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Volume 6 Relation of U.B/EUB Virginia Conferences to Shenandoah University Dec. 26, 2013
the corner of Boscawen and Stewart Streets. Then the Great Depression ended the tremendous history
of the famed Shenandoah Valley Academy, which operated from 1865 to 1939 when its doors were
closed forever.
In 1955 the author [Mr. Wilkins] and Tom Scully purchased the old Shenandoah Valley
Academy campus and buildings at auction from the Frederick County School Board and developed
Academy Heights Subdivision, which consisted of Academy Lane, Academy Circle, Roszel Road, Joist
Hite Place, and the commercial area on Amherst Street. The buildings had been badly neglected—they
were just a pigeon roost and falling down. There was no feasible solution other than demolition of the
buildings and development of the campus for residential and business use. (There is a brief history of
the Shenandoah Valley Academy in Pioneers and Patriots.38 Jost Hite Place was named in honor of our
ancestor and first Frederick County settler.)
In 1954-55, as President of the Winchester-Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, I again
made contact with Dr. Brady and told him that we had decided Shenandoah College and Conservatory
of Music was our best bet, and we were ready to start the movement of Shenandoah to Winchester. He
said, “The situation is urgent. We will have to move fast, as the College-Conservatory will be phased
out and closed soon due to deficit operations and lack of financial support from friends, community and
church.” Also, it seemed some EUB Virginia Conference, National Board of Bishops, and General
Council on Administration felt that the College-Conservatory was a financial drain on their churches and
congregations. Most of the College-Conservatory Board of Trustees were ministers or closely
connected with the EUB Church. This negative thinking had seriously permeated the thinking of the
trustees and Conference leaders. However, there were a number of board members who disagreed and
jumped at the prospect of revitalizing the College-Conservatory by moving to a community that needed
schools. Winchester and Frederick County seemed like the best possible candidate, as it was the largest
community in Virginia that did not have a nearby college. There was little chance of getting one from
the state government in Richmond, as Winchester was in the northwest corner of Virginia, surrounded
by West Virginia counties to the north and west. However, the EUB Virginia Conference of included
this West Virginia territory as a part of their constituency, and we felt the constituents of the Conference
would help to save this old and honorable institution that had served so many Virginia and West
Virginia citizens and other people in the past. This proved correct in hundreds of future meetings.
Many trustees, alumni, and lay members of the Virginia Conference, including the West Virginia
delegates, voted against negative proposals and recommendations—thereby virtually saving Shenandoah
and helping our Chamber of Commerce College Project Committee move the College-Conservatory to
Winchester.
In 1955 the author was appointed Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Committee to move
the College-Conservatory to Winchester, and I now fully realized why so many people considered the
project a “hopeless dream.” Fortunately, I was then too naïve to understand the problems facing us.
Sometimes my co-workers on the committee and I were discouraged, but we never gave up or talked
negatively. We never asked why it could not be done—only how it could be. With the encouragement
of progressive, positive thinking citizens and EUB Church members, we put our feet on the ground and
kept them moving until the job was completed some years later [1960].
38 James R. Wilkins, Pioneers and Patriots—A History of the John Wilkins and Some Related Families of Virginia : Tuck,
Hite, Wall, Winn, and Others. J. R. Wilkins: Winchester, 1980, pp. 87 to 90 [Wilkins 1980, pp. 87-90]. [Wilkins 1980]
is in most Virginia libraries, including Shenandoah College Smith Library [CS71.W687 1980].
Wilkins on History of S.C., 1952-1960 36
the corner of Boscawen and Stewart Streets. Then the Great Depression ended the tremendous history
of the famed Shenandoah Valley Academy, which operated from 1865 to 1939 when its doors were
closed forever.
In 1955 the author [Mr. Wilkins] and Tom Scully purchased the old Shenandoah Valley
Academy campus and buildings at auction from the Frederick County School Board and developed
Academy Heights Subdivision, which consisted of Academy Lane, Academy Circle, Roszel Road, Joist
Hite Place, and the commercial area on Amherst Street. The buildings had been badly neglected—they
were just a pigeon roost and falling down. There was no feasible solution other than demolition of the
buildings and development of the campus for residential and business use. (There is a brief history of
the Shenandoah Valley Academy in Pioneers and Patriots.38 Jost Hite Place was named in honor of our
ancestor and first Frederick County settler.)
In 1954-55, as President of the Winchester-Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, I again
made contact with Dr. Brady and told him that we had decided Shenandoah College and Conservatory
of Music was our best bet, and we were ready to start the movement of Shenandoah to Winchester. He
said, “The situation is urgent. We will have to move fast, as the College-Conservatory will be phased
out and closed soon due to deficit operations and lack of financial support from friends, community and
church.” Also, it seemed some EUB Virginia Conference, National Board of Bishops, and General
Council on Administration felt that the College-Conservatory was a financial drain on their churches and
congregations. Most of the College-Conservatory Board of Trustees were ministers or closely
connected with the EUB Church. This negative thinking had seriously permeated the thinking of the
trustees and Conference leaders. However, there were a number of board members who disagreed and
jumped at the prospect of revitalizing the College-Conservatory by moving to a community that needed
schools. Winchester and Frederick County seemed like the best possible candidate, as it was the largest
community in Virginia that did not have a nearby college. There was little chance of getting one from
the state government in Richmond, as Winchester was in the northwest corner of Virginia, surrounded
by West Virginia counties to the north and west. However, the EUB Virginia Conference of included
this West Virginia territory as a part of their constituency, and we felt the constituents of the Conference
would help to save this old and honorable institution that had served so many Virginia and West
Virginia citizens and other people in the past. This proved correct in hundreds of future meetings.
Many trustees, alumni, and lay members of the Virginia Conference, including the West Virginia
delegates, voted against negative proposals and recommendations—thereby virtually saving Shenandoah
and helping our Chamber of Commerce College Project Committee move the College-Conservatory to
Winchester.
In 1955 the author was appointed Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Committee to move
the College-Conservatory to Winchester, and I now fully realized why so many people considered the
project a “hopeless dream.” Fortunately, I was then too naïve to understand the problems facing us.
Sometimes my co-workers on the committee and I were discouraged, but we never gave up or talked
negatively. We never asked why it could not be done—only how it could be. With the encouragement
of progressive, positive thinking citizens and EUB Church members, we put our feet on the ground and
kept them moving until the job was completed some years later [1960].
38 James R. Wilkins, Pioneers and Patriots—A History of the John Wilkins and Some Related Families of Virginia : Tuck,
Hite, Wall, Winn, and Others. J. R. Wilkins: Winchester, 1980, pp. 87 to 90 [Wilkins 1980, pp. 87-90]. [Wilkins 1980]
is in most Virginia libraries, including Shenandoah College Smith Library [CS71.W687 1980].
Wilkins on History of S.C., 1952-1960 36
