Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

I. K. Stearns and Kip

  • wcu_picturing-5435.jpg
  • This 1941 image of Irving Kip Stearns (1895-1942) with his dog Kip at his home on Leatherwood Hill, later Hospital Hill, shows in the background, the Deep Creek drainage, the lower end of Betts Branch (middle right), and the flat-topped mountain on the Thomas Ridge Divide and is part of the Stearns-Grueninger Collection. I. K. Stearns was president of Carolina Wood Turning Company from 1928 until his death in 1942. Stearns’ grandfather, Jeremiah Shank, started the company in 1903 as Bryson City Pump Works and it grew to be a thriving industry for the community. In 1911, Stearns was in the first graduating class of Bryson City High School. He had one son, Joseph Pease Stearns (1917-1948). In 1935, I. K. married Betty Grueninger (1896-1971).