Abbreviated College History
James Sprunt Community College holds the distinction of being the only NC Community College that is named after a historic individual. Dr. James Menzie Sprunt. Over 200 years ago (1784) Grove Academy was established as a private academy for boys.
Dr. James Menzie Sprunt, a Scottish Presbyterian immigrated to America and settled in Duplin County after arriving at the port in Wilmington, N.C. In 1840, Dr. Sprunt became President of Grove Academy.
In 1860, Dr. Sprunt assumed the Presidency of the Kenansville Seminary, a female seminary that began in 1857. He then served in the Confederate Army as a chaplain.
The Kenansville Seminary closed in 1896, reopening as the James Sprunt Institute and later Grove Academy. In 1960, the new James Sprunt Institute open as a division of the Goldsboro Industrial Education Center, the first extension unit of North Carolina’s rapidly growing system of industrial education centers.
On March 12, 1964, the County Board of Commissioners and the County Board of Education voted to expand the unit then operating as a branch of Wayne Technical Institute and re-named it James Sprunt Institute. James Sprunt was given a permanent home in August 1964. James Sprunt became a separate institution, separating from Wayne Technical Institute on September 7, 1967.