03/30/2026
On March 22, at the 140th annual Founders' Day program at the C.S. Brown Cultural Arts Center and Museum, a new historical marker was unveiled honoring the centennial of Brown Hall. Brown Hall, the home of the Center, is a 10,000 square foot auditorium and classroom building that is the center of the C.S. Brown School's historic campus. Many former students who attended classes In Brown Hall were in attendance.
Brown Hall's construction was funded in part by the community, local government and Julius Rosenwald, a Sears Roebuck executive and philanthropist. Rosenwald was a friend of Booker T. Washington who gave him the idea of providing seed money that resulted in the construction of over 5,300 school buildings in the south. It happened that Washington was a Hampton University schoolmate of Joseph Catus, the executive founder of what became the C.S. Brown School. One late student remembers the farmers who donated their time, mules and wagons to haul the hall's construction materials from the Cofield train depot to Winton.
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation of Syracuse, New York is the grantor of the Hometown Heritage Marker for Brown Hall. Chowan Discovery Group, the nominator, has now placed ten historical markers and plaques in Hertford County and seventeen in North Carolina.
Marker photo: L-r: Leanne Sibanda, Dr. Mary Ruffin-Harrell, Marvin Tupper Jones of the Chowan Discovery Group, Khloe Grayson and Dr. Dudley E Flood. Sibanda and Grayson are students at the C.S. Brown High School STEM, Dr. Harrell-Ruffin is the Executive Director of the C.S. Brown Cultural Arts Center and Museum and Dr. Dudley E. Flood (CSB class of 1950) was the Founders Day speaker.
Other photos: Brown Hall, Dr. Calvin Scott Brown, Cofield, NC rail depot.
