Board to sign contract for community center on former site of Friendship College in Rock Hill

The board overseeing the former campus of Friendship College is reviving efforts to build a new community center on the site of the historically black college.

Board members voted on Monday to sign a contract with R.T. Harper Construction to complete construction of the J.H. Gouldlock Community Education Center, a 10,000-square-foot building proposed for the now empty site on Allen Street.

The Friendship College board of trustees will sign the contract before the end of the year, hoping to make the location once again the focus of community activity.

Once completed, the center – named for Gouldlock, president of the school from 1933 to 1973 – will house an adult day care center and offer space for community meetings, computer classes and children’s activities, as well as preserve Friendship’s legacy.

The historically black college closed almost 35 years ago, but a board of trustees continues to manage the property, part of 208 acres held in trust by the Baptist Convention of York and Chester Counties, the successor organization to the church group that ran Friendship for 90 years.

“This is not just something for the churches, this is for the entire community of Rock Hill and the surrounding areas,” said Richard Graham, the board’s secretary.

Board members initially voted to approve construction of the building in 2011, but progress has been hampered by the estimated $1.5 million needed for the project. The school has about $800,000 raised from donors and member churches. Plans for the building have already been scaled back to contain costs.

“We’ve had some starts and stops, but a lot of folks want to see this get done,” said Dot Killian, a board member who acts as the group’s attorney.

Killian said the board will look into what loans or grants might be available to complete construction, plus “lots of fundraisers” from the legions of Friendship alumni. There’s even a GoFundMe page to raise money for the project.

“Maybe Oprah sees it and pays for the whole building,” Killian said.

As an alumnus of the college and its former director of recruiting and financial aid, Graham is excited about the chance to see the campus provide a new service to the community.

“Friendship served the entire community. All denominations went there,” Graham said. “In my household, when you finished at Emmett Scott (High School), you knew you were going to college.”

Friendship Normal and Industrial Institute was founded in 1891 as a school for black children. The school housed students from elementary school through the college level at the site next to Mount Prospect Baptist Church.

For decades, Friendship Junior College flourished as a seat of higher learning in the black community, most notably producing the Friendship Nine – students arrested in 1961 during a sit-in at a segregated Rock Hill lunch counter.

But integration led to declining enrollment, and the school ultimately shut its doors in 1981. All of its former buildings have since been demolished.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Board to sign contract for community center on former site of Friendship College in Rock Hill."