The newest story in the T.C. Roberson High School media center isn’t on a bookshelf. The words and pictures are pasted across the walls of its new School History Archive Room, which officially opened Monday night.
The newly renovated space features photographs and news clippings beginning with the late 1800’s, when a growing number of families were moving south of the Asheville city limits. The panels continue to the planning and eventual opening of Valley Springs High School and Biltmore High School in the 1920’s. Further along the wall, visitors come to 1962, when students from those two schools joined together to be the first group of learners in the brand new T.C. Roberson High School, named for the long time Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Thomas Crawford Roberson.
Roberson teacher Brian Dockery curated the artifacts for the School History Archive Room. He grew up in South Asheville with a father who taught at Roberson, and a grandfather who was an alumnus of Biltmore High.
“Through my family, I had a lot of material already,” said Dockery. “Then, I put it out there on social media and got a lot of response, especially from a Valley Springs High School alumni Facebook group.”
People continue to bring Dockery memorabilia to display. Sam Taylor, who graduated from T.C. Roberson in 1968, brought his high school baseball uniform. While touring the room, he found an old team photo hanging on the wall that included his teammate, legendary UNC basketball coach Roy Williams. The evening turned into an impromptu class reunion, with Taylor’s classmate Gene Bowman also in attendance.
“It really brings back a lot of great memories,” Bowman shared. “Seeing the old pictures, sports logos, and friends here tonight is really special.”
Bowman donated bricks his mother purchased following the demolition of Valley Springs High School. He said many parents bought bricks as a memento of the old school, and to help raise money for landscaping projects for the newly opened T.C. Roberson High School.
In addition to older photos and memorabilia now on display, Dockery is collecting more recent Roberson history, to round out the school’s most recent 30 years. He’s also left a fourth wall mostly uncovered, to leave room for students and teachers to continue to tell the school’s story.
