Coming back from a travel-filled spring break, I hoped for some time to unwind on a familiar walk around Elizabeth Campus (EC), but what met me was a charming building reduced to rubble instead. Every time I have walked by the building, structured like a house from more than a century ago, I have been struck by the sense of life emanating from it, despite its vacancy. The character of such a house is not something to take for granted.
Elizabeth Campus has housed many institutions in its history, starting with Roanoke’s College for Women. Not long after the Roanoke Women’s College came into being, the namesake of Elizabeth Campus consolidated with the aforementioned college in 1915. Both colleges enrolled 200 students each at the time of the merger. Elizabeth College, which moved to the property after starting in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1897 under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, was a pioneering liberal arts college for women. The “Elizabeth” of Elizabeth College comes from Ann Elizabeth Watts, the mother-in-law of the Lutheran Synod trustee Charles Banks King, one of the college’s cofounders and an alumnus of Roanoke College.
After a great fire destroyed the main building of Elizabeth College in 1922, the Lutheran Children’s Home of the South purchased the land in 1924. This institution was founded in 1888 by Rev. William McClanahan, an early graduate of Roanoke College who once served as a financial assistant to President Bittle. The five main buildings currently on EC were constructed at this time and were completed and dedicated on November 9, 1926. In the early years of the Children’s Home, the financial support and leadership for the institution were provided by many of the namesakes of buildings on our main campus. The Children’s Home ceased operations in 1963. During the Orphanage’s time on EC, the connection to the building that was demolished over spring break lies in the fact that it was the residence of the institution’s superintendent. The Lutheran Children’s Home of the South has gone through several evolutions and expansions since the 1970s, now functioning under the name enCircle and offering social services across Virginia and extending into Martinsburg, West Virginia.
According to the City of Salem’s public GIS site, the demolished building was built in 1932 and had a total assessment value of $885,300. Located at 324 Idaho Street, it was a two-story brick house with 7 rooms, including 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The house was acquired by the Lutheran Children’s Home of the South in 1964, and Roanoke College acquired the building in 1994. However, this is not the only historical building on campus that the administration has been covertly making efforts to demolish. At the beginning of this year, the Roanoke College Board voted to demolish the brick house at the corner of Market Street and Clay Street, likely known to most of you as the former residence of an underground sorority. During the citizen comment period of the Feb. 9th Salem City Council meeting, local citizens voiced their opposition to the demolition. One reason given stood out to me, as it was incredibly ironic in how it showed the contradictions of this college. It is believed that the house at 102 N. Market Street was built by several of the enslaved people who were involved in the construction of our administration building. With the establishment of the Center for Studying Structures of Race and the installation of the Authors and Architects memorial, it is disturbing that the college will then go and destroy the work of people that they say they aim to honor. In response to challenges to the demolition, the college issued the following statement: “A citizen came forward with a proposal to move the house, so we are delaying demolition for a few months to allow time to work through the details associated with their proposal. In this preliminary stage, it is too early to discuss the proposal, but we will be happy to provide more information if an agreement is finalized.”
While we have lost a historical building on Elizabeth Campus, we still have the opportunity to save a building with a rich and cherished history. So, moving forward, I hope the college greatly improves its communication with all concerned parties, including students, and expresses greater courtesy for the historical importance of Roanoke College.
Sources:
- Lillard, Stewart. “Elizabeth College.” NCpedia. State Library of NC. 2006.
- Kluttz, Roger S. “Catalog Record: The Lutheran Children’s Home of the South, Salem, Virginia : Seventy-Five Years of Service, 1888-1963.” HathiTrust, catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102095309.
- “History.” enCircle, encircleall.org/about-us/history.
- Hicks, Austin. “People speak out against Roanoke College house demolition.” CBS – 7 WDBJ (Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA), sec. News, 10 Feb. 2026. NewsBank: Access World News
Juniper Rogers
Folk of ‘Noke Editor
