100th Anniversary Celebration

Each month our church historian, Barbara Foster, shares more with us about Ardmore's storied history. Here is a collection of the articles she has shared leading up to our 100th anniversary celebration.

JANUARY 2024 - In the Beginning: Ardmore ME, South Church, 1924

When the Aldermen of Winston-Salem voted in January 1924 to change the name of Ardmore Avenue/Runnymede/High School Drive to Hawthorne Road, it seemed as if the Ardmore section of the West End had finally established its own identity. At the time that construction had begun on the 88-bed Baptist Hospital less than two years earlier, many residents of Winston-Salem–officially the largest town in North Carolina–-had expressed concern that the new hospital’s location “in the wilds of Ardmore” would be too far out of town to serve most residents. The hospital had opened on May 25, 1923, and almost immediately a separate wing was added to serve African-American residents. Winston-Salem had experienced tremendous growth, thanks to Reynolds Tobacco and the Hanes knitting mills. A fire on January 9,1923 had destroyed the Cherry Street High School next door to First Presbyterian Church, but arrangements were made to hold classes on the finished second floor of the new R.J. Reynolds High School that had been scheduled to open in the fall of 1923. A number of young businessmen were moving their families out into the Ardmore section, including members of the Smithdeal, Kerr, Nunn, Stuart, Ward,

Woodward, Norfleet, and Alexander families. The new West End Elementary school was under construction nearby, and there were several ME, South churches in downtown Winston-Salem that were accessible by car, including Centenary, Green Street, Grace, West End, Central Terrace, Ogburn Memorial, and Burkhead, where the Rev. Joseph Hiatt had served since 1918. A golf course was under construction in Ardmore, and an apple orchard graced the highest point of land in the area, even as new houses were being built along Hawthorne and other roads. The future seemed bright for the Ardmore section.

FEBRUARY 2024 - Before "The Wilds of Ardmore": Sidestown

Even before Baptist Hospital had broken ground for their new hospital in "the wilds of Ardmore", there had been an African-American community located along Ardmore Road. Sidestown, which dated back to at least the 1880s, was comprised of small houses and several farms owned by African-American families on land that bordered the prosperous Lockett and Ebert farms. A small "colored church" was shown on a 1907 map on land that adjoined the present location of Ardmore United Methodist Church. (Most likely, this church was the first location of Sidestown AME, Zion Church. An ad placed in The Winston-Salem Journal on November 1, 1925 by Smithdeal Realty notes that Greenwood Park, an African- American development, is being built adjacent to the "new Sidestown African M.E.Church" on Madison Avenue. That church was torn down after World War II, but the cemetery is still there). Among the black farmers who owned land along Ardmore Road were the ex-slave Harmon Banner, who was close to a century old when he died in 1916; Martha Franklin, whose farm and home were adjacent to our church property, and John and Dinah Alspaugh. The Alspaughs had raised at least 15 children on their farm in Sidestown, and were raising two grandsons orphaned by the Spanish flu pandemic at the time of the 1920 census. Early Ardmore land records are incomplete, but at least one source attributes the ownership of an apple orchard adjoining one of the natural springs in Ardmore to the Alspaughs. All of these individuals were members of Sidestown AME Zion and are buried there. As new sections were opened in Ardmore in the early 1920s, Ardmore Avenue was paved to Miller Street, and A.C. Stuart became one of the first to build his home on Miller Street. Several real estate companies were formed in the area, and companies such as the Ardmore Company (founded in 1921 by W.J. Ebert, W.G. Jerome, and Dr. J.E. Kerr) began buying the farms that had previously been owned by African-American farmers. By the time of the 1930 census, Hawthorne Road had evolved from an integrated farming community to a fashionable but segregated suburb.

MARCH 2024 - The Apple Orchard and Dr. Kerr

As Winston-Salem grew into the largest town in North Carolina in the years following World War I, one of the many new residents was Dr. James Edwin Kerr. Born in Pineville, NC, in 1876, he had graduated from the medical school at the University of Maryland and had practiced medicine in Lilesville for 20 years when the army drafted him in September 1918 to help treat Spanish flu victims at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, SC. (The camp was decimated by influenza; each day, coffins taken to the train depot were stacked 10 to 12 caskets high and stretched the length of the depot platform.) Following his discharge just before Christmas 1918, Dr. Kerr moved his wife, Belle, and their three young children to Winston-Salem. He set up a medical practice in the Masonic Building on Trade Street and built a house on Crafton Street in Ardmore. He also formed The Ardmore Company, a real-estate firm, with William J Ebert and Walter G. Jerome, and began buying land for the company to sell to homeowners. He also bought for his personal use the land on the highest point in Ardmore; it had been the site of an old apple orchard. (Although real estate records are incomplete, anecdotal evidence suggests the orchard had belonged to John and Dinah Alspaugh, African-American residents of Ardmore Road who had raised 15 children and were then raising two grandchildren orphaned by the flu pandemic). Natural springs were located near the former orchard, and it seems likely that Dr. Kerr recalled the seemingly healthy young soldiers whose diets lacked fresh fruit and who had succumbed to Spanish influenza. (The school hot-lunch program had begun in North Carolina in response to the flu; children were encouraged to bring vegetables and fruits to school once a week so that their teacher could prepare a hot, nourishing soup lunch for them during the school day.) Undoubtedly, Dr. Kerr hoped to revive the apple orchard and use the fruit for his sons and daughter as they grew. Within a few years, however, a different plan for the land where the old orchard was located would be formulated.

APRIL 2024 - J.A. Ward and 820 Miller Street

Today, the beautiful house at 820 Miller Street is the private home of our current pastor, and is famous as the longtime home of W.G. White, but a century ago, it belonged to Mr. and Mrs. John A. Ward. J.A. Ward, a native of Stokes County, was the president of Tucker-Ward Hardware on Trade Street. He and his wife, Mary Etta Sanders, lived next door to A.C. and Sallie Stuart. The Winston-Salem Journal of October 3, 1925 and numerous other sources attribute the beginnings of Ardmore to a conversation held between J.A. Ward and A. C. Stuart in the late summer of 1924, in which John noted the presence of many Methodists in the new Ardmore neighborhood. A.C. cautioned him to be careful, or “they will be wanting to organize a church first thing you know”, but offered his support if Ward wanted to “start the ball rolling.” Ward promptly pointed out a possible site on Hawthorne Road. The Wards took an active role in organizing Ardmore M.E. South. He became a member of the Official Board for the next decade, and the first official church worship service (with Reverend J. S. Hiatt as newly appointed pastor) after the October 26 organizational meeting was held in their living room on November 2, 1924. Mary Ward was elected as the first President of the Women’s Home Missionary Society, and hosted meetings at her house as well. Unfortunately, Tucker-Ward Hardware was dealt a blow when a fire at the adjacent GIlmer’s Department Store on Trade Street occurred, and extensive water damage destroyed much of the hardware stock stored in the basement of the store, which was underinsured. The stock market crash of 1929 and Great Depression which followed resulted in Tucker-Ward Hardware’s board members wresting control of the company from J.A. Ward in 1930, and it failed under the new management within a few months. J.A. Ward took a series of positions as a hardware salesman, and their home had to be sold. Mary Ward was hired by Ardmore M.E. in 1934 as Assistant to the Pastor (the newly-appointed A.C. Tippett) and the Board of Stewards She served well as the first church secretary, but resigned in October 1935. The Board thanked her and expressed their distress at her departure. The Wards moved to Washington, D.C. to run a boarding house, where they lived the remainder of their lives. The role of the Wards and of 820 Miller Street as perhaps the most influential home not located on church property was forgotten for many years. (NEXT: The Realtor)

MAY 2024 - The Realtor, 1924

A group of Methodists who hoped to organize a new church in 1924 could benefit from having a variety of individuals with broad business experience who possessed a range of skills, including those with knowledge of real estate and insurance. Fortunately, such a man was involved in the efforts to found a Methodist Church in Ardmore: Charles Cleveland Smithdeal. C. C. Smithdeal was born in Davie County in 1887. A 1911 graduate of Guilford College, he founded Smithdeal Realty and Insurance Company in 1914. He served in World War 1 in the Roentgenological (X-Ray) unit until June 1919, and upon his return, married Gladys Pfaff of Pfafftown. They would be blessed with three children: Charles, Fay (Deans), and Dick Smithdeal. By 1923, he and his brother had built homes in the “Melrose” section of Ardmore, and he helped organize the Lions Club, serving as its president in 1925. A former quarterly conference delegate from Centenary, Smithdeal was interested in starting a Methodist church in Ardmore. He was part of a group who visited Presiding Elder, Rev. W. A. Newell, in the late summer of 1924 to ask for help in obtaining a location and a founding pastor for the church. They explored locations, including an apple orchard on the newly-named Hawthorne Road (owned by Dr. Kerr, and donated to the church in October), and requested as their pastor the “founder of churches.” Smithdeal was a leader among the temporary board of trustees who began meeting on October 1, and also served on the building committee that started meeting on October 21. The Smithdeals would offer their home on Elizabeth Avenue for the organizational meeting on October 26, where 54 Methodists attended and planned to join the new Ardmore M.E., South, Church. Mr. Smithdeal would remain quite active at Ardmore for more than fifty years, most notably serving numerous terms as Chairman of the Board of Stewards, Chairman of the Trustees, and the church’s first historian and author of the first written history, “Ardmore: Birth of a Church”, published in 1972. The influence of the Smithdeal family would continue for most of Ardmore’s first century.

JUNE 2024 - The Founder of Churches: Dr. Joseph S. Hiatt

When C.C. Smithdeal, Dr. J.E. Kerr, Dr. C. S. Lawrence, J.K. Norfleet Jr., John Ward, Reid Nunn and Matt Stockton met with Presiding Elder E.A. Newell at Smithdeal Realty on October 1, 1924 to discuss the plans to form a new Methodist Church in Ardmore, Temporary Board Chairman Smithdeal was authorized to name a committee to visit Dr. Joseph S. Hiatt, the pastor of Burkhead Methodist, to see if he would be willing to undertake the founding of another new church. The board did not want to leave the choice of a pastor to chance–they wanted the pastor described in the cornerstone history (written by Reid Nunn, 1925) as “the eminent church and soul builder, the one man to whom Winston-Salem, Forsyth County…owes much of the splendid stand and experience which Methodism is enjoying to this day.” Joseph Spurgeon Hiatt had been born in Thomasville in 1884. He graduated from Catawba College, Ursinus School of Theology, and earned his D.D. at Lenoir-Rhyne before joining the Western NC Conference in 1906. After serving the Forsyth Circuit and Salem Southside (later Green Street and Central Terrace), he had founded Grace Methodist and Burkhead Methodist. He had married Maude Jones of West Bend and they had three young children: Joe, Ruth and Fay. It is certain that Burkhead was unhappy to lose Dr. Hiatt when appointments were made at Conference two weeks later, but the Methodists of Ardmore were overjoyed. Dr. Hiatt preached at the first official worship service at the Wards’ home on Miller Street on November 2, 1924. As C.C. Smithdeal noted in Ardmore United Methodist Church: The Birth of a Church (1972), “We had no money to pay him with, no church for him to preach in, no house for he and his family to live in–those were lean times–but we did have a minister…and a great deal of faith.” A house was rented on Rosewood Avenue, a pounding was held for the Hiatts’ pantry, and a Ladies’ Aid Society was organized and held a rummage sale six days later which raised $49 for parsonage furniture, followed by an apron sale and a church supper. As plans were being made for a permanent church sanctuary and building on the land which Dr. Kerr had just donated, a temporary building–to be known as “the hut”--was planned. Throughout most of the year that Ardmore was blessed with Dr. Hiatt as pastor, the young church struggled to pay his salary, and often owed him money, but he continued to believe in his congregation, and pushed them to minister to others. Under his leadership, Ardmore sponsored one of 20 churches, named Hiatt Memorial, being built in Korea. Both Ardmore and Dr. Hiatt lamented when he was moved to Asheville in October 1925; he later confided to his good friend W.H. Woodward that he had planned to push Ardmore to pay off the cost of the building in the next two years–a debt that would not be satisfied until World War II. Dr. Hiatt would continue his ministry in Western North Carolina until retiring in 1957, and was still serving as Hugh Chatham Hospital chaplain at the time of his death in 1963.

JULY 2024 - The Hut: November 1924

For the first three weeks, the new Ardmore ME, South, met in the homes of members, but a temporary “Soldiers’ Barracks” had been decided upon as a meeting place while the ragweed-covered lot was excavated and the permanent church building was under construction. L.T. Long donated his time to direct the project, assisted by many men who had joined Ardmore. Construction on the hut began the afternoon of Tuesday, November 11; most of the work was completed by Wednesday evening, November 12. The hut had heat and electricity, with windows on each side for ventilation, and was outfitted with chairs for the congregation, which already numbered 145. The first service was held at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 16, 1924. A Ladies’ Aid Society supper was held there 9 days later, with the hut “most attractively decorated with autumn leaves and flowers” (Winston-Salem Journal, Nov. 25, 1924).

Even as Northrup & O’Brien began excavation for the anticipated $50,000 permanent church building, the hut served a variety of groups: Ardmore’s Board of Stewards, Trustees and Building Committee met there, and a piano was brought in and set on a piece of linoleum to keep it dry for worship services. The hut served our congregation for Sunday services through September 27, 1925, although once the auditorium/ fellowship hall and kitchen were completed in the basement, most committees began meeting there (occupancy laws were far less complicated in buildings under construction a century ago!). With church members falling behind on their pledges, a list of those in arrears was distributed at the Board of Stewards meeting so that the men on the committee could visit each of those who were behind to encourage them to catch up, and a motion by J.W. Fletcher to disassemble the hut once the new edifice was complete and sell it for $100 was passed. Sometime soon after the first services on October 4, 1925, the Hut was taken apart and sold, but it was remembered fondly by the children who attended it into the twenty-first century. NEXT: The Ladies

AUGUST 2024 - The Ladies of Ardmore M.E, South

Just as the work of the early church could not have been carried out without the many women who had become followers of Christ, so Ardmore M. E. South might not have survived without the countless ladies–wives, widows, singles, mothers, daughters, sisters–who worked to be sure the new church thrived and grew. Three days after the first organizational meeting, 21 women met to form the Ardmore Ladies’ Missionary and Aid Society, and elected these leaders: Mary Ward, President; Gladys Smithdeal, Vice President, and Eva Miller Jackson, Treasurer. Three days later, they threw a surprise pounding at the parsonage for the Hiatts. Their first meeting was held on November 5; they organized a rummage sale for November 8, which raised $49.95 of the $836 owed for parsonage furniture. Undaunted, they began sewing aprons to sell at the Basketeria on Trade Street on November 22, and followed that with a supper in the newly-constructed “hut” on November 25. A Silver Tea was given at the Country Club in February 1925, and monthly lawn parties were held at the church throughout the summer of 1925 to help raise funds for its work. Nor was all the work done by the young wives. Rosella Smith Nunn, whose diaries have revealed so much about early life at Ardmore, proposed a “birthday jar” in which each member would give a penny for each year of their age as a gratitude offering; her friend Virginia Willson kept the jar (Mrs. Willson, who was the grandmother of Abner Alexander and Dora Hanks, collected Octagon soap wrappers to raise money for the ladies; she died of burns as a consequence of her work in May 1925, and a stained-glass window and Ladies’ Sunday School class were named for her). Some church events were given by all of the ladies, including a going-away reception when the Hiatts were sent to Asheville in October 1925, an oyster supper for the newly-appointed Rev. L.B. Hayes when he arrived a week later, and a Father-Son Banquet on November 10, 1925. Others were carried out by a single member, such as the Thanksgiving Supper given by Ida Nunn and the bazaar hosted by Gladys Smithdeal in that same month. By December 1925, the ladies of Ardmore had earned $9206.70; paid for the parsonage furniture and paid $1350 to complete payments for the unsubscribed stained-glass windows. They established a firm tradition of working hard to support Ardmore that has continued through the Women’s Society of Christian Service, United Methodist Women, and the United Women of Faith.