THE LATE REV. J. C. PRICE, A. M., D. D.,
President of Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C.
The A. M. E. Zion Church had long desired an institution for a thorough education of its children, and accordingly a school under the auspices of the North Carolina Conference was started in 1879 in the town of Concord, N. C. It was incorporated under the name of Zion Wesley Institute, and after two sessions, depending upon collections from the churches of that conference, it was forced to close its doors. Therefore it was in May, 1881, when it became apparent that the school must close—then being taught by Prof. A. S. Richardson. The Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Church was held this year in England and in this month of May. Bishop J. W. Hood, D. D., who was president of the Board of Trustees of the Institute, and Rev. J. C. Price, with other representatives of the Zion Church, were in attendance.
Bishop Hood, recognizing the ability of Dr. Price, who was then a young man just out of school, prevailed upon him to become an agent for the school and to remain in England after the close of the conference.
During the conference Dr. Price made himself famous among the delegates and visitors as an eloquent orator and after its close had no trouble in getting before the English people, who welcomed him everywhere and responded to his appeals in a sum amounting to $9,100. This, of course, was great encouragement to the Trustees and the Church. The congregation of the Zion Church, in Concord, offered seven acres of land for a site to erect buildings and locate the school permanently. But the trustees decided that Salisbury would be a more favorable place and the school was located in that city.
It was in the spring of 1882 that Bishops Hood and Lomax, with $3,000 of the money raised by Prof. Price in England and $1,000 donated by the business men of Salisbury, purchased the site now occupied by Livingstone College. There was on the place one two-story building with ten rooms including basement. The tract of land consisted of forty acres and the total cost of the place amounted to $4,600.
The Board of Bishops at the meeting in Chester, S. C., in September, 1882, adopted Zion Wesley Institute as a connectional school, electing a faculty with Rev. J. C. Price, president, Rev. C. R. Harris, Prof. E. Moore, instructors; Mrs. M. E. Harris as matron.
October 9, 1882, the Institute was opened on its own premises in Salisbury. The name was soon changed to Zion Wesley College, and in '86 or '87 became Livingstone College, in honor of the great African explorer, David Livingstone.
It may not be out of place to mention here that the president and faculty felt that in the scope of the work the institution aimed to do, it would be less hampered by the new name. The wisdom of this has doubtless been seen by those intimately associated with the College.
The first day the school opened there were five day students, but no boarders. About the middle of October the first student from abroad came—Miss Lizzie Williams, of Newbern, N. C. When the session closed, however, there were in all ninety-three students. A small frame building (16 × 40) for boys had been erected and the girls were crowded in rooms with two beds each, and so great was the need for rooms that they were compelled in some instances to sleep three in a bed.