wake Forest high school began when Lisa Hayes, head of the town’s Downtown Development Department, asked if the 1931 school bus-train crash was the reason the Underpass was built. Yes and no was the answer. The federal government had begun a program of doing away with at-grade crossings where there was heavy school bus traffic, and the crash meant Wake Forest was put on the list.
The fatal accident happened on Sept. 8, 1931 and it was a front-page article in the Sept. 9, 1931 issue of The News & Observer.
Cameron Shearon, 18, was driving the school bus east from the high school where he had just dropped off a load of students and was told to go back to the Harricanes area to get some others. People theorized later he was driving toward downtown to get some more gas — only about 2 gallons found in the tank later. John Caddell Jr., 18, called John Buddy, and Robert Garner, 17, apparently hopped on the bus to get a ride to downtown.
The bus was struck by the fast Florida to New York Seaboard Airline Railroad engine. Those who saw the accident said a flashing light and bells warned a train was approaching but the bus did not slow down though it was not going fast. The passenger depot to his left would have obstructed Shearon’s view of the oncoming train.
Shearon was seriously injured and did not recall anything about the accident. Caddell and Garner were killed instantly. The bus was demolished – thrown into the air by the impact and then pushed down the tracks.
Well, the nagging question was: Where was the high school? I knew what is now called the Forrest Building on West Sycamore Avenue had been built before the spring of 1933 because it burned to the ground on May 31, 1933, the second victim of an arsonist. (It was rebuilt using the original plans.)
Then I remembered a picture of the razing of the Benton Building and the caption which said it had originally housed grades one through 11. I wrote that caption but I do not remember where I got the information, and now I have another question.
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2 Responses
Some people say ,”If it ain’t on the the internet it’s because it ain’t!”
I can’t tell you who these people are but I’ve heard this…somewhere.
When it comes to the Benton Building I remember it as being one of two structures in Wake Forest that
I took a liking to when I first moved here in the mid-70’s.
The other one was the ESSO/EXXON station that stood where
the current CVS building in downtown is located.
The Benton Building looked like a knockoff of the Alamo.
There was similar version of it in Garner. Must have been a thing in those times.
The ESSO/EXXON station was of the same concrete genre
and featured double sweeping arcs across it’s entire facade.
Glass For the office/store,- creakin’ wood floor, of course- filled the void under one
and bay doors for auto repair filled the other. That is how I remember it.
I was buying some cigarettes at John’s convenience store
early one Saturday morning and that building had been knocked to the ground.
I asked if anyone knew that was going to happen and everyone wanted to
‘Stay out of it!’
Oh well.
And there is my question/challenge.
Why can’t I find a picture of the Benton Building , the Garner school
or the gas station on the Internet?
Must be because “it ain’t!”
Mike Webb
W.F.
I remember that gas station too… I can remember getting our car inspected there in the eighties. I’ve also looked for photos of it, without success. But your memories of it match mine. Sure wish I could find a picture or three though!