Lewis School

Photographed by Mike Stroud, April 19, 2013

1. Lewis School Marker

No house here today

Inscription. A coeducational private school, conducted by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Henry Lewis, opened in 1877 and closed in 1902, was in this house.

Erected 1950 by Archives Conservation and Highway Departments. (Marker Number F-28.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Education. In addition, it is included in the North Carolina Division of Archives and History series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1877.

Location. Marker is missing. It was located near 35° 15.532′ N, 77° 34.618′ W. Marker was in Kinston, North Carolina, in Lenoir County. It was on East King Street (State Highway 11/55), on the right when traveling west. Located between South East Street and South Independence Street. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: Kinston NC 28501, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker was in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain. It was also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it was in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it found itself

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in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: Caswell (approx. ¼ mile away); Lenoir County WW I and WW II Memorial (approx. ¼ mile away); The Town Of Kingston (approx. ¼ mile away); In Honor and Remembrance (approx. ¼ mile away); Fire Hydrants (approx. ¼ mile away); CSS Neuse (approx. ¼ mile away); Kinston Sit-Ins (approx. ¼ mile away); Birth of Funk (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Kinston.

Other markers no longer nearby. Kinston Hangings (was about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line but has been permanently removed); Harmony Hall (was approx. 0.2 miles away but has been confirmed missing).

More about this marker. House not standing at present time

Regarding Lewis School. Dr. Richard Henry Lewis was associated with three schools in Kinston between 1877 and 1902. Owing to Lewis’s wish for his wife, Eleanor Betts Lewis, to be recognized for her involvement

Lewis School Marker looking west along NC 11/55 (East King Street) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mike Stroud, April 19, 2013

2. Lewis School Marker looking west along NC 11/55 (East King Street)

in the schools’ operation, the institutions have become collectively known as “The Lewis School.”

Lewis became principal of Kinston Collegiate Institute in the fall of 1877. The school, opened in 1871 by Joseph H. Foy, had counted Charles B. Aycock among its students in the two years prior to Lewis’s arrival. In 1882 Lewis resigned from the Kinston Collegiate Institute in order to take the helm of Judson College in Hendersonville. Unwilling to lose their beloved principal, citizens of Kinston paid subscriptions to purchase a school building on King Street so that Lewis could start a new academy. The school, called Kinston College, opened in the fall of 1882 with 153 students. However, in 1889 Lewis decided to accept the offer from Judson College and moved to Hendersonville. He remained there until the college was sold to pay debts and in 1893 Lewis returned to Kinston.

Back in Kinston Lewis and his wife opened a classical academy called Dr. Lewis’s School. The couple operated the school until they retired in 1902. They were honored at a reunion of their students that year. Unable to attend, Governor Charles B. Aycock wrote

Lewis School Marker looking east image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mike Stroud, April 19, 2013

3. Lewis School Marker looking east

of Lewis, “His pupils are scattered throughout the world. They have gone into the battle of life equipped mentally for the strife and with the moral training which has made them strong in the hour of temptation.” The educators’s influence on students was long recalled in the community and a later public school was named in honor of the Lewises. Eleanor Betts Lewis died in 1915 at the age of seventy-five and Richard Henry Lewis died in 1917 at eighty-five. (North Carolina Office of Archives & History — Department of Cultural Resources)

Lewis School Marker Missing image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Dave W, June 17, 2023

4. Lewis School Marker Missing

Credits. This page was last revised on February 1, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 30, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 2,038 times since then and 67 times this year. Last updated on June 18, 2023, by Dave W of Co, Colorado. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 30, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 4. submitted on June 18, 2023, by Dave W of Co, Colorado. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.