Toast of theTown Here’s to some of Greensboro’s most iconic names, celebrating big anniversaries this year By JiM SchloSSer
Longevity for humans requires loads of luck. But for the grace of God that bus barely missed you. It’s different with buildings, organizations, events and businesses. To reach a venerable age requires leadership, maintenance, management, good service, perseverance and determination. This year of 2013 abounds in celebrations and observances, among them the second anniversary of the magazine you have in your hands. In an age when print publications are sinking like dinosaurs in a quagmire of red ink, O.Henry magazine is taking a humble birthday bow this month, gratified that you, our loyal readers, have made it a success. Our success, however, is modest compared with longtime players like the Jefferson Standard skyscraper, christened ninety years ago in 1923; the Junior League of Greensboro, which got its start eighty-five years ago in 1928; or what has become the Wyndham Championship, which began seventyfive years ago in 1938. Other institutions having significant anniversaries this year include the Atlantic Coast Conference, Moses Cone Memorial Hospital, Schiffman’s Jewelers, Belk’s Greensboro store, Kriegsman Furriers, Page High School and Smith High School. One day this month, we’ll stick two candles in a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie and pop a bottle of Cheerwine to celebrate our second year in operation. If any of the establishments below intend to serve champagne, please put us on the guest list.
full. No mortgage, thank you. Price didn’t believe in debt — or for that matter removing his fedora indoors. The insurance company actually occupied only five floors in the mammoth building, with its eclectic architectural mix of Romanesque, Gothic and Art Deco styles. The rest in what has been called “a city within a city” was leased to doctors, dentists, lawyers, insurance agents, various clubs (including the Jaycees), the Fuller Brush company, contractors, even a plumber. From the Jefferson, a draft board sent “greetings” to conscripts during World War II. After reporting to the building, the men boarded buses outside on Jefferson Square for the journey to boot camp. The architect, Charles Hartmann, visited Greensboro a few years earlier from New York to concept the O.Henry Hotel downtown. Julian Price offered Hartmann the job of designing the Jefferson if he’d move to Greensboro and open a practice. Hartmann accepted and spent the rest of his life here designing notable buildings, including Grimsley High. According to a 1975 National Register of Historic Places nomination, “This granite and terra cotta tower, with lavish use of marble and brass on the interior, is one of the few examples in North Carolina of the opulent skyscrapers that are the monuments of pre-Depression prosperity.” Because of its National Register listing, the Jefferson Standard Building retains its old name, even though now owned by Lincoln Financial, which bought Jefferson-Pilot in the mid-1990s.
Soaring seventeen stories when completed ninety years ago at North Elm and West Market streets, the Jefferson Standard Building was the city’s first skyscraper — and for a while, the tallest structure between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Speaking in Greensboro, famed humorist Will Rogers compared it to a giant candle in a farm field. On a clear day, people on the upper floors, which included a seventeenth floor restaurant, bragged about being able to see Pilot Mountain in Stokes County. The Jefferson was the baby of visionary Julian Price, president of Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. According to Jefferson-Pilot: a Century of Excellence, 1903-2003, Price sought to build high and sturdy because the public liked “to identify their financial institutions with impressive buildings that inspire confidence.” Plus, he wanted employees of his growing company, scattered in a half a dozen buildings all over town, in one spot. The Jefferson cost $2.5 million, plus $177,000 for the land, both paid in
Eight-five years ago, in March of 1928, nine women who had belonged to the Greensboro Charity League joined twenty-four other women to form the Junior League of Greensboro. Charter members came from well-to-do and well-connected families, as was the practice in other cities. But in one way, the Greensboro chapter differed markedly from others in the South (and in some Northern cities). Jewish women were welcomed from the start, especially if their names were Cone or Sternberger. The Jewish community possessed too much history and economic clout here to allow for a Gentiles-only policy. The league’s local founder was Kathleen Price, daughter of Julian Price. She would marry Joseph Bryan, now remembered as the city’s most benevolent philanthropist. A 1930s photo shows some of those early league members dwarfed by a lanky Eleanor Roosevelt [see cover]. It was taken outside the home of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Cone, where Roosevelt was a guest on 1030 Summit Avenue, where it still stands. The local league has donated millions to worthy causes, plus supplied hours of volunteer women hours. Members like to say that in recent decades the league has swapped white gloves for work gloves. And for years now, the league has been accepting minority members. Also, an Irving Park, Kirkwood or Starmount address is no longer needed. The emphasis is on leadership training nowadays. A beneficiary is former league member U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan.
Jefferson Standard Bilding
52 O.Henry
August 2013
Th e Junior League
The Art & Soul of Greensboro