By Hanno Kirk
In the first installment of this series of articles (published in the Mountain Messenger on Feb. 15, 2025), I detailed how the presence of the Greenbrier Military Academy, (GMS) and the Greenbrier Women’s College benefited the economic and cultural well-being of Lewisburg. Both institutions had operated under various names since 1812. As recounted in the first article, in 1922 both institutions separated from their beginnings in being under the guidance and sponsorship of the Greenbrier Area Presbytery.
The Moore family, which had long had an active involvement in the Greenbrier Presbyterial Military School, bought the land and buildings in 1920s. They renamed it and incorporated as the Greenbrier Military School in 1922. Successive generations of the Moore family operated the school over the next 50 years. Under the Moores, GMS focused on providing a combination of “academic training with military discipline.” Starting in 1921, it offered ROTC which allowed them to receive US Army military equipment, and an active-duty Sergeant on campus to teach and oversee the program. Thus, began a 40 year association with the federal government. When World War II broke out, the US Army supplied more instructors, as well as financial support for expanding the military training facilities. The federal support continued until the school ran afoul of the civil rights mandate to integrate schools. GMS had never accepted students of color, as H.B Moore Jr. had refused to do so. As a result, in 1966, the US Army withdrew its ROTC faculty members from GMS. The school lost all federal funding, including scholarship support.
This was a serious financial blow. It was aggravated by the rising antiwar movement of the Vietnam conflict. Enrollment plummeted. By the end of 1971, it became clear to the Moore family that the drastic drop in applications for the 1972 school year meant that they would not cover expenses. Camp Shaw-Mi-Del-Ica, which had been designed to provide a year-round experience for the cadets, as well as provide full time employment for faculty, had seen a parallel decline in attendance. So, in 1972, the Moore family decided to close both GMS and Shaw-Mi-Del-Ica.
The Women’s College across town had also seen steep declines in enrollment. As previously stated, the simultaneous shuttering of both schools had a significant negative impact on the Lewisburg downtown business community. Sales fell for the upscale Yarid’s clothing store, the mid-level-priced Leggett’s department store, as well at the low cost Federated Store. By 1978 there were eight empty storefronts in the three blocks of Washington Street downtown.
Facing a further decline, merchants who were members of the Lewisburg Chamber of Commerce started to meet and discuss ways to halt the deteriorating situation. However, Chamber members were divided on how to remedy the situation. One faction proposed tearing down some closed businesses to create more parking spaces, and also widen the street. They believed this would bring in more shoppers in cars.
The other faction, headed by Chamber President Paul Detch, believed this would be a mistake, thinking the widened street and emphasis on parking would discourage sidewalk foot traffic. He and other members believed that they had to concentrate their effort on making Lewisburg an attractive tourist/shopping destination. The two factions could not reach consensus on which option to pursue. Each meeting turned into bitter shouting matches.
Detch, with the agreement of like-minded members, decided not to schedule any more meetings, and to let the Lewisburg Chamber of Commerce die. In the meanwhile, he and 11 other members decided to form a separate organization, which became the Lewisburg Foundation.
One of the first decisions was to solicit some expert advice on ways to restore Lewisburg. They approached a Charlottesville architectural firm, Griggs, Wood, and Browne, about doing a feasibility study “on the immediate and future needs for the restoration of historic Lewisburg.” Paul Detch and Phil Gainer, the mayor, also connected with the Director of West Virginia Travel and Tourism and Development, Joseph Fowler. He was fully supportive of their plans, and he put in a good word with Jay Rockefeller, then Governor of West Virginia.
The cost for the study by the architectural firm was $15,000. The Foundation members collectively donated $5,000. That left a gap of $10,000. With the encouragement of Fowler, Detch decided to go to Charleston to see the Governor. He had to wait over two hours before he was admitted to the Governor’s office. It was way past business hours, however, Rockefeller received him graciously and apologized for the delay. He had already been briefed by Fowler. He inquired about some details on the group that was spearheading the campaign for the restoration of Lewisburg. Then he reached down into the lowest right-hand drawer on his desk and pulled out what appeared to be a large checkbook. He wrote a government draft order for the Treasurer’s office for $10,000 and handed it to Detch. “Here young man, I commend you what you are doing. I wish you all success in your project.” With the $15,000 in hand, the group could now finalize the contract with the architectural firm in Charlottesville.
In November 1978, Henry Browne used a slide presentation to show the proposed recommendations of the feasibility study at a crowded meeting in the Lewisburg firehouse. In visual format it showed what the downtown area looked like, and what it would look like if the specific suggestions for the revival of Lewisburg were followed. Indeed, the renderings of the future downtown area that were shown to the crowd is what Lewisburg looks like today. The presentation was warmly received. The plans became the blueprint for the work of the Lewisburg Foundation.
The next installment will describe in detail the recommendations made by the architectural firm. It will also tell the story of how the Lewisburg Foundation had to structure itself to implement the blueprint. How the Foundation raised a lot of money and succeeded in reinvigorating the downtown is part of that story.
Hanno Kirk has been a resident of Lewisburg for 35 years. Before he and his wife retired, they had a private practice in counseling and neurofeedback. Dr. Kirk has been active in the neuroscience community, giving presentations at national and international conferences. His publications include “Restoring the Brain: Neurofeedback as an Integrative Approach to Health” (2014, 2020), “Psychosocial Aspects of Medicine” (2002), as well as multiple articles on a variety of topics. For several years he conducted all day seminars throughout the United States on two topics of special interest to him: “Is it ADHD or Pediatric Disorder, Differential Diagnosis and Effective Treatment” and “End of Life Care, Best Practices and Applied Ethics.”
