Dr. Murphree Claude Donnan Tribute

Dr. Murphree Claude Donnan

Born January 11, 1892, in Greer, Murphree Claude Donnan grew up in the Pelham community, reared on a farm by his mother and grandparents. By age 11, he was plowing 20 acres on his own. He attended a one-teacher grade school which was in session from December to March, before leaving at age 16 to farm full-time. He owned a 35-acre farm at the age of 22, when he felt God calling him to Christian work. Returning to eighth grade as a 23-year-old, he spent three years at Spartan Academy, briefly pausing his education to serve in World War I. 

He paid his own way through Furman University, renting shares of his farm. After graduating, he married Ernestine Hawkins on August 4, 1924. Donnan enrolled at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, that fall. The Donnans’ first child, Yates, was born in 1926. The Donnans had their second child, Lois, in 1930, and their second son, Hugh, in 1933. 

As he completed a master of theology degree in the spring of 1928, Dr. Donnan received a telegram offering the post of principal at North Greenville Baptist Academy. 

When Dr. Donnan became principal, the academy had 12 acres, an administration building with eight classrooms, a boys’ dormitory, a girls’ dormitory, and use of an adjacent farm. Roads from Tigerville to Greer and Travelers Rest were unpaved, and the party-line telephone system was out of service most of the time. The campus water and electricity services were unreliable. The young principal declared the summer of 1930 brought “the dawn of a new day,” as a power line and gravel roadways reached the campus. That was followed by an economic depression and struggles to keep the academy operating. 

During his second year as principal, Donnan navigated the academy through the discontinuation of Southern Baptists’ mountain mission schools. He and the academy’s trustees pressed forward, supported by the North Greenville Baptist Association. 

One of Donnan’s first capital projects was the erection of a dairy barn on the back of the campus in 1930. He secured donated materials and free labor. There would be an operating dairy on the campus, employing students, until 1957. Many students paid their board and tuition by farm work and other campus jobs. 

Donnan Administration Building

Academy trustees voted August 4, 1934, to offer a year of college work through North Greenville. Dr. Donnan became the institution’s first president and 22 students enrolled for the fall session. The junior college added sophomore class offerings in 1935, and the college’s first graduation, in the spring of 1936, consisted of nine graduates.

The institution grew in physical facilities and academic strength under Donnan’s leadership. A new campus auditorium was built in 1933, connected to the administration building. White Hall for women opened in 1937. Neves Dining Hall was completed in 1944, and a science building was constructed in 1946, along with faculty homes and apartments for married students. A new gymnasium and faculty apartments opened in 1950. Donnan Administration Building was constructed in 1955, followed by Turner Auditorium in 1958, along with Lawton Hall men’s dormitory. A new women’s dormitory, Simpson Hall, was completed in 1961, and Crain Science Building opened in 1962. 

The Donnan Administration Building was critical to the academic growth of the college. With spacious classrooms and a well-equipped library, the building signaled academic stability. The permanent library facilities were the final step in North Greenville earning accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1957.  

“Sometimes God answers prayers on purpose, so we had better be careful what we ask.” 

Dr. Donnan received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Furman University in 1948. He stepped down from the presidency in August 1962, at the age of 70. During his tenure, North Greenville grew to a college campus of nearly 800 acres, a student enrollment of more than 500, and about 30 faculty. NGJC had 120 graduates in the spring of 1962. Upon reluctantly accepting his resignation, the trustees voted to name Dr. Donnan “President Emeritus.” The Donnans moved to a 32-acre site in Greer. While he did not farm the land, he had pasture with a spring and had “just enough” beef cattle “for a little entertainment.” He died on August 1, 1976, at the age of 84, just three days before his 52^nd wedding anniversary.