A Mountain School and Its Community: 1899-1916
Appalachian State University was founded in 1899 as the Watauga Academy (1899-1903) by brothers Blanford Barnard "B.B." Dougherty and Dauphin Disco "D.D." Dougherty, but only after some encouragement from their father. Daniel Baker "D. B." Dougherty penned letters to his sons with the proposal to start a school in Boone, North Carolina, a town with a population of 150. At the time, D.B. was Boone's postmaster, justice of the peace, and editor of The Watauga Democrat. He wrote once in March and again in April, urging B. B. and D. D. to open the school. The founding of Watauga Academy was a product of an expanding public education movement in the United States at the end of the 19th century.
Like any new school, the young Watauga Academy needed to secure funding to operate. In 1903, B. B. Dougherty traveled to Raleigh to advocate for a state institution in Boone, North Carolina, and the Appalachian Training School (1903-1925) was established.
Campus and Community
Additional support was solicited from community members who pledged funds and supplies to build the school. Due to its isolated location, community support was vital to the development of the school.
In 1907, Appalachian Training School purchased a local 200-acre farm to supply food to the institution. An additional 200-acre farm was purchased in 1909 along the South Fork of the New River; in 1915, the New River Power and Light Company began as a ten-foot-wide wooden dam. It supplied limited electricity to the school and six residents in Boone. As the school and town grew, so did the need for electricity, and a larger dam was built in 1924.
Transcript of Ed Culler's 1987 Oral History Interview
Ed Culler was an employee of Appalachian Training School. This interview focuses on the history of the New River Light and Power Company.