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A.C. Reynolds

Alonzo Carlton Reynolds 1870-1953 Alonzo Carlton Reynolds, or A.C. as he was better known, began a 53 year career in education as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in Sandy Mush at age 19.  A graduate of Weaver and Peabody Colleges, Reynolds taught for more than a dozen years until he was appointed president of the former Rutherford College (1902-1905).  He then became the Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools (1905-1912) until he was tapped as president of the young Cullowhee Normal and Industrial School (1912-1920), now Western Carolina University.  In 1920, he began service as the superintendent of Haywood County Schools (1920-1924) and later served a second term as superintendent of Buncombe County Schools (1926-1933).

It was during his second term as superintendent of Buncombe County Schools that Reynolds conceived of the novel idea of creating a junior college as part of the county school system.  The goal was to provide greater access to higher education for Western North Carolinians and to do so without charging tuition, thus creating the first free junior college in North Carolina.  With the support of civic leader Thomas Howerton, and others, Reynolds opened Buncombe County Junior College in the fall of 1927 on the campus of the new Biltmore High School.  Within three years, the Great Depression forced the college to start charging tuition, and the financial crisis faced by the county school system put the college’s future in jeopardy.  In response, Reynolds resigned his post as superintendent to focus on shoring up support for what was now being called Biltmore Junior College.  The faculty elected Reynolds the first president of the college and during the next three years he led the school’s first relocation (to David Millard Junior High School) and its transition to being part of the Asheville City School system.  In 1936, Biltmore College was re-chartered as Asheville-Biltmore College, the name the college held until 1969 when it joined the UNC system as the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  In that same year, Reynolds resigned his post and served as a principal at several schools over the next six years. In 1942, Reynolds retired from a long and distinguished career in education. 

The University of North Carolina at Asheville exists because of the vision, determination, and hard work of A.C. Reynolds.  It was his idea to create the junior college which eventually became UNC Asheville, and it was through his commitment to the students and this community, that the college survived the very lean years of the Great Depression to emerge as a unique gem in American higher education.

In honor of A.C. Reynolds’ founding of our great University, it is recommended that the lawn between Ramsey Library and Carol Belk Theatre be named the A.C. Reynolds Green, in recognition of this great educator’s contributions to our University and higher education in Western North Carolina.  The naming would be complimented by the placement of one of the cupolas from Biltmore High School (accepted as a gift to the University by the Board in 2006), repurposed as a gazebo and made the centerpiece of the lawn. As one of the University’s great gathering spots, A.C. Reynolds Green would be a continual and fitting reminder of the man whose dream to bring higher education to Asheville led to the creation of the University of North Carolina at Asheville.