The Old East plaque once mysteriously disappeared
Then, 40 years later, the bronze plate resurfaced in Tennessee, returning to Chapel Hill in time for University Day in 1916.
Old East was the first state university building in the United States and is one of the oldest continually used academic buildings in the country. Today it is a residence hall, but in years past it also housed classrooms. Its long history and central location on campus makes it one of best-known and most beloved buildings at UNC.
One of the more interesting stories related to Old East involves the original cornerstone and plaque laid ceremonially in 1793. That original cornerstone is missing. The cornerstone may have been accidentally covered or perhaps even stolen during an 1840s renovation that made several new additions to the architecture. What is known for sure is that by the time the University reopened after closing for several years in the 1870s, the bronze commemorative plaque created for the cornerstone had disappeared completely.
(Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Roswell Huntington, a 29-year-old silversmith from Hillsborough, had engraved the plaque (13.3 cm by 19.2 cm) for the Old East cornerstone, with a Latin inscription on one side and this English translation on the reverse:
“The Right Worshipful William Richardson Davie, Grand Master of the most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Freemasons in the State of North Carolina, one of the trustees of the University of the said state, and a Commissioner of the same, assisted by the other commissioners and the Brethren of the Eagle and Independence Lodges, on the 12th day of October in the Year of Masonry 5793 and in the 18th year of the American Independence, laid the cornerstone of this edifice.”
Note that the date is listed as 5793 from the Masonic calendar.
In a strange twist of fate, the plate was eventually found over 40 years after its disappearance in Tennessee at the Clarksville Foundry and Machine Works, owned by Thomas Foust. A metalworker was about to melt the plaque down but first showed it to Foust. Foust, Carolina Class of 1903, recognized Davie’s name and knew it had to be significant to the University.
An article in the November 1916 issue of the Carolina Alumni Review gave a detailed look at how Foust came to find the plaque and how the University thanked him. The article quotes a letter written by Foust concerning the discovery of the plate, which he described as “so dirty and tarnished that it was almost illegible.”
Foust wrote, “I saw that it must be linked with the history of the dear old University and at once carried it to the laboratory of the Red River Furnace Co., where we cleaned it sufficiently to make it entirely legible.”
The plate and other scrap brass had been purchased from a local junk dealer to be melted down into brass castings, but Foust could not determine where the junk dealer had found the plate. After cleaning the plate, he showed it to professors at Southwestern Presbyterian University and enlisted the help of a Dr. Shaw, another Carolina alumnus, to confirm that the plaque had a connection to Carolina.
A.B. Andrews Jr., Class of 1893 and the Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina at the time, presented the plate to University President Edward Kidder Graham during the 1916 University Day celebration.
In recognition of his part in returning the plate to the University, Graham sent Foust a copy of Kemp Battle’s “History of the University” with the inscription: “To T.B. Foust, ’03: In grateful acknowledgement of his fine and thoughtful loyalty, that restored to his Alma Mater the plate commemorating the laying of the cornerstone on October twelfth, 1793. This October twelfth, 1916.”
Today the plaque is housed at Wilson Library.
Read the original 2016 post on the History on the Hill blog.
(Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)
