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GREENSBORO — The name David Schenck doesn’t rank with the likes of O. Henry, Dolley Madison and Jefferson Davis. But the late judge does share one thing in common with those more recognizable names.

As of today, he too will have a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker in Guilford County.

The marker, the 58th for the county, will recognize Schenck’s efforts to preserve the site of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, where British and American forces clashed on March 15, 1781.

The Guilford Courthouse National Military Park now occupies the land.

“If you think about it, the battle lasted a couple of hours, but the battleground is forever,” said Alex Stoesen, the retired Guilford College history professor who recommended Schenck for a marker. “He saved it.”

But Schenck doesn’t have anything on Guilford Courthouse, where the battle occurred. The former Guilford county seat boasts one of those familiar black and silver markers, too.

Nicknamed “history on a stick,” the markers recognize people, places and events — even animals — of statewide significance.

There’s one in Northampton County for the famous 19th century race horse, Sir Archie. In New Hanover County stands one for Whistler’s mother.

More than 1,500 such markers dot the state’s roadsides. Only Wake, with 79, and New Hanover, with 62, have more than Guilford.

Why so many here?

Credit Stoesen, some say. The Greensboro resident has served three five-year terms on the Highway Historical Marker Advisory Committee, a 10-person group responsible for oversight of the program.

The committee can recommend markers and approve those suggested by others.

“Alex Stoesen was so assertive,” said Carole Troxler, a retired Elon University history professor and advisory committee member. “There were so many things in Guilford County that needed to be marked and Alex got right on it.”

Stoesen ticks off a long list he’s recommended, including ones for the poet and literary critic Randall Jarrell; World War II ace George Preddy; the Guilford County Health Department, the first in the state; Albion W. Tourgee, North Carolina’s best-known carpetbagger; and the lunch counter sit-ins, which began at the Greensboro Woolworth store on Feb. 1, 1960.

The sit-in marker, which went up in 1980, was the first in the state for a civil rights event. Now, there are five. And more will follow, state officials say.

“Civil rights is a field that we have just begun to commemorate,” said Michael Hill, administrator of the marker program. “It is often the next generation that commemorates the efforts of its predecessors.”

State rules say that markers can’t be erected until 25 years after a person dies or 25 years after an event. Gov. Jim Hunt made an exception in the case of the sit-in marker.

Hill says the state budget allows for 25 to 30 new and replacement markers a year. Each costs $1,425.

The program got legislative approval in 1935 and the first marker went up the next year.

In the three-quarters of a century since, those involved in the program recall some unusual requests for markers.

Stoesen recalls the time someone wanted to recognize the person who had recommended the most markers.

“That wasn’t approved,” he said. “It wasn’t me.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com