Berea Encyclopedia

C. C. Hensley

2006-05-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Cyrus Clinton Hensley, mayor of Berea from 1958 until his death on December 13, 1980 at the age of 71, was born May 20, 1909 in Clay County, Kentucky, and moved to Berea with his family when he was eight. He also served as a Madison County deputy sheriff and Berea Chief of Police.

As mayor, Hensley helped organize the Industrial Development Corporation in 1960 and served as vice-president and chairman of the executive committee. He helped raise the $40,000 to develop Berea's first industrial sites. After the arrival of Berea's first industry, the Berea Rubber Company (later known as the Parker Seal Company and Parker-Hannifin), Hensley was the second employee hired in 1951, working his way up to surpervisor and then foreman. For many years, he held the Standard Oil distributorship in Berea. As a young man, he was employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

He was a member of the First Christian Church, where he was an elder, and of the Berea Masonic Lodge 617 F&AM. He was active in the Berea Chamber of Commerce and the Berea Kiwanis Club.

Hensley traditionally wore a knitted red tie. That symbol was adopted by the Mayor and City Council when it established the C.C. Hensley Distinguished Service Award in 1979 in honor of Hensley's many years of faithful service to Berea. A memorial to him is on display at the flag pole in the Duerson stadium at the Berea City Park.

He was married to Gladys Bauffle Hensley and had one brother, Rudolph, and four sisters, Mrs. Bennett Roop, Mrs. O.H. Green, Mrs. Eunice Neumeyer, and Miss Audrey Hensley. He is buried in the Berea Cemetery.

See Berea Citizen, 19Dec1980, p1 and 2; 31May1979, p4; 21May1981, p1 and 2.

Berea Elections in 1901

2006-04-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

The election for governor in 1899, which culminated in Republican charges that Democrats had stolen the race and the assaination of candidate William Goebel, created a climate of political mistrust and suspicion that affected the 1901 local elections in Berea. The controversy arose when the Berea town council nominated S.E. Welch Jr., a prominent Republican and business leader, as its new police judge, but the Deomocratic governor, J.C.W. Beckham, appointed Democrat H.C. Kinnard.

Outraged by this action, Republicans in Berea chose a straight Republican ticket for the fall elections. In the past, though Berea was a Republican bastion in Madison County, the town elections had customarily been nonpartisan. John L. Gay withdrew from the madistrate's race and filed for police judge. Wm. J. Tatum agreed to run for marshal. W.R. Gabbard, S.E. Welch Jr., T.J. Osborne, J.W. Stephens, and Josiah Burdette ran for town council. As a result, a rival caucus met and nominated a nonpartisan slate consisting of both Democrats and Republicans: E.T. Fish for police judge; Hiram Richardson for marshal; and Jas. Stigal, L.V. Dodge, J.J. Branaman, R.G. Ramsey, and R.W. Todd for town council.

The Berea Citizen worried that this partisan reaction to the Governor's appointment was "an unfortunate game of 'tit for tat.'" The paper wrote that the trouble had begun when "some mischievous person" had incited Governor Beckham to appoint a Democrat for police judge who had not been nominated by the town council. The Citizen observed that "this tyranny" had consigned Berea "to a state of anarchy for several months" and prophesied that a hudge amount of good will would be needed to see Berea through the next election in peace.

Hard feelings seemed inevitable as the two slates traded charges in speeches and letters to the paper. On November 5, 1901, the entire Republican slate was elected by a wide margin. John L. Gay went on to serve as police judge until 1909 when he was elected the first mayor of Berea, a position he held for 48 years. The anarchy predictated by the Citizen was a mere shadow of the violence that surrounded the Goebel election and assasination, but the suspicion and mistrust felt by many Republicans in Berea was real, and the appointment by Governor Beckham was viewed as an act of tyrany. Many in Berea viewed the selection of the police judge as an exercise of political sovereignty.

See Klotter, James C., William Goebel: The Politics of Wrath, The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 1977, 79-80; Klotter, James C., Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950, The University of Kentucky Press, Lexington, KY, 1997, 52; The New York Times, 1Feb1900, p6; Ibid, 22May1900, p5; Berea Citizen, 23May1900, p1, 5; 25Apr1901; 16May1901; 30May1901; 11Jul1901; 3)ct1901; 7Nov1901; 17Oct1901; 24Oct1901; and 31Oct1901.

Berea High School First Commencement

2006-04-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

The Berea High School, sometimes referred to as "fruit jar" high school, held its first Commencement exercises on May 19, 1929 at the Berea Baptist Church. The ten graduates each delivered an original essay:

Clinton Hensley — Preparedness for Peace
Adith Smith — Ambition
Wilbur Wynn — Achievement
Ella Mae Powell — Shall We Open the Gates?
Thurman Todd — The Airplane and the Future
Gladys Oliver— America’s Tenth Man
Fred Rominger—Repairing the Cabinet
Helen Cornelius—Lindbergh in Central America
Walter McKeehan—Kentucky for Progress
Lillian Hutchins—Valedictory

The commencement address was delivered by the Rev. Howard Morgan, pastor of the Maxwell Presbyterian Church of Lexington. His theme was "Democracy" and a plan for the youth of our country to face the problems and solve them.

See Berea Citizen 16May1929 and 30May1929.

Churchill Weavers

2006-03-10T05:42:00.000-08:00

Churchill Weavers was founded by David Carroll Churchill and his wife, Eleanor, in 1922 in a third floor office at Boone Tavern in Berea, Kentucky. The weaving business soon outgrew the hotel space, and they set up shop with four looms in a shed at the edge of town on Lorraine Court where the present gift shop is located. They recruited local weavers and eventually employed 150 looms in the business.

D.C. Churchill was the engineer behind the company's success. He had graduated from MIT in 1899 and traveled as a missionary to India in 1901 to teach "mechanical trades." Working with unskilled native weavers, he perfected a hand loom which Indian laborers used to produce cloth four to eight times fater than the old-style looms. With the outbreak of World War I, Churchill and his wife returned to America, eventually accepting a teaching job at Berea College. When Churchill began his own weaving business, he used the same type looms he had designed in India.

Eleanor Churchill proved to be an unexpected asset to the family business. She was a natural designer with an innate flair for combining colors and textures in strikingly new ways. She was also the business manager of the firm. Over the years, Churchill Weavers avoided head-to-head competition with the large textile factories and sought to achieve a market niche with excellent handcrafted products.

Carroll Churchill died at age 96 in 1969. Eleanor Churchill sold the business to Lila and Richard Bellando in 1973. The Bellandos continued Churchill Weavers as a family business until 1996 when they sold it to Crown Crafts, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.

Over the years, Churchill Weavers was best known for woolen baby blankets, couch throws, neck ties, and ladies accessories. The expert weavers at the company were recognized in 1960 when B. F. Goodrich Co. selected Churchill Weavers to weave a special material for coveralls as part of NASA's space program.

See Berea Citizen, 29 May 1986, p54; information contributed by Richard and Lila Bellando.

Eleanor Franzen Churchill

2006-03-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Eleanor Franzen Churchill, co-founder of Churchill Weavers, was born in 1888 in Worthinton, Minnesota. After graduating from Wellesley College, she served as a missionary in India where she met and married her husband, David Carroll Churchill. They worked in India until the outbreak of World War I when they moved to Oberlin, Ohio, her husband's boyhood home.

In 1920 the Churchills moved to Berea after Berea College president Dr. William J. Hutchins asked David to teach physics and set up an industrial technology department. D. C. Churchill and Hutchins had been childhood friends.

After David had taught for two years, the Churchills launched Churchill Weavers in 1922, using local labor and looms built by David. He provided the technical expertise for the weaving enterprise. Eleanor provided the designs. Learning to weave after the founding of the busienss, she bodly combined textures and colors in new ways. Churchill Weavers contributed greatly over the years to the economic and artistic life of the Berea area and became a nationally known company.

Eleanor Churchill was also co-founder with Dr. Louise Hutchins of the Mountain Maternal Health Legaue in Berea which provided birth control services to mountain women. She was a director of Berea National Bank and a member of Union Church and many arts and women's leagues. She had two daughters, Alice Hadley and Cherry Belanger. She died at age 93 on October 3, 1981 and is buried in the family plot in Oberlin, Ohio.

See Berea Citizen, 8 Oct 1981; see also separate article on Churchill Weavers.

Delta Natural Gas Company, Inc.

2006-02-27T05:24:00.000-08:00

Delta Gas, founded by Harrison D. Peet on October 14, 1949 in Stanton, Kentucky, opened a Berea office at the corner of U.S. Highway 25 and Meadowlark Drive in 1955. Delta's target market was mainly residential and small industrial users. The company obtained natural gas from interstate suppliers like Columbia and Tennessee Gas and delivered it to local communities through local transmissions lines. Delta Gas brought a new source of energy to Berea.

Delta Gas grew rapidly over the years. Its first annual report reflected a customer base of 398. By 1975 it had approximately 11,000 customers and 300 miles of pipeline. In the past twenty-five years, Delta Gas has continued to grow through acquisitions and mergers. In 2001 Delta Gas employed 156 employees system-wide, owned over 23,000 miles of pipe, and served over 40,000 customers in 23 central and southeastern Kentucky counties. It has five district offices located in Berea, Corbin, Middlesboro, Nicholasville, and Owingsville, and a corporate headquarters in Winchester.

Delta's Berea office moved into a newly constructed building on Glades Road in November 2001. Glenn R. Jennings, a Berea native and resident, is President, CEO, and chairman of the Board of Directors. He has been associated with Delta Gas since January 8, 1979.

See Berea Citizen, 29 May 1986, p85; and information contributed by company.

Samuel Ernest Welch Jr.

2005-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

S.E. Welch Jr. , merchant, community-builder, and staunch Republican, was born in Scott County, Virginia on June 20, 1861. After migrating to McKee, Kentucky in 1883, he married the former Martha Belle Morris of Jackson County, Kentucky. They moved to Berea with their three children, John Welch, Ernest Dooley Welch, and Hilda Welch in 1890.

In Berea, Welch opened a store on the south side of Chestnut Street just east of the railroad tunnel. His store was so successful that he bought the three acres across the street in 1893 and began building what was later called "the Welch block," composed of a dry goods, hardware, furniture, grocery, Gentleman's Furnishings, and drug stores. This commercial block continued to exist after his death until it was destroyed by fire in 1924. He was so successful at business in Berea that the Berea Citizen recognized him as a commercial leader in the community in 1902.

After establishing his store, Welch played an important role in founding the first bank in Berea in 1901, Berea Bank & Trust Company. He left that bank after only one year, but then helped start a rival bank, Berea National Bank, in 1906. He served as president until his death in 1910. Welch also helped found the Berea Printing & Publishing Co. which published the Berea News, a local newspaper designed to compete with the college-owned Berea Citizen. Welch was involved in state and local Republican politics, and hr served two terms on the Berea town council.

In sharp contrast to his sterling reputation as a businessman and community-builder, Welch's personal reputation was tarnished by his affair with Jennie B. Fish, the wife of A.T. Fish, his partner in the Berea Bank & Trust Company, which lasted from 1899 until his death. There were whispered rumors, after A.T. Fish's unexpected and sudden death in 1902, that Welch had poisoned Fish. This clandestine relationship also lead to Welch shooting shooting P.D. McBride, a traveling salesman, in 1906 for visiting the Fish home. Eventually, Welch's older daughter, Dooley, eloped with Jennie B. Fish's son, Grover, and had a son. Welch tried hard to break up the couple's marriage and finally succeeded in 1910 when Dooley took her baby son and returned to the Welch house. (That house was located behind his commercial block and is now known as Reppert Funeral Home.) As a result, Grover Fish sought out Welch in his store one evening and fatally shot him in the back. A jury subsequently exonerated Fish, finding that the killing had been justified.

See Everybody Trades at Welches, at the Berea branch of the Madison County LIbrary for a more complete portrait of Welch, and the following editions of the Berea Citizen, 14 Dec 1972; 27 Feb 1902; 21 Apr 1910; 28 Apr 1910.

1876 Berea

2005-05-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

In 1876 the D. G. Beers & Co. of Philadelphia printed a map of Madison County, Kentucky which depicted its magistrate districts and listed the physical location of many residents. Approximately 100 sites were designated in Berea.

In 1997 the Madison County Historical Society created an index of the landowners depicted on the Beers map, arranged alphbetically, and listing the vocation of the owner, precint and the nearest map landmark.

The following are the sites listed for Berea:

Ames, G. Resident Glade Precint Berea map landmark
Asbury, B Farmer
Ballard, H. Resident
Bicknell, T. E. Resident
Black, S Farmer
Blythe, N. Resident
Bonny, G. Farmer
Bower, R. Farmer
Bratcher, W. Farmer
Breckenridge, Mrs. Resident
Burdett, J. Resident
Burnham, J. Farmer
Campbell, C. Farmer
Cavanaugh, A. Resident
Clark, J. H. Professor
Glascoe, G. Resident
Coyle, A. N. Farmer
Coyle, J. General Store
Coyle, T. Resident
Coyle, T. H. Farmer
Crawford, A. Farmer
Critenden, H. R. Professor
Denny, Mrs. Resident
Dobbs, Mrs. Resident
Dodge, L. V. Professor
Drew, J. Farmer
Duncan, C. Resident
Dutson, R. H. Farmer
Embree, L. Mrs. Resident
Evans, W. M. Resident
Fairchild, E. H. Pres. Coll.
Farris, C. Farmer
Fee, J. G. Professor
Gentry, Samuel Resident
Green, B. Resident
Guins, Mrs. Resident
Haley, M. Mrs. Resident
Hamilton, A. Farmer
Hamilton, W. Farmer
Hanson, A. J. Grocery
Hanson, A. J. Resident
Hanson, J. Farmer
Hanson, J. G. Farmer
Hanson, S. G. Resident
Harrison, J. M. Blacksmith
Hart, J. Staff
Hazelwood, C. Farmer
Heron, D. Resident
Heron, S. H. Resident
Holland, G. V. Physician
Hooker, W. Farmer
Hudson, D. Resident
Hutchinson, W. B. Staff
Jarman, A. Farmer

Jarris, W. R. Staff
Johnson, A. Farmer
Johnson, M. Farmer
Johnson, P. B. Staff
Johnson, S. C. Farmer
Kennedy, H. Resident
Kindred, J. Resident
Kirby, J. Resident
Lester, C. Resident
Lester, Charles Lumber
Marsha, S. J. Physician
Miller, M. Resident
Monen, M. Resident
Moody, W. Farmer
Moore, C. Farmer
Moore, S. Farmer
Moss, J. Resident
Newton, D. F. Resident
Nicholls, G. L. Resident
Northcutt, J. B. Staff
Parks, J. Resident
Preston, E. Mrs. Resident
Preston, R. I. Resident
Robe, W. H. Resident
Romaines, W. Resident
Ryan, H. V. Resident
Smith Resident
Spratt, N. Farmer
Stepp, W. Resident
Thompson, T. Farmer
Todd, J. Farmer
Todd, J. M. Farmer
Todd, M. Farmer
Vinagar, S. Mrs. Resident
Walker, E. Farmer
Weaver, A. Farmer
Wheeler, W. Resident
White, P. Mrs. Resident
White, W. Resident
Williams, S. Farmer
Willis, S. Farmer
Wilt, F. Staff
Woolwine, G. Farmer
Woolwine, J. G. Farmer
Wyatt, J. Resident
Yates, C. Resident
Yates, H. Cobbler

Racial Shooting in Berea on 1 Sep 1968

2005-05-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, September 1, 1968 at around 4:00 p.m., two men, one white and one black, were killed in an interracial shootout on U.S. 25 North at the current location of Pennington Realty. A National States Rights Party rally that afternoon with inflammatory anti-Negro statements provoked the violence. State Police reported that two cars and a van drove up as the rally was ending. Angry words were exchanged. Shortly, thereafter, over 40 shots were fired.

Killed were Lenoa John Boggs, 36, a resident of Jefferson Street, and Elza Rucker, 30, a Lexington resident and Berea native. Rucker was sergeant-at-arms for the white supremecist group. Boggs was a presser at Sav-Way Cleaners on U.S. 25 North. Similar rallys had been held the previous Saturday and on July 20 without incident. Fourteen men were charged with murder in connection with the killings.

In response to the incident, the Berea City Council met the following Tuesday and passed a Resolution which condemned the violence and promised to seek a legal means to prevent future "inflammatory gatherings." The Council also called for creation of a human rights group to work for better race relations.

Six Berea blacks were charged with the murder of Rucker: Douglas Moran, Charles Alfred Rice, Robert James "BooBoo" Herd, Alphonso White, Arthur Boggs, and William F. Bronaugh, alias Freddie Hinton. Eight whites were charged with the murder of Boggs: Peter L. Xavier and Connie Lynch, Savanah, Georgia; Jerrald Dale Pope, Williamstown, Kentucky; R. D. Eldredge, Charles Eldredge, Dallas Hale, and Dudley Hughes, Jr., all of Dayton, Ohio.

Twelve of the fourteen were later charged by the grand jury for riot. The six blacks subsequently plead guildty to unlawful assembly and were sentenced to nine months in jail. Following a two-day trial in March, five members of the National States Rights Party were found guilty of disorderly conduct. All five were fined $500; three received an additional sentence of 30 days in jail. Jerry Pope and Kenneth Hale received only fines; Peter Xavier, Dudley Hughes, and R.D. Eldredge were also sentenced to jail-time.

See Berea Citizen, 5 Sep 1968; 12 Sep 1968; 17 Oct 1968; 31 Oct 1968; 14 Nov 1968; 20 Mar 1969.

Dixie Highway

2005-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

The Dixie Highway near Berea, originally ran from Kingston over what is now called Old Old US 25, past the Silver Creek Elementary School, up Cemetery Hill to Main Street in Berea, and into Rockcastle County on what is now Scaffold Cane Road. In 1925 a national motorcade stopped in Berea to celebrate the opening of the highway from Michigan to Florida.

The building of this road sparked a real estate development just north of town called the "Dixie Highway Park" or "Dixie Park" as it is called today.

The Scaffold Cane section of the road was a problem for years. In 1927 a new portion of the road was buildt from Berea to Roundstone in Rockcastle County to replace the hilly Scaffold Cane section. This new section of road was known around Berea as "the concrete" becuase of its composition.

The Dixie Highway was renamed U.S. Highway 25 in 1926.

A portion of the road north of Berea on the section between Highway 1016 and Kingston became known as "deadman's curve" because of the frequency of accidents. Later, Highway 1016 was constructed to eliminate this part of the roadway.

See Berea Citizen, 11 May 1916; 29 Jun 1916; 22 Feb 1917; 26 Apr 1917; 24 May 1917; 16 Aug 1917; 18 Apr 1918; 27 Jun 1918; 21 May 1919; 19 May 1921; 20 Apr 1922; 25 May 1922, p3; 19 Oct 1922; 1 Jan 1925; 3 Sep 1925; 10 Sep 1925; 8 Oct 1925; 20 May 1926; 1 Jul 1926; 1 Sep 1927, p1 and 4.

Berea News

2005-05-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

The Berea News was published in Berea from February 1906 to March 5, 1908 by the Berea Printing and Publishing Company which was owned by local businessmen, W.H. Porter, president; S.E. Welch, Jr., vice-president; E.T. Fish, secretary; and Josiah Burdette, treasurer. The paper was formed to compete with the college-owned Berea Citizen. M.L. Spink was the editor, and the paper was "devoted to building up the general business interests in Berea."

Just as the Berea Citizen printed the news from the point of view of Berea College, the pages of the Berea News reflected the views of the Berea business community. Along with general news coverage, the paper highlighted the arrival of the canning factory in Berea, urging support for this new business enterprise, and advocated the formation of a businessman's club as a "foundation for future growth" and a farmer's organization.

By December 1907, the paper was experiencing financial difficulty. L.L. Shadoin was hired as the new editor. Its last issue was published on March 5, 1908. The Berea Citizen reported in August that the Berea News had sold its equipment to a paper staring in London, Kentucky.

See Everybody Trades at Welch's pp 29-33 at the Berea branch of the Madison County Public Library; Berea News issues on microfilm at Hutchins Library, Berea College; and Berea Citizen 21 Dec 1905; 1 Feb 1906; 6 Aug 1908; 13 Aug 1908.

Dr. John Baker

2005-05-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

John C. Baker, a medical doctor, was born in Clay County, Kentucky, and practiced medicine in Berea for 36 years. He married Mattye Belle Kincaid. They had a son, William B. Baker, an orthodontist, and a daughter, Kay Mills. Dr. Baker had five brothers, Hugh, Bill, Lawrence, Jim and Tom Baker, and a sister, Laura Little.

Dr. Baker attended the Berea Academy and the University of Louisville before earning his medical degree from the University of Tennessee at Memphis. He began his practice in San Angelo, Texas, and then moved to Mount Vernon, Kentucky, before finally establishing his medical practice in Berea, Kentucky where he shared offices with Dr. Dwight Blackburn and Dr. Carl Kesner. Dr. Baker is credited with delivering over 10,000 babies in and around Berea during his career.

He received the Berea Lions Club's Most Valuable Citizen award, and was honored by the Kentucky Medical Association in 1966 as the General Practitioner of the Year. He was a Mason, a member of the Berea Lions Club and the Berea Baptist Church. He died June 25, 1973 and is buried in the Berea Cemetery.

See Berea Citizen, 28 Jun 1973.

Fires on 5 Jan 1924

2005-05-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Two houses and five businesses were destroyed in two separate fires in Berea on January 5, 1924. Zero degree weather and strong winds hampered the efforts of fire fighters to contain the blazes. Total damage was estimated at $150,000, only part of which was covered by insurance.

The first fire occurred at about 3:00 p.m. at the home of C.H. Wertenberger. After fighting the fire for an hour, Fire Chief Pruitt Smith abandoned the house because the blaze had reached the old shingles beneath the tin roof and could not be extinguished. Several fire fighters suffered from frozen ears and hands. Smith froze the tips of his fingers and received a burn on his neck. The clothes of many were covered with ice and could stand alone. By 5:30 the house was almost burnt to the ground. Only two tall chimneys stood among the smoldering ruins. The house was owned by Berea College.

Hardly had the flames subsided then the fire siren sounded again. The Berea Deaprtment Store was burning at the West End. In a short time, the sky was lit with a red glare, and smoke belched forth with awe-inspiring massiveness. The northwest gale was even stronger, and within six minutes the entire building was a mass of flames. Wylie's Drug Store fell to the flames, then R.H. Chrisman's Furniture Store. It was thought that the brick wall of the Post Office would stop the spreading fire, but a shower of sparks from the burning water tower behind the stores finally set the roof of the Post Office aflame, and it too burned to the ground. The Fowler residence and the J.O. Oliver business across the street also caught fire. Finally, the blaze was stopped at John Welch's home. The next morning at 9:30, flames were spotted on top of the National Bank building but were extenguished immediately. The fire was believed to have originated in the flue in the grocery of the Berea Deaprtment Store.

See Berea Citizen, 10 Jan 1924.

Dean Edwards

2005-05-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Thomas A. Edwards, long-time dean of the Berea Foundation School and the first principal of the Berea High School, was born in Newark, Ohio on January 27, 1857. After graduating from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, he spent seven years as a high school prioncipal in several schools. He then served as superintendent of the Soldiers and Sailors Orphans School in Xenia, Ohio fot twelve years. From there he came to Berea as superintendent of the Model and Foundation schools. He later became dean of the Foundation School and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1926, having worked for Berea College for 22 years. He immediately came out of retirement to serve as principal of the newly formed Breea High School for two years when he resigned but stayed on as an English and Mathematics teacher until his death on March 16, 1930. Edwards was married to Laura Hull. They had four children.

See Berea Citizen, 20 Mar 1930.

"Fruit Jar" high school

2005-05-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

In 1925, Berea had no high school. After the eigth grade, students either went to work or attended the Foundation school at Berea College for ninth grade and then advanced to the Academy. This situation existed despite the fact that in 1922 the Kentucky General Assembly had required each town with a graded school district to provide a high school for its children or join the county school system.

Under pressure from the State Board of Education, the five-member Board of the Berea Graded School, composed of Robert Lamb, chairman, J.S. Wagers, vice-chairman, W.G. Best, secretary, Benton Fielder, and G.B. Angel, voted to establish a high school for Berea in June 1926. Wagers, Best and Fielder believed that the Graded School district should provide a high school, but Lamb and Angel voted opposed a high school, believing that Berea did not have enough taxable property to afford a modern high school

Despite apparently resolving the issue in favor of a high school, Lamb atempted to reverse course at a meeting in July when Fielder was absent. Stepping down as chairman so that he could vote, and leaving Wagers to preside over the meeting, Lamb proceeded to call for a new vote on the high school. Facing the likelihood of a two-to-one vote against providing a high school, W.G. Best picked up the minute book and started out the door, ending the meeting. Lamb, in frustration, seized a nearby fruit jar being used as a vase and threw it at Best, striking him on the head and knocking him to the floor unconscious. Best was taken to the Robinson hospital for treatment. Lamb was later indicted and arrested for "striking with the intent to kill" and released on a $2,000 bond. He was later fund guilty of assault and battery. Subsequently, Dr. Best sued Lamb for $10,000 and eventually recovered a judgment for $300.

The high school officially opened in the former sixth grade classroom in September 1926 with fifty-two students. Former Foundation school dean, Thomas A. Edwards, was the teacher. As a result of Lamb's throwing the fruit jar at Dr. Best, the Berea High School, formerly located at the corner of Chestnut and Boone Streets, was often referred to as "Fruit Jar High."

See Berea Citizen, 27 November 1919, p5 for letter by Best supporting the idea of having a high school; 5 May 1921, p5 for editorial citing the county school tax rate of 40 cents and the city rate of 75 cents and advocating merger with the county system; 19 Apr 1923, p5 for explanation of 1922 law requiring a high school; 31 May 1923, p5 and 14 June 1923, p7 for letters about the high school issue; 9 Oct 1924, p5 for text of speech by Best to Kiwanis Club describing the history of the Berea Graded School and the need for a high school in Berea; 27 Aug 1925; 7 Jan 1926; 28 Jan 1926; 4 Feb 1926 for bond issue vote; 17 Jun 1926; 26 Aug 1926 for Best assault; 2 Sep 1926 for Lamb indictment; 10 Feb 1927 for Best judgment against Lamb in damage suit; most of this entry was composed by Frances Moore.