This two-story brick residence, formerly known as the J.K. McGowan House, was built in the late 1920s. East Carolina University acquired the house, located next to the International House, in 1974.1 The Admiral Ernest M. Eller House was dedicated on April 17, 1991 at 2 p.m.2 Eller graduated from the Naval Academy in 1924 before publishing more than twenty-five histories, biographies, and reference works during his tour of duty. He was also instrumental in establishing the Navy Memorial Museum in 1961.3
- Built
- 1925
- Gross sq. ft.
- 3,500
- Assignable sq. ft.
- 2,721
- Namesake
-
This building was named after Ernest McNeil Eller of Annapolis Maryland. Rear Admiral Eller was born in Marion, Virginia in 1903. He was a 1921 graduate of North Carolina College. He received his Naval Officer’s Commission from Annapolis in 1925 and the Masters Degree from George Washington University in 1934. He remained in the Navy being promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in 1954 and retired in 1970. Eller served during World War II as Assistant Naval Attache in London in 1940, aboard the
USS Saratoga,
USS Utah,
USS Texas and the Submarine
S-3. He served on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Command of the
USS Clay. After World War II, the admiral attended the National War College and was assigned to the Staff Planning Section of Joint Staff, Joint Chiefs of Staff. [Jemison Beshears, Volume 6,
Stem to Stern, 1990]
In his nomination letter addressed to the Board of Trustees, Carl Swanson stated:Admiral Eller, a Naval Academy graduate and decorated veteran of World War II, is a well-known scholar of American maritime history. After a distinguished career at sea and in various naval command positions, Admiral Eller came out of retirement to become the Director of Naval History and Curator for the Department of the Navy at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, DC. Serving in this capacity from 1956 until his retirement in 1970, Admiral Eller launched several documentary series of great importance to maritime historians including,
Naval Documents of the American Revolution, the
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and the
Civil War Naval Chronology. He is also the author and editor of numerous works concerning the history of the United States Navy. Additionally, Admiral Eller oversaw the establishment of the Naval Historical Display Center at the Washington Navy Yard in 1961. In 1967 as the recipient of the Alfred T. Mahan Award, Admiral Eller was “recognized as a distinguished author on Maritime subjects . . . (who) has endeavored with impressive determination to gain interest and involvement by competent writers in the broad mosaic of subjects relating to the total strength at sea.”The building was dedicated on April 17, 1991 in honor of retired Admiral Eller of the U.S. Navy. He was a scholar of American maritime history and in 1990, he donated his entire personal library (over 2000 books) to ECU. Admiral Eller was also a generous patron to the ECU libraries and History Department and he is also the founder and donor to the Eller Fellowship in Naval History. Admiral Eller died on July 30, 1992 at the age of 89.
- History
- ECU acquired Eller House in 1974 at a cost of $35,000. The building houses the ECU Graduate Program in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology. It is located at 302 East 9th Street on the corner of Cotanche Street.
Sources
1 Mary Hollis Barnes, The Architectural Heritage of Greenville North Carolina (Greenville, NC: Greenville Area Preservation Association, 1998), p. 110.
2 “Eller House Dedication Invitation, April 1991,” Ernest McNeill Eller Papers (#618), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
3 “Dedication of Ernest M. Eller Reception Room Program, June 1984, Ernest McNeill Eller Papers (#618), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.