Durkee Training Institute

Front: Durkee Training Institute, an African American vocational school, opened in 1932 on Crawford Rd. and moved to this site by 1937-1938. It was founded by Rock Hill native William Mason Chisolm, who named it for benefactor Rev. J. Stanley Durkee. First a girls school, it soon became coeducational and served kindergarteners through adults, many from poor families. It enrolled 200-400 pupils by the 1950s. Reverse: In 1951-1952 the school was renamed Chisolm Training Institute. A graduate of Drake University and the University of Heidelberg, Chisolm served as the school’s president and lived on-site. He led construction of the campus, which included several half-timbered stone buildings. The school closed around 1962, when Chisolm was killed at a country store he owned. The school no longer stands.