The Stearns Building/Playhouse theatre, was built by my grandmother’s older brothers, Carrold Adam “Jack” Stearns (1892-1950) and Clyde Casey Stearns (1895-1969). Their father Dulin Benson Stearns (1863-1962) brought his family from Charlotte to Statesville in 1916, and the Stearns brothers contributed greatly to the development of the town in the 1920s. Both of them attended the Baird School in Charlotte and Trinity College (now Duke University) and Clyde served in both World Wars. They built many of the roads in the area, the Statesville Country Club, and developed several residential areas. They also owned a furniture factory. C. A. Stearns built a palatial summer home at Round Mountain near North Wilkesboro. Unfortunately, pretty much all of this disappeared after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and the subsequent Depression of the early 1930s.
Photographs of the building, exterior and interior, can be found at the HABS (Historical American Buildings Survey) web site of the Library of Congress at:
It is mislabeled there as the “Sterns” building. I wrote them back in November to explain the mistake, and was told that they would correct it, but it doesn’t seem to have been corrected. Back in the early 1980s (when I was still in high school), a group of people got together to try to save the building from demolition; but unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful. Memorials to the Stearns brothers can be found at the “Find A Grave” web site at:
The Stearns Building/Playhouse theatre, was built by my grandmother’s older brothers, Carrold Adam “Jack” Stearns (1892-1950) and Clyde Casey Stearns (1895-1969). Their father Dulin Benson Stearns (1863-1962) brought his family from Charlotte to Statesville in 1916, and the Stearns brothers contributed greatly to the development of the town in the 1920s. Both of them attended the Baird School in Charlotte and Trinity College (now Duke University) and Clyde served in both World Wars. They built many of the roads in the area, the Statesville Country Club, and developed several residential areas. They also owned a furniture factory. C. A. Stearns built a palatial summer home at Round Mountain near North Wilkesboro. Unfortunately, pretty much all of this disappeared after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and the subsequent Depression of the early 1930s.
Photographs of the building, exterior and interior, can be found at the HABS (Historical American Buildings Survey) web site of the Library of Congress at:
View link
It is mislabeled there as the “Sterns” building. I wrote them back in November to explain the mistake, and was told that they would correct it, but it doesn’t seem to have been corrected. Back in the early 1980s (when I was still in high school), a group of people got together to try to save the building from demolition; but unfortunately, their efforts were unsuccessful. Memorials to the Stearns brothers can be found at the “Find A Grave” web site at:
Carrold: View link
Clyde: View link
If those links don’t work, go to www.findagrave.com, and type the names in the search box.
Best Regards,
John Field Pankow
Asheville, NC