JCSU Stone Entry Gates
(ca. 1923)
The stone entry gates of Johnson C. Smith University marked a new name and a new era for Mecklenburg County’s only historic Black university.
100 and 120 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte, NC 28216
The stone gates at the old entrance to Johnson C. Smith University are fitting monuments to the institution’s revitalization through the benefaction of Mary Jane Smith and ensuing renaming to honor her late husband, Johnson C. Smith. Built in 1923 as part of a comprehensive construction program funded by Mrs. Smith, the gates symbolize of the commitment of Mrs. Smith, the Presbyterian church, and local leaders to make the school one of the best black colleges in the country.
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The Committee of Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church USA started the school in 1867 to train young Black men as teachers and preachers to work throughout the South. The gifts of Mrs. Mary D. Biddle of Philadelphia enabled the school to move to eight acres of land just north of Charlotte donated by William R. Myers. Biddle Memorial Institute opened in 1869, named in honor of Mrs. Biddle’s husband Major Henry J. Biddle, a casualty of the Civil War. The school thrived, both as a leading national Black college and as an influential institution of the City of Charlotte, under the direction of Dr. Stephen Mattoon (1815-1886) who began his tenure as the school’s president in 1870. North Carolina chartered the school as a university in 1876. Despite a disastrous fire in 1878, the university prospered. In 1912, the school dedicated a new library building funded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. But another fire in 1921 destroyed the theologies dormitory, kitchen, and dining room, putting the continued existence of the university in doubt due to the significant cost of rebuilding.
Upon learning of the school’s plight, Mrs. Smith of Pittsburgh pledged about $200,000 during the 1921-1922 academic year to build a new theological dormitory, a science building, a teacher’s cottage, a dining hall, and a memorial gate to honor her husband. In gratitude for her gift, the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church changed the name of the institution to Johnson C. Smith University in 1922. In total, Mrs. Smith eventually contributed some $700,000 to the school, funding such additional projects as another dormitory and teacher’s cottage, a new heating plant, a printing shop, and a church, as well as adding to the university’s endowment. Along with the science building, the stone entry gates were completed and dedicated in 1923. With the exception of the church, all of the campus structures funded by Mrs. Smith (including the stone gate arch) were designed by New York architect A. G. Lamont, the superintendent of architecture for the Presbyterian Board of Missions and constructed by Charlotte’s Southeastern Construction Company.