ASU History
By Frank Ruggiero

To many, Watauga County is a place called home. To tens of thousands, Appalachian State University was that place called home.

Like Watauga County, the university that now boasts a student population of about 15,000 started with humble beginnings. What is known today as Appalachian State University was founded in 1899 as Watauga Academy by brothers Blanford B. “B.B.” Dougherty and Dauphin D. “D.D.” Dougherty.

At a 2005 Boone Area Chamber of Commerce event, Bob Snead, vice chancellor for development emeritus and knower of nearly all things ASU, provided a detailed and colorful history of the institution.

With a class of 53 students enrolled in three grades, the Doughertys’ eyes looked ever onward, hoping to expand and build upon the educational opportunities made available to Watauga County.

The brothers sought state-funding for a school but, when none was available, educators began establishing numerous area academies, like the Mission School in Valle Crucis in 1845 and the Boone Classical High School in 1866. B.B. was teaching at the Globe Academy, when he purchased land on the Hardin Farm, the site of present-day Rivers Street. This land was where Watauga Academy was founded.

With their desire to create “a school of high grade,” B.B. would often travel to Raleigh to garner state support. With no paved roads into Boone until 1930, travel to and from town was no simple drive through the country. In fact, Snead said a trek from Lenoir to Boone took two days, and B.B. made the journey on horseback and later caught a train to Raleigh from Lenoir.

In Raleigh, B.B. made numerous unsuccessful attempts to sway legislators and senators to introduce a bill that would establish Appalachian Training School for Teachers. Finally, three representatives, including W.C. Newland of Caldwell County, made a minority report and requested an appropriation for the school’s establishment, Snead explained, saying the bill passed by only one vote, 25-12. “And that’s just the beginning of the story,” he said, citing May 15, 1903 as the single most important date in Appalachian history. This was when the General Assembly appropriated $1,500 for the school, contingent on a local match and a decision on the location for the college.

The school’s board of trustees met in Blowing Rock with delegates from Ashe, Alleghany, Mitchell, Watauga, Caldwell and Wilkes counties — all of which came to bid for the college’s location. It boiled down to Boone and Montezuma and Snead jested, “We could have been the University of North Carolina at Montezuma.”

In 1903, Boone became home to Appalachian Training School for Teachers, but the issue of transportation to and from the town was still an issue. As such, the Doughertys fought to bring the railroad to Boone and succeeded in doing so. The Tweetsie line ran through present-day Rivers Street, and Snead said some of the original railroad bed was discovered when Rivers Street was widened years ago.

Appalachian Training School became the Appalachian State Normal School in 1921, and was later named Appalachian State Teachers College in 1929. The college didn’t become Appalachian State University until 1967. The university joined the University of North Carolina system in 1971.

Snead noted that in its 107-year history, the university has seen only six presidents or chancellors, all of which have remained or retired in Boone.

B.B. Dougherty served as the school’s first president for 56 years and was succeeded by William H. Plemmons. Herbert Wey followed Plemmons in 1969, and was named chancellor in 1971. Wey served for 10 years and was succeeded by John E. Thomas. Francis Borkowski took the mountaineer helm in 1993, and Kenneth E. Peacock was installed as ASU’s sixth chancellor in April 2005, the date he called “Appalachian’s New Day.”