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More than the names have changed
One of the best things about this line of work is knowing that in seven days there will be another newspaper in which you can correct the careless mistake that is invariably pointed out to you about 20 seconds after the current edition returns from the printer’s.
As several alert readers have pointed out, a reference in last week’s column to an 1844 post office “map that indicated a road from Waynesville to Charleston via Soco” threw geography to the winds and mistakenly assumed Charleston to be in South Carolina.
In reality, just as U.S. 19 does today, the road ran from Waynesville through Soco Gap to Bryson City, the Swain County town that was called Charleston until 1889.
Chartered as Charleston in 1887, the town’s name was changed two years later to honor Thaddeus Bryson, one of the town’s founders.
We appreciate a timely e-mail from amateur historian Mark Cantrell that contained that information and also reminded us of the fact that much of present-day Swain County was part of Jackson County when this county was formed from Haywood and Macon counties in 1851; Swain was carved from Jackson and Macon counties 20 years later.
While thinking over the steps that led to last week’s mistake, I started thinking of how many local institutions and buildings had a proud history under another name.
Western Carolina University is the first that comes to mind. Started as a one-room school to educate mountain youngsters in 1889, it has evolved from Cullowhee High School to Cullowhee Normal and Industrial School to Western Carolina Teachers College to Western Carolina College to Western Carolina University.
Smoky Mountain High School, the county’s largest public school, opened in 1962 as Sylva-Webster High School. Its name reflected the fact that the new school consolidated Sylva and Webster high schools, and the school’s name was changed in 1987 when Sylva-Webster was consolidated with Cullowhee High.
Southwestern Community College, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, began in 1964 as the Jackson County Industrial Education Center. It became Southwestern Technical Institute in 1967 and had one other name, Southwestern Technical College, before becoming SCC.
Harris Regional Hospital began its existence as Candler-Tidmarsh Hospital, changing to Candler-Nichols in 1928 and C.J. Harris Community Hospital two years later. It became Harris Regional in 1994.
Turning our attention from institutions to buildings, a lot of new names have found their way onto downtown stores during the past decade or so.
Jackson’s General Store is at the corner of Main and Spring streets, where Sylva Supply was located for more than 101 years, Blackrock is located where Dennis Men’s and Ladies’ shops operated for years, and Lifeway Community Church occupies the old Sylva Coal and Lumber complex.
Lulu’s on Main is where Velt’s Cafe and Stovall’s dime store once were, and Guadalupe is now open in the former Hooper’s Drug Store and Snack Bar location.
That’s one reason history is so important: It provides us with a frame of reference in an ever-changing world.
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