Today's post is the University of Tennessee at Martin, one of the five institutions in the University of Tennessee System. I had never been to the campus and was looking forward to seeing what was on offer there. It was a nice day with temperatures in the low 60's. As my visit progressed, clouds rolled in and blocked the sun, and although that made the photos I took less appealing, it was a wonderful day to walk around campus. 
​
What would become UT Martin was founded as a Baptist Church affiliated school in 1900. Local Baptists John Newton Hall and Joseph Burnley Moody sought to create a school for religious training and general education in Martin. Martin was already home to one such institution. McFerrin College, a Methodist-affiliated institution which had been created in the community ten years earlier. Baptist minister Isaac Newton Penick joined the effort. A local man named Ada Gardner Brooks donated the land on which the institution would sit which at the time was outside the city proper. The institution would open with the name Hall-Moody Institute, honoring the two men who started the efforts to create it. Today, there remains a building on campus with the Hall-Moody name (see below). When it opened, it offered training from the first grade through the first year of college. This was not at all uncommon in that era, and both private and public institutions frequently had some level of K-12 training on their campus. By 1917, the institution had primarily become a teacher training school and hence changed its name to the Hall-Moody Normal School. In 1922, to recognize the broader range of college classes being offered, it changed its name again to the Hall-Moody Junior College. All was not smooth sailing, however. Martin was and is in a rural area of the state. Enrollment challenges were common, and by the 1920’s the institution was on thin ice. Its finances were such that it ultimately faced two options: merger with or acquisition by another institution or closure. Hall-Moody’s administration and the community leaders of Martin and Weakley County in which the school is located naturally preferred the former and went looking for partners. They approached the University of Tennessee which was having something of a renaissance. Then Governor Austin Peay, a supporter of education across the state, had greatly increased UT’s budget and new buildings were cropping up on campus in Knoxville at an impressive rate. But UT’s President, H.A. Morgan was not interested. Despite some political pressure to acquire the school, Morgan was against the idea and would not budge. Morgan understood the vagaries of public support for higher education and likely knew that the increased support from Nashville thanks to Austin Peay would likely be transient. The idea of acquiring a junior college in the far flung reaches of Weakley County and the knowledge that state funding could be reduced at a moment’s notice probably soured his interest. Feeling that the possibility of being acquired by UT was minimal, the Baptist Church, still the leading the financial backer of the institution, sought to merge with Union University in Jackson. As I have previously posted, Union is a private Baptist-affiliated institution that lives on today.

Politicians and community leaders in that area of the state worried that merger with Union could only delay the inevitable closure of the Martin campus. They pushed for UT to take on the college, but Morgan maintained his resistance and Governor Peay indicated that it was up to the folks in Knoxville. Morgan stated that he would not move forward with the acquisition unless the city of Martin and Weakley County each raise $100,000 to purchase Hall-Moody, the totality of its property and physical plant, and additional land for future growth. He no doubt thought that the amount, equivalent to about $1.8 million each, was too exorbitant and would kill any attempt to get UT to acquire the institution. It was 1927 and as these events unfolded, President Morgan and then Director of the UT Agriculture and Extension Service Cloide Everett “C.E.” Brehm were in Nashville for the general session of the state legislature. According to the book Too Foster Knowledge, a wonderful history of the University of Tennessee (Montgomery, Folmsbee, and Greene, 1984, The University of Tennessee Press), Morgan had to leave the city to attend to matters in Atlanta. Brehm, who would go on to UT’s 15th President, remained in Nashville as the university’s representative. To everyone’s surprise except to the intrepid community leaders of Martin and Weakley County, the money was raised as the local governments issued bonds to get the funding. When Morgan returned to Nashville, he asked Brehm what transpired in his absence to which he replied “Well, we now have a junior college” (Montgomery, Folmsbee, and Greene, 1984; p. 312). Thus, the University of Tennessee Junior College was born. The first classes under the new management would be held in the Fall of 1927 when 117 students enrolled, a number far less than had been hoped. 

The sailing remained rough. The Great Depression began two years later, and enrollment issues were severe across the country let alone in Martin. At times, it seemed unlikely that the college could continue. But the people in Martin soldiered on and thanks to GI Bill and post-war enrollment, the economic boom of the 1950’s, and the mass influx of students in the Baby Boomer Generation finally brought stability and sustainable growth the institution. The institution’s first leader under the UT banner was C. Porter Claxton, who oversaw operations in Martin for seven years from 1927 to 1934. At the time, he carried the title “Executive Officer”. He was followed by Paul Meek. Meek would remain at the helm from 1934 until 1967. During this time, his title changed Executive Officer to Dean and finally Chancellor. He took the second title in 1961 and the Chancellor moniker in 1967 when the University of Tennessee System was born. In 1951, the institution’s name was changed to the University of Tennessee Martin Branch. In 1967, it received its current name of the University of Tennessee at Martin. The library on the Martin campus is named in honor of Meek (see below). Today, UT Marin enrolls nearly 7,000 students on a campus that has some 250 acres of land. Its gently rolling campus has numerous green spaces and the feel of a traditional college. Martin has five constituent colleges and five satellite centers across the western portion of the state. 

The first stop on my tour of the campus was the virtually brand new Latimer-Smith Engineering and Science Building. The four-story structure comes in at 121,696 square feet and includes all manner of classrooms, labs, a café, and offices. It was designed by the Jackson, Tennessee based TLM architecture firm in collaboration with the SmithGroup firm from Detroit. TLM also designed the Blaylock Inspiration Oracle on campus (see below). The building takes its name from William "Bill" H. and Carol Latimer who donated $6.5 million of the total $65 million price tag for the building. The gift was the largest in the university's history. The Latimer's have a long association with UTM. Bill's uncle Will attended the university beginning in 1930 and played on the football team. Bill attended UTM, but transferred to the main UT campus in Knoxville to complete his studies. His sons William and Douglas both graduated from UTM (Classes of 1982 and 1984 respectively). The Smith name also comes compliments of the Latimer’s who wished to honor Robert “Bobby” M. Smith, the 10th Chancellor of UTM. A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the building on September 18, 2020, and it was officially dedicated on October 27, 2022. The set below starts with four views of the north side of the building from the quad side of the building. The fifth photo is the rear of the building on the south. The last side is a photo looking across the quad westwardly from in front of the building. The photos I took of the quad, also referred to as the arboretum, do not do it justice. It is a very beautiful area and it quite large. The cloudy day photos detract from the actual picturesque nature of the place. 

The set below begins with two photos of the Business Administration Building. It began its life as a dormitory. Like most colleges and universities around the nation, UT Martin had a significant increase in enrollment after World War II. Unprecedented numbers of veterans enrolled in college thanks to the GI Bill, and a building boom on campuses followed. Martin had such growth and one of the buildings that came out of it was this one. Construction began in 1950 on what was meant to be men’s residence hall. The original plans called for a much larger structure. It was meant to have two large wings, but in the end the scope was reduced and only one wing, much smaller than originally planned, came to be. Still, the main portion remained which contained a student recreation center along with the smaller wing on the north side of the structure. It opened in 1951 having cost $405,000 to build (that is about $5.3 million in today’s value). For a time, it was simply called the Men’s Residence Hall. It was renamed Browning Hall on December 5, 1966, in honor of former Governor Gordon Browning. By the 1960’s, Martin’s enrollment had diversified and there were more women on campus. Thus, between 1967 and 1973 the building was alternately used as a dorm for either men or women as needed. It was subsequently renovated to be a classroom and faculty office space in 1975. In 1977, business administration moved in, and the building would be renamed the Business Administration Building in 1990.

Next are three photos of Gooch Hall, a classic example of early 1970’s academic architecture. Construction on the building began in 1972 and was completed in 1974. When it opened, it was called the Home Economics, Education, and Nursing Building, and frequently referred to as the HEN Building. It was renamed in a ceremony on September 9, 1976, to honor Cecil M. and Boyce A. Gooch who were benefactors of the university. Cecil had passed away in 1969, but Boyce was alive and well at the time. You may recall from my earlier post that the couple were also significant donors to Rhodes College and there is a Gooch Hall on that campus as well. Indeed, when Boyce passed away Rhodes received their then largest donation in history, $2 million, from their estate. UTM’s Gooch Hall comes in at 118,288 square feet and was constructed at a cost of $3,258,899 (or about $24.6 million in today’s value). The third photo is a view of the quad from that area. 

Gooch is located where a former dorm, Freeman Hall, once stood. Freeman was built in 1921 and soldiered on until razed in the fall of 1973. The 1974 edition of the UTM’s yearbook had a funny comment on Freeman when it was razed. The editors of the yearbook jokingly noted that “1,383 rats and 6,859 cockroaches were forced into the rain and snow where they starved or died of exposure” (p.44) when the building was torn down. This tongue in cheek comment reflects an all too frequent truth – dorms are often left in bad shape. I had the experience at the University of Tennessee Knoxville where one of the dorms had such a roach problem that a friend of mine found a pack of Rolaids in his medicine cabinet in Reese Hall all chewed up after a few nights by roaches infesting his room. He and his friends would wake up in the morning to find roaches sharing the bed with them. My freshman year came with the realization that the Carrick Hall suite I shared with my roommates would not have heat for weeks after it the weather turned cold, that roaches and ants felt we were trespassing in their home, and that the university did not care about these or the myriad of other significant issues that were common in the building. I was lucky though, as Carrick, only twenty-two years old at the time, was younger than many of the dorms on campus and thus in far better shape. I don’t know why college administrators let dorms get in the state that they do, nor do I understand how they get away with it. It has gotten better as students and their families demand better accommodations, but I still hear stories from students at colleges and universities across the country, both public and private, about the poor conditions of dorms.

The first photo in the next set is the Sociology Building which sits beside the Latimer-Smith Building on the quad. Construction on the building began in 1927 and it was completed in 1929. It only cost about $33,000, or about $609,000 in today's value, to construct. When it opened, it housed the Physical and Industrial Sciences department and was called the Science Building. The sciences moved out in 1961 and the building was used for a variety of purposes until 1971 when the sociology department moved in and has been there ever since. I am not sure if the building's name changed in '71 or sometime thereafter. If you happen to know please leave a comment. 

The second photo below is the Holland McCombs Center and Archives Building. Although it looks rather like a house, it was a purpose-built structure for Home Economics. Indeed, construction of the building began in 1927, making it the first building constructed under the University of Tennessee banner. It opened in 1929 at a total expense of $43,000. Home Economics stayed in the structure until Gooch Hall opened in 1974. Over time it deteriorated into a rather bad condition but thanks to a donation by Mr. McCombs it was renovated in (the 1980’s). McCombs was a native of Martin, TN and his grandparents lived on the Woodley Farm on which the campus now sits. McCombs was a journalist who lived a colorful life. You can read more about him in an interesting article from D Magazine in 1977 here. ​McCombs donated $100,000 for a renovation of the building which was subsequently renamed in his honor upon completion of the work on March 28, 1987.

The set below begins with three views of the front (quad side) of the Andy Holt Humanities Building. Construction of the building began in 1967 and i was completed by the fall of 1968. It cost $1,375,284 to complete the 65,072 square feet building (which is about $13 million in today’s dollars). It has a large number of faculty offices, 31 classrooms, and a large lecture hall. The building is named for a Tennessee icon, Andrew D. Holt, the 16th president of the university. His accomplishments are far too numerous for this post, but I will give a brief run down of the highlights. It was during his time as president that UT Martin began offering graduate programs. UT Martin is not the only campus in the University of Tennessee System that honors Dr. Holt.  There are buildings and a street named for him on two additional system campuses. On the flagship campus in Knoxville, a main thoroughfare through campus is Andy Holt Avenue and the administrative offices are housed in Andy Holt Tower. An apartment residence hall once stood on Andy Holt Avenue which was colloquially referred to as Andy Holt though that was never an official name. At the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, there is a Holt Hall which is the current home biology, geology, and environmental sciences. The building received its name on November 12, 1971.

The fourth and fifth photos are of the Hall-Moody Administration Building, which is apparently undergoing a renovation. Despite its name, it does not date to the founding institution and was not on campus until decades after its acquisition by the University of Tennessee. There had been a building on campus which carried the Administration Building name and which served in that role during Hall-Moody days and the first few decades of the Tennessee era. It had long outlived its purpose so in the 1950’s a new building would be erected for the purpose. Construction on the current building was completed in 1959 at a total cost of $573,000, or $6,258,667 today. From the beginning, it housed the administrative offices as well as a number of classrooms and support units. It opened as the Administration Building; the Hall-Moody portion of the name would not come until February 2, 1968. The former Admin Building continued being used on campus for a number of years. It was vacant and scheduled for demolition when it burned down on Thanksgiving day 1970.

The last photo in this set is Crisp Hall. Crisp is not the original name of the building. Construction of the building began in 1929 and when it opened in 1930, it was called the Industrial Arts Building, reflecting the space's primary occupant. It was gutted by a significant fire in 1941 which only left the exterior walls intact. The structure was rebuilt thanks in part to the efforts of then Governor Prentice Cooper who supported getting state funds for the reconstruction. It kept its original name until 1969 when it was renamed Cooper Hall in his honor (Cooper died on May 18, 1969). The name changed again on September 28, 1996 to its current Crisp Hall designation. The name comes from Harry L. Crisp, a businessman who has donated to the university.

The first two photos below are of the ​C.E. Brehm Hall. Construction on what would become known as the Brehm Hall began in 1950. It was a solution to several problems and its name reflected that fact. It opened as the Agriculture-Biology-Library Building, or ABL Building. The library would eventually move to its current location in 1967 as its collection expanded beyond the space's capacity (see below). Some documents still refer to it as the C.E. Brehm Agriculture and Biology Building. I am not sure if that is the official name or not, as variants appear on numerous official UT Martin documents. As noted above, it is named for UT's 15th President Cloide Everett Brehm. It received this name on October 23, 1970. It has been expanded and remodeled several times since it opened. There is a Brehm Hall at the University of Tennessee’s flagship campus in Knoxville as well. You can just make out a green house in these photos which is called the Biology Greenhouse. It was added in 1970.

The third photo is the Fine Arts Building. Construction on building began in 1968. The building opened in 1970 and was formally dedicated on May 28th that year. As originally configured, it had 54,702 square feet of space and included classrooms, studios, rehearsal space, and a 500-seat theater. It cost $1,938,225 to build (which is about $17.6 million in 2024 value). It was expanded and renovated in 2013. The fourth photo is the quad in this general area.

The last two photos in this set are of the quad-side front of the Joseph E. Johnson Engineering-Physical Science (EPS) Building. ​The building was completed in 1961 at a cost of $673k, which is about $7.2 million in today’s value. The sciences and engineering were rapidly growing during this period as the Baby Boomers flooded campus. The growth would continue so much that within seven years a significant addition had to be added to keep up with enrollment and the space needed to instruct all of those students. The building’s name honors UT’s 19th president, who served in that role from 1991 until 1999. The building was named in his honor on June 17, 1999.

Next, we have the Paul Meek Library. Construction on the library commenced in 1966. As noted above, the library had been housed in Brehm Hall, then known as the Agriculture-Biology-Library Building. When it opened in the spring of 1968 it had 60,000 square feet of space and could accommodate 200,000 books and other materials. Construction costs came in at $1,259,190 (or about $12.3 million in today’s value). What you see here looks nothing like the building did when it opened. That is because it was reconstructed starting in 1993. I use the word reconstructed instead of remodeled because of the scope of the work. The building had reached its capacity and was in bad shape. The university wanted to replace it with an entirely new building, but the state would not provide funds for one. Instead, the collection was moved to Clement Hall and the building was gutted right down to the foundation. Literally all that remained was the foundation pad and the support columns. Additional foundations were constructed, and the structure was rebuilt. When it was finished in the summer of 1995, the library came in at 120,000 square feet. Although the price tag for the work came in at $9,850,000 (about $21.5 million today), I suppose it was cheaper than demolishing everything and starting from scratch. 

Paul Meek was the Chancellor of UT Martin from 1934 to 1967. It was during his very long tenure at the helm that UTM went from a tiny junior college struggling to get students to a comprehensive college offering master's degrees. What a change he saw in those three decades! 

In my post on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I commented on their Health Sciences Library using the National Library of Medicine Schedule. Most university libraries use the Library of Congress Classification System whereas most public libraries use the Dewey Decimal Classification which most people call the Dewey Decimal System. The Meek Library used the Dewey system until a conversion to the Library of Congress Classification in 1974. I imagine few of the librarians at Meek know that last fact off the top of their head’s which is a real indication of just how much of an academic nerd I am.

The first three photos are various views of the outside of the building, primary taken of the side that faces the Boling University Center (see below). The fourth photo is the back side of the building. When you enter the library, you first come into a vestibule with a small sitting area. In that space is the dedication plaque you see in the fifth photo. Directly in front of the main entryway into the library is the sculpture you see in the fifth photo. It is called Grosbeak Madonna and it is the work of artist Ralph N. Hurst. Hurst completed the piece on May 2, 1979 and gave it to the university. He was UTM's Artist in Residence during the period from 1990 to 1993. His wife, Dr. Jean N. English, was a professor and Chair of the Department of English during the same period. So Dr. English chaired the English department. 

Just inside the main entrance into the library is the portrait of Chancellor Meek you see in the sixth photo and the dedication plaques you see in the seventh photo. The eighth, ninth, and tenth photos are of the area just inside the main entrance. The eleventh photo was taken further inside the library and is of a plaque recognizing a library endowment. 

Just outside the library near the Crisp Building is the statue you see in the twelfth photo. As the plaque in the thirteenth photo indicates, the piece is call Friends, and is a tribute to the people at UTM who have mentored students at the university. It also honors Phil Watkins, Student Government Association advisor and vice chancellor for student affairs from 1964 to 2000. I was unable to find out the name of the artist who created the piece. 

The next set is something rather unique, the Baylock Inspiration Oracle. The building has an open seating area meant for contemplation as well as a fountain and courtyard. The name is honor of Paul Baylock, a UTM alumnus (Class of 1968) who went on to become both a noted physician and attorney in Portland, Oregon. It is a newer structure on campus. Groundbreaking for the building occurred on October 9, 2021 and it was formally dedicated on October 20, 2023. As noted above, it was designed by the TLM architecture firm. In the last photo, the building on the left is the Boling University Center (see below) and the one on the right is the Paul Meek Library.

Next, we have the Boling University Center, UT Martin’s student union. It replaced an older wooden building called the Student Activities Building. That building was constructed by the Federal Works Agency and when completed in 1947 was first used as a classroom and office building. Upon completion of the Agriculture-Biology-Library (ABL) Building (now Brehm Hall), it was remodeled to be a student union and home to the ROTC program and opened in that capacity in 1950. That building stood next to the current Cooper Hall. The space proved too small and not well suited for that purpose in the long run, and thanks to the need for additional space created by the infusion of the Baby Boom generation a new union was needed. Construction on the new building commenced in in 1965 and it was completed in the Fall, 1966 semester. It originally came in at 59,600 square feet and cost $1.6 million (or $16 million today) to build. Everything but the ROTC offices and classrooms moved into the new building which opened with its name being simply the University Center, or UC. ROTC would stay in that older building until the current ROTC facility opened in 1987. The old Student Activities Building would then be razed via a controlled fire. The UC would be enlarged in 1972 and again in 1983 by which time it had some 87,734 square feet of space. It would receive its current name in 1993 in honor of Dr. Edward J. Boling who was President of the University of Tennessee System from 1970 to 1988, and his wife Carolyn P. Boling. Another addition came in 1997. The Thompson-Boling arena at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is also named in his honor. 

The first photo is the back of the building and shows one part of the original structure (the bit furthest away in the photo). The part with the stripes is, I believe, the newest part of the building. The second photo is of that newer section on the side that faces the Meek Library and one of the banners on that side of the building. The third photo is of the front on the Meek Library side and again shows the newer part of the building (foreground) and the older portion (background), as well as another banner. The fourth photo is a view of the façade of the building facing Meek, a portion of which can be seen on the right in that photo. As I have noted in many posts, branding is everywhere on college campuses these days, in this case on a doormat by one of Boling's entrances in the fifth photo. Branding can also be seen in the interior of the building as evidenced by the sixth photo. The seventh photo is the building's dedicatory plaque and the eighth is a room with stadium-style seating inside Boling. The last photo is the opposite side of the exterior.

The set below begins with two views of the front of Clement Hall. Clement replaced a men’s dorm that once stood on the site. That dorm was unique in many ways. An all-wood structure, it never had an official name but was known by the moniker “the Wooden Box” and its residents as “Knights of the Wooden Box”. It was actually a surplus purchase after World War II. The university was in need of housing for returning veterans and purchased building materials from Camp Tyson in Paris, TN. Camp Tyson, as it happens, was the only US barrage balloon training center during the war. Even if you are not familiar with the phrase “barrage balloon” you’ve likely seen them. If you picture any World War II movie that has scenes of London during the Blitz, barrage balloons are those silver balloons tethered to the ground. Anyway, the Wooden Box was installed during 1946-1947 and stayed in place until the construction on what would become Clement began in 1956. It opened as a women’s dorm in 1957 with accommodations for 236 students. It has long ceased its duties as a residence hall and now houses the local Public TV station and a variety of other offices. The cost of construction came in at $692,000, or about $8 million in today’s dollars. An addition to the building came in 1963 adding space for 210 additional residents. The addition cost nearly as much as the original portion of the building at $688,000 (or some $7.1 million in today’s value). It opened with the name Women's Residence Hall which it would keep until 1966 when it was renamed for Governor Frank G. Clement. My father once recounted a story to me about a chance encounter he had with Governor Clement sometime in the 1960’s in Nashville. As I recall the story, he bumped into the governor in the lobby of a hotel in downtown sometime during Clement’s time as governor. Not being a resident of the state, dad did not immediately recognize him. For some reason I have forgotten, they had the occasion to speak to one another. They chatted for a bit and went their separate ways. I remember dad saying the governor was very nice, but also “gassed”, a common phrase of the 60’s referring to someone who has had a bit too much to drink. On a side note, my father, a very social person, would strike up a conversation with just about anyone. In so doing, he made friends far and wide. He could count numerous governors, senators, and members of congress among his friends (truly, he did not associate with them for influence or favor). When I was a boy, he introduced me to a very powerful U.S. Senator. Afterwards, I mentioned the man had the softest hands I had ever shaken, to which dad replied, “that’s because he has never done an ounce of real work in his life!”. And like his chance encounter with Governor Clement, he met more politicians in passing than I could ever remember. Anyway, the interior of the building has undergone a recent renovation, or so it would appear. The third photo in this set is the rather modern looking chandelier hanging in the main entryway. The fourth photo is the back of the building. There are Clement Halls at Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, the University of Memphis, and UT Knoxville. 

Finally, this set concludes with a photo of the Cooper Residence Hall. Construction on what would become Cooper began in 1967 and the building was completed before the end of the fall semester of 1968. The building was initially called the Atrium Dormitory, a nod to the building’s courtyard. It was (and still is) a dorm for women. Construction costs came in at $1,422,946, which is equivalent to about $13.4 million in today’s money. As noted above, the building takes its name from Governor Prentice Cooper. When the existing Cooper Hall was renamed to honor Harry Crisp, Atrium was renamed for the governor. The name became official in a ceremony on December 7, 1995. 

The set below is of a number of residence halls on campus. The first photo is a view of the courtyard of the University Village complex. Completed in 2005, University Village is a set of apartment style dorms. Next door is University Village Phase II, seen in the second and third photos. They too are apartment style dorms and they were completed in 2008. These buildings stand on the site of a previous dorm, Austin Peay Hall. Peay was one of three "double Y" dorms, two of which are covered in this post. The dorms are called double Y's due to their shape - from above they look like two capital letter Y's connected at the base like this: ">--<".  Peay was the first of these dorms to be constructed, being completed in 1966. It was razed to make way for these newer buildings.

Next are two views of the Ellington Residence Hall. Ellington was the third of the “Y” shaped dorms to be completed. Construction began in 1966, and it was opened in 1967. The building, which was called the E-F Dormitory when it opened, cost $1,747,669 (about $17 million in 2024 value) to construct. It was renamed Ellington in honor of former Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington on April 17, 1969. There was an Ellington Hall at UT Knoxville, and there remains an Ellington Hall at both the University of Memphis and Middle Tennessee State University. Finally, we have a two views of the Browning Residence Hall. The first (photo six) was taken looking across the courtyard which separates it from Ellington and the second (the seventh photo in this set) was taken from the opposite side. I may be mistaken, but I believe an enclosed swimming pool once stood where the courtyard area is now. If you know, please leave a comment. Construction on Browning would begin in 1969. It was the fourth and final residence hall built during the 1960’s to accommodate the Baby Boomers and the last of the dorms to have the “Y” shape. Built at a cost of $2,090,529 (which is roughly $18 million in today’s money) the building can accommodate up to 468 residents. It opened in 1970 and was called the G-H Dormitory. It would be renamed Browning Hall in 1990, taking its name from former Tennessee Governor Gordon Browning. Browning is named in honor of two-term governor Gordon Browning. Interestingly, Browning is one of seven Tennessee governors to serve non-consecutive terms. A native of rural northwest Tennessee, Browning went to college at Valparaiso University in Indiana, graduating in 1913 with a degree in teaching. He returned to Tennessee but taught only briefly, opting instead to go to law school at the Cumberland School of Law (at the time, the law school was a unit of Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN; it would later be sold in 1962 to Samford University [then named Howard College] in Birmingham, AL). He would graduate from Cumberland in 1915. He would practice law until the outbreak of World War I. In 1917, he joined the Tennessee National Guard as an artillery officer. His unit would be called to action in Europe, and he went on to serve with distinction earning several commendations and rising to the rank of Captain. In addition to this Browning Hall, buildings at Austin Peay State University and the University of Memphis are named after him. 

The first two photos below are of the university's Student Recreation Center. The building has a four-court gym, racquetball courts, workout areas, an indoor track, and other features. It has 100,643 square feet of space and was completed in 2010.

The last photo in this set is the Elam Center. Elam is the university’s arena and home to Martin's basketball teams. The teams at UTM are known as the Skyhawks. Construction began in 1962, and the project was completed quickly by the summer of 1963. Construction of an addition began in 1973 and was completed in 1975. The addition must have been significant. The original portion of the building came with a $643,000 price tag (about $6.7 million today). The addition began just a decade later, cost $6,336,181! That’s about $45 million in today’s value and many times the cost of the original part of the building. It is also the site of concerts and commencements. It can accommodate up to 4,300 spectators. The street on the left in this photo is Pat Head Summitt Drive. Legendary basketball coach Pat Head Summitt was a two-time alumnae of UTM, having earned her bachelor’s degree (Class of 1974) and master’s there (Class of 1975). There is also a Pat Head Summitt Street on the campus of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

The first two photos below provide views of the front of the Student Life Center. It opened in 1930 as a gym. I was not able to find out much of anything about the building unfortunately. The third photo of this set shows the end zone to the Hardy M. Graham Stadium and the Bob Carroll Football Building. The building is home to the UTM football program. It is named in honor of former player, football coach, Athletics Director, and Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of Alumni Affairs Bob Carroll. The building has 17,000 square feet of space and was opened on October 12, 2002.

Finally, the set closes with a view of the ​Hardy M. Graham Stadium. The stadium was completed in 1964, and the Skyhawks played their first game in the new facility on September 26th that year. The game was against Middle Tennessee State and it finished in a tie. The score? Zero to zero! Young readers take note: there was no official way to break ties until relatively recently. They were always a bit frustrating, and I can only imagine how disappointing it must have been to conclude your first game in your new stadium with a scoreless tie. The Skyhawks would lose their next two home games, first to Murray State University (32 to 14) on October 14, and then to Delta State University (17 to 0) on October 24th.  Finally, on November 7, 1964 they beat Troy 12 to9 for their first victory in the stadium. It has been updated over the years and today 7,500 fans can watch the Skyhawks play on artificial turf. Hardy Graham has been a significant donor to UT Martin over the years.

It was neat getting the opportunity to visit another campus of the UT System. I have to say, that I was impressed with the campus and the people there were extremely friendly. The campus is pretty, generally well maintained, and clean. It may not have been the prettiest of days, but it was the perfect temperature to explore campus. I will close with two versions of UT Martin's lamppost sign. The first photo below shows what I would call the academic version and the second the athletics version. 

This morning I had a call from a friend with whom I once worked at Virginia Commonwealth University. We both started at VCU at the same time, and although she left many years before I did we still stay in touch. She called to ask about a paper I had written a few years back and after chatting about that our conversation took a turn to the informal side of life. Among questions about family and careers, she mentioned that she had read this blog. She remarked that I have an eye for minutia. Her thoughts came in response to my posts on the changes in Jones Stadium at Texas Tech. Although those changes were dramatic and hard to miss, she thought that few people would notice that handrails seen in my posts on Arizona State and the University of Denver had changed since I had initially visited. That may be so, but in a visit to the University of Tennessee in 2001 I immediately noticed that stair rails in one particular location had been painted a different color. Perhaps its just me. I will admit that I do pay attention to the details of things.

I could not help but think again about all of the changes that have happened at Texas Tech since my time as a student there. It should come as no surprise that the institution has changed a great deal since I matriculated in 1996. Most colleges and universities have. But Tech's changes have been remarkable. The institution, which was slightly smaller than my alma mater Tennessee when I went there, is now the larger institution. In the fall of 1996, UT had a headcount of 25,086, whereas Texas Tech's headcount was 24,717. That difference of 369 people is not all that big of a deal. What is a big deal is that UT's current enrollment is 38,728 students compared to Tech's 40,969. Both institutions have grown enrollment, but the gap is now 2,241 and Tech is the larger university. In both cases, that kind of enrollment growth means that a number of new buildings have cropped up at both schools. The growth, along with the intervening years also means that existing buildings at both places have been razed and others renovated. 

Sometimes that means things like handrails being changed, and sometimes the differences are more substantial. One substantive change that comes to is the modification of the front façade of West Hall on the Texas Tech campus. West underwent a renovation after I graduated. The first time I saw it afterwards, I knew something about the exterior was quite different, but assumed it was simply the addition of an accessible ramp at the front door. It was actually more than that. The entire center section of the façade was totally reworked. To show just what this change looks like, compare the photos in the first set below. The first photo was taken during my first visit to campus on June 3, 1996. The next two were taken last month. The theme is similar, but they are not alike.

The change came during a renovation of the building which was completed in August 2001. I am not sure why the change was made. I assume there was something wrong with the structure of the building and removing the façade was required. Perhaps too much was broken to allow for reinstallation. I also don't know why the façade was not simply recreated. When West was constructed, a nearly identical dorm was built on the other side of the Broadway quad, Doak Hall. Doak has undergone renovations over the course of its life as well, but it has kept its original centerpiece. Again, it looks very much (perhaps identical to) the way West once looked. I have placed a (not so great) photo of its façade below. 

So what happened to the original features of West Hall? I am pleased to say that the university had the foresight to keep many of those elements. As you can see in the following set, they are placed in an exhibit just to the east of the main entrance to the building. 

West Hall is named in honor of James Marion West, a tycoon of the lumber, gas, and cattle businesses. It was the first dorm on campus for men and it stands more or less directly across from Doak which was the first residence hall for women on campus. Both have long ceased being dorms. They were funded by grants and loans from the Public Works Administration arm of the federal government during the Great Depression. Both were designed architect W.W. Watkin. It opened with the name Men's Dormitory #1. It was subsequently renamed in honor of West. A native of Mississippi, West moved with his parents to east Texas as a boy. From very modest roots, he would become the equivalent of a billionaire in today's dollars. He served on the Tech Board and was its president in 1940 and 1941. The rural community of Westville, Texas is also named for him.

In addition to noticing changes, I am also keen on noticing trends. For example, there are dozens of West Halls at colleges and universities across the U.S. Most of them seem to be dormitories, as was the case with the West Hall I covered in my post on Arizona State. I can only think of three other West Halls that are named for someone. A residence hall at the University of North Dakota which is named for John C. West the university's sixth president. The West Hall at Valdosta State University in Georgia is named for William Stanley West, who prior to becoming a U.S. Senator, was a state senator who helped establish the university. The last would be Joe West Hall at San Jose State. However, I do not know anything about the building's namesake. I only know the building thanks to the number of student deaths that have occurred in the building. Suicides are unfortunate reality in higher ed, and residence halls are a common location for these tragedies, but Joe West seems to have had more than its fair share. The building was slated for demolition as the university updates its residence facilities on campus, but it is still standing and in-use as of this writing. 

Today's post is a return to the community college sector. I first stepped on to the Itawamba Community College campus in the fall of 2023. One of my sons plays in his high school band, and a regional competition with bands from several states was held there. The reason, aside from being in a location with general ease of access to high school bands from Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, is that like its counterpart Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Itawamba has a very large campus complete with intercollegiate athletics facilities. I had wanted to explore the campus some at the time, but timing and the competition did not leave me with enough time to do so. Thankfully, I was able to return to the campus a bit unexpectedly and had the chance to take some photos for this post. Although it was not for my son's band, there was in fact another high school band competition taking place there during this visit.

ICC gets its name from Itawamba County, one of the principal counties the colleges serve. The name comes from the Native American Chickasaw Chief known to European Americans by his English name of Levi Colbert and to the Chicksaw by the name Itte-wamba Mingo. The name means Bench Chief in English. Itte-wamba Mingo was born in 1759 in present day Muscle Shoals, Alabama to Scots American father James Logan Colbert and Choctaw mother Minta Hoye. He was one of seven children. Thanks to a bilingual, bicultural upbringing both Itte-wamba Mingo/Levi and his brother George (also known as Tootemastubbe in the Native tongue) became interpreters for in the negotiations of the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek (part of the larger process began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which saw Native Americans forced to move west of the Mississippi, with much of the original terms of the various treaties ignored by the Federal government). 

In addition to having the college and the county named after him in Mississippi, Colbert County Alabama, home to Muscle Shoals, is named in honor of Levi/Itte-wamba and his brother George/ Tootemastubbe as is town of Colbert's Spring, Alabama. Honoring Itte-wamba Mingo with the name of two counties, a town, and a community college is fitting, although hardly sufficient given the maltreatment of the Chickasaw and other Native American nations forced west. The treatment of Chickasaw was terrible, even more so since they had allied themselves with the U.S. during the War of 1812 and other conflicts.

ICC was founded in 1948 with the name Itawamba Junior College. Public community colleges in Mississippi officially date back to 1928. But as with many things, their roots go back further. As was the case with Northwest Mississippi Community College, ICC really began its life as an agricultural high school. If you are unfamiliar with the agricultural high school, an easy analogy is a vo-tech focusing on things farming and home economics. The state passed the County Agricultural High School Law in 1908. The schools established under the law were boarding schools. Each school was required to have twenty acres of land to support agricultural education. Between 1908 and 1919, fifty agricultural high schools opened across Mississippi. This was a remarkable achievement, as prior to their establishment there were only a handful of high schools in the state and more or less all of them were located in the state’s few cities and they only had a four-month academic year. The establishment of the ag schools was a hit, and this was the start of many improvements within the public schools in the state. 

Mississippi continued formalizing public schools and the roles of the ag high schools began to change. In 1924, the Mississippi legislature approved the teaching of college-level courses at the ag schools with most courses being in the area of teacher preparation. These courses were a hit and served to fill a gap in the state’s growing higher education system. Indeed, the programs were so successful that in 1928 Mississippi passed the Public Junior College Law. The law sought to advance the college-level mission of the agricultural high schools and the reaction was immediately positive. When the law went into effect, ten of the high schools were launching college courses. From these seeds, the current community college system in Mississippi would grow.

Over time, the mission of the schools saw them go from offering high school courses, to a mix of high school and college, to college-level courses only. The names of the institutions operating during this period varied according to these evolving standards, going from “agricultural high school” to “agricultural high school and junior college” to “junior college”. Eventually, “junior college" fell away for the modern “community college” moniker. Adoption of the various names varied by each institution based on their particular needs and offerings.

Itawamba did not make the transition from agricultural high school to junior college too quickly. Although Itawamba and what would become today’s Northeast Mississippi Community College were approved to move to junior college status in 1941 this would not happen until 1948 thanks to World War II. Things were actually moving along quite nicely to make the transition from high school to junior college before the outbreak of the war. Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds were available to support the change, and to do their part the people of Itawamba County went to the polls on the warm Tuesday that was September 21, 1941, and approved a bond of $55,000 (about $1.18 million in 2024 value) to construct new buildings for the transition. Of course, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor less than ninety days later and the new college, like so many things, had to wait until after the war. It was not the first challenge in the institution’s history, nor would it be the last.

When it comes to establishing something as large or larger than a community college, any success is due to a group of people. Despite this fact, in many cases a person or a small group of individuals are sometimes noted as being the champion or main facilitator of the institution. In terms of making the transition from an agricultural high school to a junior college one such champion was George W. Owens. Owens was an alumnus of the agricultural high school (I believe he was from the Class of 1927). He would go on to serve several terms in the Mississippi House of Representatives and later, after a failed re-election bid, would serve in the paid position of Assistant Clerk of the House. His advocacy for and support of Itawamba began when he was still a student. In 1926, a wooden structure serving as the boys’ dorm burned down. Although the national economy in 1926 was doing quite well, funds were not readily available in rural Mississippi to immediately rebuild. It was up to locals in the area to help the institution rebuild. One of the twenty people who personally signed a promissory note to get the necessary funds was Owens, who was a senior that year. Now that is loyalty and dedication!

There is currently a scholarship at Itawamba called the George W. Owens and Mae H. Owens Endowed Scholarship. I was unable to find it if Mr. Owens and his wife established the scholarship, or if it was established by others to honor them. Despite the important role Owens played in Itawamba’s history, there is nothing on campus that I could find that honors him. One might imagine a building or street would carry his name, but this not the case.

Today, ICC has almost 5,000 students in terms of enrollment, and an FTE of about 3,160 students across multiple campuses, and the Itawamba Indians compete in ten intercollegiate sports, five each for women and men.. The college’s catchment area includes five counties: Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe, and Pontotoc. 

Below are two views of the David Cole Student Services Building. Cole was selected as ICC's fourth president in 1993 and served in that role until his retirement in 2013. Twenty years is a very long time to president of college! He had previously served as Superintendent of the South Panola School District in Batesville, Mississippi. The building opened during his tenure in the position and was initially called the Student Services Building. Opening in 1998, the building sits on the site of the original Itawamba Agricultural High School building's location. Coming in at 63,000 square feet, it contains a dining area, administrative offices, student meeting rooms, and a variety of other spaces. It was the second building constructed during Cole's presidency. The building was named in his honor in 2013.

The first photo below is the Walk of Memories. It is a pathway that separates the site of the original Agricultural High School and the first community college buildings. People can buy inscribed bricks along the  walkway. The second photo, which was the best of some poorly framed ones I took with the sun in my eyes, is​Magnolia Hall. Magnolia is one the dorms on the ICC campus and one of two that is on the south side of the campus. You cannot tell it from this photo, but it is a rather large L-shaped structure. It is a very new building. Groundbreaking for the residence hall was held on October 30, 2020. It was completed in 2022, and was formally opened on July 14th that year. The three-story building comes in at 71,921 square feet and can accommodate about 250 residents. It cost $19,012,938 to complete. The building was the work of architect Michael Taylor of the Pryor Morrow architecture firm. There is another dorm behind it, Sheffield Hall, which is the largest on campus. Sheffield, by the way, is named for ICC's first president, Philip A. Sheffield, who served in that role from 1948 until 1960. I didn't realize it was there during my visit or I would have taken a photo. Sheffield can accommodate nearly 300 residents. There is also an endowed scholarship at ICC named for President Sheffield.

The first photo below is a central walkway between a number of buildings in the original heart of the campus. The building on the right in that photo is the Cole Student Services Building. One the left is a series of buildings that are connected via covered walkways and courtyards. The first building on the left in that photo is the E-learning Building. The distance learning unit at ICC is called elearning. The second photo shows the covered walkway connection between E-learning (which is just out of view) and the Language Building. The walkway leading to this area has the marker you see in the third photo, commemorating the Agricultural High School Class of 1927. The fourth photo shows the Language Building (on the left) and the Community Relations Building on the right. It's neat how all of the buildings in this group have offices and classrooms that open directly to the outside without a central hallway. The fifth photo is the backside of the Community Relations Building as seen from its courtyard area. The sixth photo is the Administration Building again, this time on the other side where the building is connected to the Community Relations Building. It is a little difficult to tell it from this photo, but there is a small fountain in the circular area where the stone sits. The seventh photo is the courtyard area by the Administration Building. The last photo was taken by the Administration Building looking back in the direction where the first photo in this set was taken.

Unfortunately, despite some considerable time sleuthing online, I was not able to find out anything about these structures.

Across from the Administration Building and next to the Cole Student Services Building is the ICC Library, the subject of the next set. The library was closed that day, or I would have went in and browsed around some. 

The two photos of the next set are of the Student Activities Building. I didn't realize it as I toured campus, but this is actually the oldest currently standing building on campus. It opened in 1961 and comes in at about 13,000 square feet of space. It has been updated a number of times over the years, but it reopened this past August after a significant renovation that came with a $4.1 million price tag. It will be supplemented by a new 9,000 square foot conference and food building currently under construction with an anticipated opening date of sometime in the spring of 2026. 

The next set of photos are all of residence halls. First up is Monroe Hall. I would have guessed from its appearance that they building opened in the mid-1970's. It just has that kind of vibe architecturally. In fact, it opened in 1968. Monroe recently underwent a renovation which upgraded the interior. The rooms in Monroe were originally designed with double occupancy rooms, but now after the renovation are meant for single students. Architect Michael Taylor of the Pryor Morrow firm did the design work for the renovation. The work was completed in July 2024. The name reflects Monroe County, which is part of the ICC catchment area and which supports the college. The county, and hence the dorm, is named after President James Monroe, the fifth president of the U.S. The second photo is the ​Monroe Hall Annex, which sits adjacent to its namesake to the north. I was not able to fully discern if it was renovated along with Monroe, but I have the impression from what I did find online that it was not. Despite the fact that it an "annex", it seems as big or bigger than Monroe Hall itself. I was not able to find out anything about the building. 

The third photo is Lee Hall. It looks very similar to Monroe with the exception that it is one story taller. Its name is derived from Lee County, Mississippi, and another of the counties that fall within the ICC catchment area. The county is named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The fourth photo is ​Pontotoc Hall, a men's residence hall. Pontotoc Hall receives its name from the eponymous county which is part of the ICC catchment area. Pontotoc is a Chickasaw word meaning “place of the hanging grapes”. I was not able to find out much of anything about the building, but it was apparently open in 1969 as I found a comment on a social media post from the college to that effect. Pontotoc is another county within the ICC catchment area. 

The fourth photo is ​Chickasaw Hall. I believe it also underwent a recent renovation, but the information I found online about it was sketchy so I cannot say for certain. I could find no real information about the building. The last photo is Itawamba Hall. I am not certain when it was built, but it was recent enough that the architecture firm McCarty Architects still has a page dedicated to it on their website (see here). Itawamba houses up to 200 women in its 42,500 square feet of space. I could find no other information about the building online.
​

The first photo below is the Boggs Humanities Building. It takes its name in honor of Wythel E. Boggs (commonly called "W.E."), a long serving faculty member and administrator at Itawamba. Indeed, his career at Itawamba spanned some forty years from 1961 until 2001. Boggs was interim president of the college during the 2000-2001 year. His wife Gwen was also an instructor at ICC, teaching courses in the Department of Social Sciences. The building was named in their honor in 2005. 

The second photo is the ​John S. Crubaugh Technical Education Building. Crubaugh joined the ranks at ICC in 1948 when he was hired to be Dean of Students. During his time at Itawamba he was principal of the Agricultural High School, coached the women's basketball team, and the baseball team. He became the second president of ICC in 1960 when then president Sheffield passed away while in office. He held that role until 1972. Unfortunately, I was not able to find out anything about the building.

The last two photos are of the W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center. The building opened in 1978 and was renovated in 2021/2022. The building has exhibit space and a large auditorium and comes in at about 24,000 square feet. The building is named in honor of former ICC President Winston Odean Benjamin. I was not able to find out anything more about the building.

There is a lovely large green space on campus and it is home to the Crane Pavilion, which can be seen in the first photo of the following set. I know the pavilion opened sometime during the 1990's, but I was not able to find out exactly when. Beyond the pavilion is a small belltower which you can see in the second photo. I assume it was constructed at the same time, but I found no information about it online. 

Just to the west of the Crane pavilion is Academic Hall, which can be seen in the third photo. I could not find out anything at all about the building unfortunately. The last two photos show the front of the Natural Sciences Building. It opened in 1996. Beyond that, I was not able to learn anything about the building.

The first photo in the set below is the Carrie Ball Williamson Recreation Center. Opening in 2006, the Williamson Center is a multiuse facility. In addition to having traditional weight training and cardiovascular exercise equipment spaces, it also contains classrooms and a gym. The $2.6 million (about $4.1 million today) facility was designed by Tupelo-based McCarty Company Design Group. McCarty has designed numerous collegiate structures including buildings at Mississippi State University, Northeast Mississippi Community College, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi. As you can see the Williamson is physically connected to the Bud and Buster ​Davis Event Center by a walkway on each building's second floor.

The second and third photos are of the Bud and Buster ​Davis Event Center. Named for iconic ICC basketball coaches Windle “Buster” Davis and Kindle “Bud” Davis, the Davis Event Center is a relatively new structure. Opening in 2007, it is the home of the ICC basketball programs (men’s and women’s). It has a total seating capacity of 3,500 including 2,800 with chair-back seating. The ICC commencements are held in Davis, and it is used for other events like concerts. The building cost roughly $15.6 million (roughly $23.8 million in 2024 dollars) to construct. It was also designed by the Tupelo-based firm the McCarty Company Design Group. As fate would have it, ICC won the first game played in the facility when the Lady Indians beat the Holmes Community College Lady Bulldogs on January 11, 2007. The building was not open during my visit, and I took the third photo of the interior through the door (hence the rather dark tone of the picture). The last photo of this set is the back of the building along with the rear of the Williamson Recreation Center. The individuals you see in this photo are students from the various high schools on campus getting ready for the band competition.

The next set is of the ICC football stadium. The stadium takes its name in honor of Aaron Colus “Butch” Lambert. Lambert was an alumnus of the institution when it was still the Itawamba Agricultural High School (Class of 1941). He joined the Navy during World War II and when he was discharged he went to the University of Mississippi where he played football. An injury in 1946 ended his playing career early. Then Ole Miss head coach Johnny Vaught kept Lambert as a student manager. After completing his work at Ole Miss, Lambert started the football program at ICC, then known as Itawamba Junior College, in 1949. He served as athletic director at the college for three years. He remained active in collegiate sports for decades thereafter but not in a coaching capacity. He was an official for the SEC, refereeing both football and basketball for the conference. He was an SEC football Line Judge from 1953 to 1982 and an SEC basketball referee from 953 to 1973. He was the SEC's Chief Line Judge in 1980 and 1981. He officiated twelve bowl games including two which determined national champions - the 1975 and 1982 Orange Bowl games. He was a state legislator and state tax commissioner. Lambert was also president of the National Junior College Athletic Association. He passed away on January 26, 1995 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease). The stadium opened in 1994.

Next are two views of the ICC softball stadium. The stands, press box, and locker room facility in the middle are  new, having opened in September of this year. The new space was added to an existing softball field. As you can tell, the dugouts are older. The press box has 1,500 square feet of space, and there is a 4,500 square feet locker room facility underneath which also serves the tennis team. It can seat 380 people and has deck areas on either side of the press box. 

I will close with a photo of the ICC lamppost sign. The Itawamba campus is nice and it has some cool features to it. The ICC campus in Tupelo has seen a good deal amount of construction as well, and if I am ever in the vicinity, I will swing by to take a tour and post about it.