Martin-Worth-Henderson House
(ca. 1898)
Two Davidson College presidents and the founder of the Crossnore School once called the Martin-Worth-Henderson House home.
310 Concord Rd, Davidson, NC 28036
As the home of the family of two Davidson College presidents and later a boarding house for some of the college’s students, the Martin-Worth-Henderson House reflects the symbiotic relationship between the town and college. The Folk Victorian style structure, with its Queen Anne influenced elements, was constructed for the college’s seventh faculty member, chemistry professor Colonel William Joseph Martin (1830-1896). During his tenure at the college, Martin also served as the school’s bursar, chair of the chemistry department, and vice-president. He also served as the college’s acting president for two years. Martin and his wife Letitia Costin Martin reared three children in the home, becoming the first faculty family to settle permanently in the town of Davidson.
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Like his father, William Joseph Martin, II (1868-1943) was also a professor of chemistry at Davidson College who served as the school’s bursar. A graduate of Davidson College, the University of Virginia, and Johns Hopkins, the younger William was named president of Davidson College in 1912, serving until 1929 as one of the college’s longest-tenured presidents. His two sisters, Lucy Battle Martin and Mary Turpin Martin, were educated at the Statesville Female College for Women (now Mitchell Community College). Lucy went on to become an English teacher at Charlotte’s Presbyterian College for Women (now Queens College).
Mary returned to Davidson after her 1891 graduation to care for her mother and to prepare for medical school by enrolling as Davidson College’s only female student. Following her mother’s death in 1901, Mary enrolled at the North Carolina Medical College, a private medical school in Davidson. But because the school refused to allow her to take anatomy (presumably because of her gender), Mary moved to Philadelphia to attend the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Upon her 1906 graduation, she interned at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston, and later served as the first resident physician at Georgia’s Agnes Scott College. She married fellow Davidson College student Dr. Eustace H. Sloop in 1908. The couple moved to Crossnore, North Carolina, to establish a school and clinic in 1913 to care for and educate the children of the North Carolina mountains. The school is still thriving with a student body representing dozens of North Carolina counties. In recognition of her tireless efforts on the behalf of children, Dr. Mary Sloop was named American Mother of the Year in 1951.
In 1905, Josephine Worth purchased the Martin-Worth-Henderson House. The widow of a missionary and the single mother of three children, Josephine converted the private residence into a boarding house – one of twelve boarding houses in Davidson by the 1910s – in order to support her family. The house remained in the Worth family until 1960 when it was purchased by Florence and Walter Henderson, who continued its operation as a boarding house.