Home Management Building

The Home Management House is a two-story brick house situated near Cooper Street on the southwest corner of Concord’s campus. It faces the college green in front of Wilson Hall, where McComas Hall once stood. It was built in 1948 during the administration of President Virgil Harvey Stewart.

The house was first used in the Home Economics Teacher Preparation Program. In the 1960s, Home Economics Education students at Concord learned how to teach important life skills related to nutrition, food preparation, finances, and overall family well-being. College students lived in the house as part of their studies, providing hands-on experience of running a household. This practical experience was part of the curriculum for training educators, which would later be used by the college graduates to instruct students in Life Skills. 

 

There were bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen and dining room on the main level. Students who lived there had assignments to do various household duties on a rotating basis, including cooking and house cleaning. On occasion they would invite guests to the house for a formal dinner. For these special meals, the table was set with china, silverware and cloth napkins. The students planned, prepared and served the meals themselves.

After the 1960s the building was no longer used to train home economics teachers. The Concord Center of the West Virginia Graduate College was housed in the building until 1991. Then the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation of Princeton, New Jersey, recognized Concord University’s commitment to community outreach and endowed the university with funds to initiate the Bonner’s Scholarship Program. The program provides up to 80 students each year with financial support. The name of the building was changed to the Bonner House in recognition of the Bonner Scholars Program.