David Stephen Boykin

David Stephen “D. S.” Boykin, a wealthy businessman from Wilson, served on the ECTC board of trustees from 1925–1930. During his tenure, the board guided ECTC through an exceptional period of expansion in physical facility, student enrollment, and faculty numbers. In 1923, just two years before Boykin joined the board, two new buildings on the east end of campus — the library (later, Whichard) and a faculty residence hall (later, Ragsdale) — were completed. The year of Boykin’s appointment, construction of a new dormitory (later, Cotten) was finished. During his tenure, construction of the new Campus Building, aka, the Social and Religious Building (later, Wright) began in 1925 and was completed in 1927. Next, a new classroom building (later, Graham), was finished in 1929. And finally, a new administration building (later, Spilman) was completed in 1930. Along with this doubling of the physical campus size, student enrollment increased by nearly 50% and, as of 1930, the last year of Boykin’s tenure, young men began enrolling at ECTC. Construction of a picturesque fountain (now, Trustees Fountain) completed the campus expansion of the 1920s.

Boykin’s prominence as a highly successful entrepreneur surely recommended him for service on the board. Born in Sampson County and educated at UNC Chapel Hill (’82), Boykin later moved to Wilson where he made a fortune running a wholesale-retail grocery business, Boykin Grocery Company, one the major business enterprises in the state in the first half of the twentieth century. Boykin also established himself in real estate and was a partner in the founding of the Ware-Kramer Tobacco Company.

One of eastern North Carolina’s most affluent businessmen, Boykin was elected president of the Wilson County Taxpayers League, a branch of the Eastern Carolina Taxpayers League, an organization intent on reducing high taxes on real estate transactions. Boykin served on the board of directors of the Branch Bank and Trust Company in Wilson, and as president of the Dunn Banking Company of Dunn, N.C. He was also a trustee of the Carolina Building and Loan Association.

Sources

• “College Board Holds Session.” News and Observer. April 15, 1927. P. 11.
• “Crushing Competition.” Charlotte Observer. August 18, 1909. P. 4.
• “Tax Payers’ League Formed in Wilson.” News and Observer. February 27, 1930. P. 2.
• “To Push Work Of Campus Building.” News and Observer. April 21, 1925. P. 16.
• “Tobacco Trust Sued: Independent Concern Asks Damages to Extent of $2,400.000.” Greensboro Patriot. August 18, 1909. P. 4.

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