Our Mercantile Campus

An editorial writer in the 22 October 2014 Davidsonian asked “why not offer our students built-in entrepreneurship opportunities (to make REAL money)?”  The context was the re-use of the laundry building but for Around the D it brought up the history of student enterprises.

From the earliest days of the school, students found ways to bring in some income. Cornelia Shaw, in her history of the college, recounted the story of William Allison, class of 1840, who:

had a private harness shop between the Eumenean Hall and the southwest corner of campus. His father was a tanner and he did a considerable business. He sold not only enough of his product to pay his expenses, but enough to create a comfortable margin. (Davidson College, p. 39)

She also noted that other students operated blacksmith shops, cabinet and carpenter shops during the 1840s.  By the 1890s, students were moving into sales.  The April 1890 Davidson Monthly included an article “Our Mercantile Campus.”  Reporting that “not less that five clothing houses are now represented on our campus”and that being a store agent was “far from not being remunerative,” the piece went on to say, “the firms as represented have their respective headquarters at Oak Row, Elm Row, and Upper Tammany Hall, which three are centrally located and within easy reach of the passenger’s and freight depots, the Telegraph and Express-offices.”  Students visiting the dormitory rooms these agents could see examples of suits, shirts, shoes, neck bands and socks. Remember – in this era students wore suits to class- every day.

The early issues of the Davidsonian reflect more of the entrepreneurial spirit in advertisements.

William  A. Johnson, class of 1916 was managing shoe repairs while J. R. Dunn, ’15 handled suits.  Prior to the college laundry, students, including William Sayad, ’17 an international student, worked with companies in Charlotte to insure classmates had clean clothes. For those who couldn’t afford to send a suit down the road, the pressing clubs offered spot cleaning and fine creases.

The advent of World War I and required military training for Davidson students opened up possibilities for classmates J. A. Thames ’18 and J. T.Maddrey ’19.

In 1920, the Davidsonian reported on an essay contest sponsored by Arthur Murray who apparently earned extra money teaching dance while at student at Georgia Tech.

With Davidson College’s history of boarding houses as the solution for feeding students, one on-going source of income was being a boarding house manager.  Not an easy job as this list of rules below relating to the payment of fees (and penalties for non-payment of fees) makes clear.

In 1927, faculty still expected students to show up well-dressed but didn’t allow much free time to shop in Charlotte, giving Robert McQueen a captive audience for his wares.

The college found it necessary to put some regulations on student agents in an attempt to keep study hours distraction free.  Being able to find students in their rooms was a bonus for the agents and their clients now knew when to have cash on hand.

At least one student became an agent for a local restaurant, helping his fellow students stave of hunger while studying in a era with no snack machines or dorm kitchens.

For at least the first 100 years, some students at Davidson found ways of earning funds via their fellow students.  Did you have a business enterprise as a student? Or know of other student businesses?  Maybe today’s students can take inspiration from the creativity of earlier students.