Blue Mountain College is a sectarian college in the ​eponymously named community in northeast Mississippi. It is just about an hour and a half drive outside of Memphis. Despite it being fairly close to my home, I had not been there until this visit. I was passing through town on the last day of November this year and made a quick stop to take some photos. It was surprisingly warm for such a late date and the bright day was perfect for taking a few quick snapshots. The college is just two years shy of its sesquicentennial, and I hope they have a grand celebration when 2023 comes.

Blue Mountain was founded by Mark Perrin Lowrey, a Baptist Preacher and former General in the Confederate Army (he had previously served in the U.S. Army). His service in Confederate Army was unusual as he was vocally against slavery and reluctant to join the rebellion. He did so in the end as he felt that secession by vote was done in a fashion consistent with founding of the U.S. and therefore legal. The Union attempting to maintain forces and supply Fort Sumter was thus in his eyes an unlawful act. Lowrey was born in Tennessee but moved to Mississippi where he served as a preacher for the Southern Baptist Convention. He would go on to serve as president of the Convention from 1868 to 1877. He would also serve on the Board of Trustees for both the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College. Feeling that educational opportunities for women in the state were lacking, he decided to create a school for women. This was remarkable given the era and the fact that Lowrey, the son of immigrants, had no formal education himself. He acquired a hillside farm called the Brougher Place in Tippah County for the site of the school. The college was founded as the Blue Mountain Female Institute on September 12, 1873. It opened with fifty students. Lowrey would serve as the first president and one of only four faculty when the school opened. The college officially changed its name to Blue Mountain College in 1876. His tenure as president would continue until his untimely death at age 57 in 1885. He was transferring trains on his way to New Orleans with faculty and students from the college when he collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. 

At the time of his death, enrollment had increased to 148 students. His will stipulated that the college would remain in the family and dedicated to the education of women. He was followed in the presidency by two of his sons and his grandson (W.T. Lowrey, B.G. Lowrey, and Lawrence T. Lowrey respectively). His daughter Modena Lowrey Berry would also work at the school eventually rising to become Vice President. Her tenure lasted a remarkable sixty-one years from 1873 to 1934. 

The family ceded control of the college to the Mississippi Baptist Convention in 1920. The college would gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1927. Although a training program in church work for men would begin at Blue Mountain in 1957, the institution did not formally admit men until 2006. Today, Blue Mountain enrolls just over 950 students nearly all at the undergraduate level. The college offers twenty-four undergraduate and four master's degrees.

First up is the Lawrence T. Lowrey Administration Building. Named for the former president and grandson of the college's founder and first president, the building was completed in 1928. Lowrey was designed by architect James Manly Spain who was a prolific Mississippi architect. He was a two-time alumnus of Mississippi College and completed his architectural training at Columbia University. In addition to Lowrey, he designed other collegiate buildings across the state including Cain Hall (1926), Denton Gym (1937), and Central Dormitory (1937) at the Hinds Community College, McDaniel Hall (the first Administration Building at Holmes Community College in 1938), and Weathersby Hall (1947) at the University of Southern Mississippi (since razed in 2006).

The Colonial Revival building has a familiar feel to it. Indeed, if you look back through the archives of this blog, you will see that it closely resembles contemporaries in the administration building category of other regional institutions including Lane College, the University of Memphis, and the University of Memphis Lambuth. The building stands midway up the hillside upon which the college sits and has no buildings in front of it. Thus, what appears to my untrained eye as the largest building on campus has a commanding view of the surrounding area. The walkway and steps leading to the front of the building were a gift of the class of 1969. As can be seen in the sixth photo, the entryway was renovated in 2015 courtesy of a gift of the class of 1965. In addition to offices, the building has a large chapel/lecture hall which was occupied during my visit. The room is called the Modena Lowrey Berry Auditorium and seats 876. The last three photos were taken inside the front doors. The building was decorated for the impending Christmas holiday. 

The first two photos below are of Guyton Library. Guyton has holdings of over 80,000 and a large collection of materials from General Lowrey. The library is named for Dr. and Mrs. David E. Guyton, both of whom taught at Blue Mountain. The library was completed in 1957. Next door to Guyton is Garrett Hall seen in the last photo. ​The building houses fine arts. Garrett was designed by architect Dudley C. White and built by the Walter L. Perry Construction firm from Philadelphia, MS. It was completed in 1950. Perry Construction has been involved in many college and university buildings throughout Mississippi including Jackson Hall at East Central Community College (1928), and the Mary Buie-Kate Skipwith Museum (1938), Weir Memorial Building (1939), and the Physics Building (Lewis Hall, 1939) at the University of Mississippi.

Next up is the Student Union Building, or SUB, seen in the first three photos below. The SUB was designed by Flowood, MS based architectural firm JH&H. The building opened in 1970 and at the time was called the Pascal Student Union. I was unable to find out who for whom it is named but it appears the Pascal name has been dropped as the name does not appear on the building nor on any Blue Mountain College webpage. The firm has designed dozens of buildings for colleges and universities across Mississippi. The 15,000 square foot building is one of two structures on campus designed by the firm (I did not photograph the other, a men’s dorm).

The Ray Dining Hall, seen below in photos four and five, is the main food services location on campus (I believe you can get food in the SUB as well). The sixth photo is Tyler Gym and finally a photo of tennis courts which sit adjacent to the gym. The college athletic teams are called the "Toppers", as in hilltoppers, and their mascot seen here is a mountain goat seen on the banner in the last photo. The college has a sports complex near campus, but I didn't have the time to visit on this trip. As was the case with the SUB, I was unable to find out any information about the naming of these buildings.

The following set are three of the four residence halls on campus. The first photo below is Cockroft Hall, a men’s residence hall on campus. The building sits adjacent to the Ray Dining Hall and very close to the Lowrey Administration Building. I was not able to find out anything about the name. Whitfield Hall is a dormitory for women which was completed in 1928. The building was designed by architect Walter R. Nelson. Nelson also designed the now razed Whitfield Dining Hall on the Blue Mountain campus. Despite two buildings carrying the Whitfield moniker, I was not able to find out anything about the name. Last, we have a photo of the Jennie Stevens Residence Hall, another dorm for women. The building was constructed in 1950. I could not find out anything about Jennie Stevens.

​The following photos are of the gate on the southeast side of the campus. The street leads past the SUB and the front of the Lowrey Administration Building. I love the quotes on the plaques which are on the entry side (first photo) and exit side (second photo) of the gate. It is reminiscent to the gate at the University of Memphis Lambuth (see my earlier post here). The sign in the last photo is north of this gate (the Lowrey Administration Building can be seen in the distance).

A stream runs through campus and it has its own pond as seen in the first three photos. There is a fountain about halfway up the hillside of the campus, see here in the fourth photo. A walkway, courtesy of the class of 1966, extends from the area of the fountain westward up the hill.

The next two photos are of the Palmer-Donnell House which houses the alumni association and serves as a welcome center. The house is named for Alonzo “Lon” Donnell and Charlotte “Lottie” Palmer-Donnell, who according to a news story I found online were both supporters of the college. I believe Lon worked there, although I am not certain of it. I believe that Lottie’s father, Charles F. Palmer, was the original owner of the house although I could be mistaken. An historic photo of the house may be found on a memorial page to him (see here).

​Next is the Lowrey Memorial Baptist Church which opened in 1908. It was designed by the R. H. Hunt and Company architectural firm. Hunt and Company’s headquarters were in Chattanooga, TN, but they also maintained offices in Jackson, MS, and Dallas, TX. Hunt designed many structures and quite a few of them for colleges and universities among them Millsaps College, Mississippi College, Mississippi State University, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi.

We close with Blue Mountain's version of the ever popular lamppost sign.

Today's post is Rhodes College, located here in Memphis, TN. Rhodes is a notable liberal arts college and is rightfully noted as one of the most beautiful campuses in America (it was listed as the #1 most beautiful campus by the Princeton Review in 2017). All of the photos in today's post were taken on November 23, 2021.

In his forward to the book Southwestern at Memphis, alumnus Samuel Monk (class of 1922), described the history of Rhodes prior to 1925 as "at first glance, the depressing chronicle of failure" and alternately that of an institution with "remarkable vitality". The college did indeed have more than its fair share of difficulties, but thanks to the resolve of the faculty, students, and administration it not only survived it thrived. So much so that today Rhodes offers 46 undergraduate and two master's degree programs, has enrollment over 2,000, and has an endowment in excess of $410 million. 

The history of the institution is similar to many others founded in the 19th century in the U.S. Established as an academy, Rhodes would take time to develop into a true college. The name of the institution would change multiple times and the campus would relocate. Whereas some of the colleges covered in this blog moved a matter of blocks (the University of Tennessee, Knoxville) and others a few miles (Union University), Rhodes moved over 200 miles from Clarksville, TN (northwest of Nashville) to Memphis. 

What would become the college began its life in Clarksville in 1837 as the Clarksville Academy (also called the Montgomery Academy; I use the former name as it was referenced as the official name in the history book Southwestern at Memphis). Its sole faculty member at the time was Presbyterian minister, Reverend Consider Parish. The academy was a school for boys only, and Revered Parish was a very harsh master to his students. He was so difficult that the academy's board chose to replace him after just one year. A succession of faculty and headmasters would follow. The academy would grow despite the turnover and by 1840 talk of making the transition to a college began. The trustees hired William H. Marquess in March 1847 with the goal of having him lead the process. It unfolded rather quickly. Many members of the academy board were also part of the Clarksville Masonic Order and they sought to have the Tennessee Masons sponsor and support the new college. Support for a college was generally widespread and the Tennessee Order decided financially back what was proposed as the Masonic University of Tennessee. On February 4, 1848, the State of Tennessee authorized the Masons to take over the Academy and create a college. Today, Rhodes recognizes 1848 as their founding date. College coursework would be offered in January 1849. A new building, the college's first, would be completed in 1850. But despite the promising start, troubles would begin almost immediately.

​Although Masons from across Tennessee were in favor of supporting the creation of a college, they were far from agreement on where that college should be. The three divisions of Tennessee - East, Middle, and West - are distinct in many ways and were perhaps more so at the time. Cultural and economic differences ran deep and the lodges in each area wanted to support an institution in their division only. No compromises could be found and the state order relinquished control to the Clarksville Order. In 1851, a new charter was approved with the Clarksville chapter as the sponsor and a new name - the Montgomery Masonic College. The name did not stick, however, and it was chartered under the name Stewart College in honor of President William M. Stewart. The college would remain under the auspices of the Clarksville Masons for only four years.

Although enthusiastic about the college, the Clarksville Masons were not able to support an entire college. The Synod of Nashville took control of the college in 1855. A school of theology was added and thus in 1875 the name changed once again to Southwestern Presbyterian University. That name would stay in place until 1925, when then President Charles Diehl moved the school to Memphis. It then changed the name to merely Southwestern University. The name would change again in 1945 to Southwestern at Memphis in an effort to better distinguish the school from others with southwestern in their names. That name would remain until 1984 when the school acquired its current name, Rhodes College, in honor of President Peyton Nalle Rhodes.  

When you walk around the campus of Rhodes you have an experience unlike no other in the Memphis area. It is a calm, beautiful, and thought-provoking campus. It is moviesque and striking. Of the many colleges and universities in the Memphis metro area, it is by far and away the most beautiful in my opinion. Sitting on 123 acres in the midtown area, the campus is rolling and tree-filled, and the buildings are unified in appearance in a gothic style. The nearly 100 year old campus is at once modern and ancient in appearance. 

The reasons for the move to Memphis were many, too many in fact to cover in this post, but center on the devastating effect of the Civil War. The war came to campus in a quite literal fashion. Passions were high on campus in the lead up to the war, and most decidedly in favor of succession and, after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, for war. A company of student cadets were the first from the county to volunteer for the Confederate Army. The college's president at the time, R.B. McMullen, wrote of the war as being declared by "northern invaders" who, he hoped, would by September 1861 have "received such salutary lessons" as to "remove their polluting feet from our sacred soil". That was in July 1861. No students would enroll that fall nor for several years thereafter. In the interim, the southern economy was devastated and the campus extensively damaged. The Union Army would occupy campus using it as a hospital and general quarters for some time. After, freed slaves would use the buildings as temporary housing. White refugees from Georgia would occupy the campus thereafter. In the end, the buildings were looted and left in terrible shape. It would take time for the school to recover in all respects.  

In 1902, a movement began which sought to relocate the university to a larger city where local financial support could be more substantive. The board rejected the idea in a formal resolution in March 1903, but the idea did not go away. Residents of Atlanta, GA, were particularly anxious to have the university relocated there. In the end, legal action was taken, and the case went before the Tennessee Supreme Court in December 1904. The court ruled the university could not be moved and this quelled the initiative for some time. The university would never gain the financial backing it needed, however, so the idea was always in play just below the surface. 

A change in the presidency and the double financial impact of World War I and the Spanish Flu Epidemic would eventually force the change. By 1919, the move seemed to be the best and perhaps the only option to secure the university's future. New president Charles E. Diehl would advocate for the move to Memphis. A plan for moving was officially approved by the supporting Synods on January 14, 1920. Within two years, sufficient funds had been raised to facilitate the move and in Spring 1924 the Tennessee Supreme Court approved the move. By then, a new site in Memphis adjacent to Overton Park had been chosen and construction was in progress. 

Not only did Diehl facilitate the move, he was also responsible for the name change and much of the look of the new campus. Diehl wanted noted Philadelphia-based architect Charles Klauder to be the principal designer of the college. Klauder had designed many notable collegiate buildings on such campuses as the University of Colorado, Cornell, Delaware, Penn State, Princeton, and Wellesley. Klauder, who wrote the highly influential text College Architecture in America, was too busy and could not accept the offer. He suggested Diehl employ Henry C. Hibbs as his architect. Hibbs had trained with Klauder and had subsequently moved to Nashville. If Diehl would hire Hibbs, Klauder's firm (Day and Klauder) would sign on as consulting architects. An agreement to that effect was signed by all parties in 1922.

In addition to the style of buildings to be built, Diehl was also instrumental in the materials used. He wanted a common stone for all campus structures, and thus purchased a quarry in Bald Knob, Arkansas to ensure a steady supply of high grade, uniform stone. He also decided that all buildings would be trimmed in limestone from Indiana and the roofs clad in Vermont slate.

​The first building to be erected on campus is the now named Southwestern Hall. Southwestern began its life with the name Palmer Hall. The building was initially named for Reverend Benjamin Palmer, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. A proponent of Southwestern Presbyterian University, Palmer was adamant it would remain affiliated with the church. He was killed in a streetcar accident in 1902 but lived on in the hearts of his parishioners who raised $200,000 to help fund the erection of the building that would carry his name. The building would ultimately cost $400,000 (or about $6.5 million today). The building’s name was changed on April 12, 2019 after a committee decided that Reverend Palmer was not a good representative of the college having been a supporter of the Confederacy and slavery. Fittingly, therefore, the views you see below are of the North façade. The first four photos show that side of the building and its clock over the main entryway. The main entrance is intentionally off center. The building has its own cat seen in the fifth photo which during my visit had its own Advent calendar. The cloister can be seen in photos seven through seventeen. The arches are reminiscent of the University of Glasgow albeit indoors and not out (see photos of Glasgow's arches in my earlier post here). The stonework is superb in that area, although it does not extend down the hallways. A tribute to Diehl hangs in this area. The deep arrow slit-style windows add to the feeling that the structure has been around much longer than its nearly 100 years. The Rhodes Seal in the floor of the cloister can be seen in photos fourteen and fifteen. The tradition is that stepping on the seal jinxes a student to not graduate on time. During commencement, graduating students parade through the area.

Directly attached to Southwestern are two additional structures, Gooch Hall and the Halliburton Tower. Although you might not surmise it thanks to the complimentary nature of the two structures, Gooch is more than sixty years newer than Southwestern. Named in honor of Boyce Alexander Gooch (1893-1979) and her husband Cecil Milton Gooch (1889-1969). Cecil Gooch made his fortune in the lumber industry and he and Boyce were active in the Memphis community and in Rhodes in particular. Upon Boyce's passing December 14, 1979, it was announced that a major portion of their estate would be given to Rhodes. The result, in part, was Gooch Hall seen here in photos twenty-two to twenty-five. 

Halliburton Tower is named in honor of Richard Halliburton, a Tennessean who is reportedly the inspiration for the Indiana Jones character. Born in Brownsville, TN, Halliburton moved to Memphis with his family when he was was a child. He became an adventurer in his adulthood and a travel writer. He swam the entire length of the Panama Canal and travelled around the world. He attempted to sail a Chinese junk across the pacific, but was lost at sea and presumed dead in 1939. His parents Wesley and Nelle Halliburton donated $400,000 (just over $3.75 million in 2021 value) for the creation of the tower which was completed in 1962. The tower was designed by H. Clinton Parrent, Jr., an alumnus of the college (class of 1958)

Next is Burrow Hall, formerly the Burrow Library. Burrow was made possible by a gift of $600,000 by Aaron Knox Burrow and his wife Catherine Walter Burrow made in 1950 (about $6.7 million in 2021 value). Burrow made a fortune selling cotton linters. It is one of two buildings on campus to carry their name (see below). Burrow was the son of a Presbyterian minister from Macedonia, Tennessee. The building was designed by local architects Walk C. Jones and Walk C. Jones, Jr. Groundbreaking for the library took place on January 5, 1951 and was dedicated on October 8, 1953. Aaron Burrow (1871-1968) served as a Director of the college from 1945 to 1962. Portraits of the Burrow's hang in the current Paul Barret, Jr., Library as does a rendering of Burrow Library (see below). Two interesting bits about the library: the first photocopier was acquired in 1965 and in 1977 a rare book by President Thomas Jefferson was found in the stacks. Today a variety of administrative offices are housed in the building. Below are three photos of the main entrance to Burrow Hall, the last capturing the statue of Charles Diehl which stands before it. 

As the main person responsible for the move to Memphis and the driving force behind the gothic style of the campus, it is only fitting that a statue of Diehl is on such a prominent location on campus. The statue was completed by Ted Rust of the now defunct Memphis College of Art. Rust completed the statue in 1983. An interesting aspect of the statue is the fact that Diehl is wearing an open doctoral gown. If you're an academic nerd (I am), you probably know that in the U.S. we typically wear our gowns closed. Academic regalia in the U.S. typically have a zipper in front and for the most part we wear them zipped. In Europe, the tradition is to wear it open. Here, you can clearly see that Diehl's gown is open despite the fact that he was a graduate of Johns Hopkins and Princeton. It could be related to the era although both institutions today wear their gowns closed. If you peruse photos from the early 20th century, some U.S. academics wore their gowns in the European fashion. Perhaps in the past Princeton graduates followed European fashion. It is also notable that he does not wear a cap or tam. 

The next set of photos are of the Paul Barrett, Jr. Library. I placed these here, deliberately following Burrow Hall which had previously served as the library. Thus, the new library follows the old in this post. The connection between the two structures is, however, not merely the fact that both are/were libraries. The library was made possible, in part, by a large gift from the Paul Barret, Jr., Trust. Barret was both an alumnus of the college (class of 1946), he was also the nephew of Aaron and Catherine Burrow. So the library continues to be housed in a structure made possible by the same family. Groundbreaking for the building occurred in September, 2001, and the building was completed in August, 2005. It was formally dedicated on October 7, 2005. Construction cost around $35 million or around $48 million in 2021 dollars. Among other business endeavors, Barret was chairman of the Barretville Bank and Trust Company. Designed by architectural firm Hanbury Evans Wright and Vlattas, the building comes in at 136,000 square feet. It houses a collection of more than 280,000 volumes. The first six photos are of the west side exterior of the building. Just inside the doorway is an entry hall with interior entrances on either side. The next thirteen photos are of various interior views. On the ground floor on the north side of the building are checkout locations, computer terminals, and reference materials as seen in photos seven through twelve. A grand staircase is on the north side of the structure. Staff were decorating a Christmas tree on the second floor as can be seen in photo fifteen. The second floor stacks can be seen in photos sixteen through nineteen. It is an opulent space. Does your library have custom carpet with your university seal? Well, Rhodes does!  Does your library have overstuffed leather chairs? Well, Rhodes has those as well! A large endowment can provide many things. Views of the library's covered walkway follow as do photos of the Burrow's and the old Burrow Library (Burrow Hall). 

Next we have Clough Hall. Clough opened in early 1970 and was formally dedicated on October 14th that year. Since it opened, it has been the home to the departments of anthropology and sociology, psychology, and art. It also houses the Clough-Hanson Gallery of Art. Dewitt Clough gave funds to create the building in honor of his sister Jessie Clough. Ms. Clough had taught art in the Memphis city schools for many years. In 1919, she took a world trip along with two of her students - Floy and Etta Hanson - during which she acquired many art pieces. She died in 1940, and the Hanson sisters donated her art collection to the college. Many years later, Dewitt remarked to his wife that they should do something for "the college that held (her) things". Clough Hall is the result.

The building was designed by Rhodes alumnus Wells Awsumb of the Memphis architectural firm George Awsumb and Sons. Construction costs came in at about $1.4 million (about $10.6 million in December 2021 value). Clad in the familiar stone with the slate roof common to campus, Clough differs from earlier structures by having large, single pane windows.

The set below is of the ​Frazier Jelke Science Center, home to the Rhodes' Department of Biology. Construction of the building began in 1966. It is physically connected to Rhodes Tower which was built at the same time. You can see a great photos of their construction here and here. Also completed during this time was Ohlendorf Hall (originally named the Mathematics Building). You can view a photo of all three well under construction in September 1967 here. I love how the handrails on the amphitheater side and the fencing around the structure carry the gothic arch theme! Interestingly, fossils of a mastodon were found when the site was being excavated. The building was dedicated on October 19, 1968. You can see Ohlendorf Hall in the background of the first photo, and the then-named Thomas W. Briggs Student Center (now simply referred to as Briggs Hall) in the background of the last photo.

As noted above, Peyton Nalle Rhodes Tower was constructed in conjunction with the Frazier Jelke Science Center. Rhodes spent nearly forty years at the college. He was a professor of physics from 1926 to 1949 and then president from 1949 to 1965. When it was being constructed it was simply called the Physics Tower. Given Rhodes' connection to the building, students referred to the building as "Peyton's Place" for some time. A good view of the building when under construction can be seen here. Aside from the stonework and few other features, Rhodes Tower does not exhibit the same attention to gothic details as those structures that came before or after it. Standing on the west side of the building is the Lynx Statue. The Rhodes mascot is the lynx, and this particular statue was designed and created by a then current student - Ann Moore, class of 1988. Apparently, President Diehl chose the mascot personally in 1923.

Next we have Berthold S. Kennedy Hall, another of the original buildings on campus designed by Hibbs and Klauder. Kennedy began its life with the simple name "Science Hall". The building sits adjacent to Southwestern Hall on the south, the Frazier Jelke Science Center on the east, and the Catherine Walters Burrow Refectory on the west. The arches and the tall windows give the building an impressive feel despite the fact that is diminutive in relation to nearby Rhodes Tower. The building is named for alumnus Dr. Berthold S. Kennedy. 

Photos five through seven are of the Catherine Walters Burrow Refectory. The second Burrow building on campus, the refectory opened in 1957. It was designed by architect H. Clinton Parrent (who also designed the Halliburton Tower on campus). Aaron Burrow donated the bulk of the funds to build the structure and personally raised most of the rest himself. Ground breaking occurred in 1955. In the last photo, you can see Robb Hall, one of the first residence halls on campus. Robb was completed in the summer of 1925 along with White Hall. Robb and White remain residence halls to this day. The building's name is a carryover from the college's Clarksville campus. A Robb Hall was built there on land gifted to the college by one of its trustees, Lt. Colonel Alfred Robb. Robb was killed at Fort Donelson during the Civil War when Union troops captured the base.  

The sculpture seen in photos four and six are of the piece Campus Life by Lawrence Anthony. It sits on the green beside Kennedy. The fourth was taken from within the vaulted arches of the entryway to Kennedy and the sixth just outside. In both cases, you can see the Burrow Refectory in the background. I had meant to get a close up of the piece, but got distracted talking with some students and forgot to go back to it. You may not be able to tell it from the distance from which these were taken, but the piece consists of figures meant to represent the type of crowd you may see when walking across campus. One is pushing a bicycle, one has a guitar case, and another is carrying books. I believe the "cobwebs" are leftover from Halloween. Anthony was on faculty at Rhodes and completed the piece in 1977.

Sitting just to the north of Rhodes Tower is a relatively new addition to campus, Robertson Hall, seen in the first nine photos below. Robertson encompasses nearly 55,000 square feet of office and lab space. Groundbreaking for the building occurred in June 2015 and completed in June 2017. It was formally dedicated on August 31, 2017. The building is named for alumni Lola (class of 1933) and Charles Robertson (class of 1929). It was designed by the Virginia-based architectural firm Hanbury. Hanbury architects have designed a plethora of academic buildings at colleges and universities across the U.S. The building anchors the south end of Troutt Quad (see below). The building cost $30 million. It connects to Frazier Jelke below ground. The first photo is of three structures in front of the south side entrance. Photos two through four are of the south entrance; photos five through seven are of the west side of the building. The beautiful gingko tree see in photos eight and nine is at the north end of the building near Hassell Hall (see below).

Located just to the west of Robertson is Briggs Hall, seen here in photos ten through twelve. Briggs began life as the Thomas W. Briggs Student Center. The building was dedicated on May 2, 1966 and was the student union on campus for many years. It is named in honor of its primary benefactor, Thomas W. Briggs. Briggs founded the Welcome Wagon Company here in Memphis in 1928. It would go on to be an international success. He passed in 1964, but the foundation he created continues to donate to various nonprofits to this day. Its latest renovation in 2017 transitioned the building into a computer science facility. The Hanbury architectural firm handled this renovation. The south side of the building can be seen in photos eleven (with the Paul Barrett, Jr., library in the background) and twelve (with Robertson on the right). 

Behind Briggs is Trout Quad, named for former Rhodes president William E. Troutt. Troutt was a well liked president and was particularly successful at raising funds for the college. The quad is bounded by Briggs on the south, Barrett on the west, Robertson and Hassell on the east, and Bryan Campus Life Center on the north. The sundial seen in the last two photos sits at the northern terminus of the quad. Bryan can be seen in the background of the thirteenth photo.

Adjacent to Briggs and connected to Jelke is ​Ohlendorf Hall. The building opened in 1968 and for nearly three decades was called the Mathematics Building. The math department remains the principal tenant of the building, but it was renamed in 1996 for Harold and Bruce Ohlendorf. Harold was an alumnus of the college (class of 1931). The first photo shows the south side of the building and its connection to Jelke. Within the building is the Buckman Mathematics Library. Dedicated on October 19, 1968, the library was named in honor of Dr. Stanley Buckman. Largely empty of books during my visit, it seems more of a reading room these days. Buckman was a biochemist and the founder of Buckman Laboratories which maintains its international headquarters in Memphis to this day. Buckman Hall (see below), is also named for him and his wife Mertie. Neither went to Rhodes, but they were active supporters of education and in the Memphis area. You can read more about them here. 

Next we have Hassell Hall. Hassell was completed in 1983 and the building is clad in over 450 tons of the iconic stone. Hassell was designed by Metcalf Crump, a Memphis based architect. Crump, a native of Memphis, was educated at The University of the South (Sewanee), another institution with beautiful stone clad gothic buildings and a green campus. Crump also graduated with baccalaureate and master's degrees in architecture from Harvard. His father, Charles Metcalf Crump was an alumnus of Rhodes (class of 1934). The Music Department is housed in the building which was formally dedicated on April 27, 1984. Martin, Cole, Dando, and Robertson were the builders. As can be seen in the second photo, the building was made possible by a donation from Thomas F. Hassell, Pauline Hassell Nicholson, and Frances Hassell-Wade. I could not find out much about the Hassell's, but Rhodes has several photos of them on their website. You can view a photo of Thomas Hassell with then Rhodes president James H. Daughdrill in 1985 here. The sisters Pauline Hassell-Nicolson and Frances Hassell-Wade and Daughdrill are together in a groundbreaking ceremony for the building in 1982 can be seen here. A photo of Pauline Hassell-Nicolson and Frances Hassell-Wade (and I believe the grandsons of one or the other) along with architect Crump and president Daughdrill at the April 1984 dedication here.

Below we have Buckman Hall. I mentioned the Buckman's earlier in this post when discussing Ohlendorf Hall which contains the Buckman Library. Also like Ohlendorf, the building was designed by local architectural firm Metcalf Crump. The building sits on the south side of campus adjacent to Burrow Hall. The building opened in 1991.

The Bryan Campus Life Center, seen in the first eight photos below, is an activity complex anchored by an historic gymnasium on the west side. The second through fourth photos show this older component of the building. The entrance you see here is the original part of the building, the William Neely Mallory Memorial Gymnasium. Mallory was a alumnus of Yale (class of 1933). He served as Treasurer of the college for a time and was a board member. He joined the Army Air Force following Pearl Harbor where his actions led to the destruction of twenty-two bridges earning him the Legion of Merit. He was killed in action in February 1945 and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for actions. Groundbreaking for the building took place in 1953 and opened in 1954. It was designed by Parrent and cost about $1 million (or just over $10 million today) to build. Added to this was the Ruth Sherman Hyde Memorial Gymnasium, seen here from the northside in the fifth photo (situated to the east of the portions you see in photos two through four). Ruth Sherman Hyde was the daughter of Joseph R. Hyde, who founded a wholesale food company in Memphis in 1907 (Malone and Hyde). She passed in 1956 and the Hyde family gave the funds to construct the building. Her nephew, Joseph R. Hyde founded the large retail firm AutoZone which has donated considerable funds to my current employer, the University of Memphis. 
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Finally, photos six through eight show the newest addition, which sits further east of the Hyde addition. Designed by St. Louis, MO, architectural firm Hastings+Chivetta, it cost $22 million to complete (about $37 million in 2021 dollars). The Hasting+Chivetta firm has designed dozens of collegiate buildings and entire campus plans. They designed Larrick Student Center addition and the addition and renovation of the historic Carey Street Gym (circa 1891) at my previous employer Virginia Commonwealth University. The building officially opened on March 17, 1997. Within the building is a large events space called the McCallum Ballroom. The room is named for Robert and Virginia McCallum. Robert was chair of the Rhodes Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1981. 

This set closes with two photos of Crain Field & Wolfe Track. My oldest son runs track, and we have been to Rhodes to watch him compete there. 

Below we have the Moore Infirmary. The building is named for Ethel Sivley Moore. Her husband, Moore Moore, Sr., was a physician here in Memphis who actively worked to have the college relocated here. Dr. Moore served on the college board of directors for thirty-four years and was board secretary for the majority of that time. He would pass away prior to the onset of construction. Ground was broken in 1961 and it was completed in 1962. A formal dedication was held on June 2 that year. You can see a photo of the ceremony here and here, and one of his sons with dedication plaque here. In addition to the student health clinic, the student counseling center is housed in the building today. The first photo below is the main entrance doorway, followed by photos of the dedicatory plaque and the west side of the building which bounds the West Village residence hall. 

Just to the north and to the west of the Moore Infirmary are two dormitories - West Village and Glassell. 

West Village is the newest dorm on campus. Named for its location on the west side of campus, the building opened in 2012 and has space for up to 141 residents. Ground clearing was started in late winter 2011. The greenspace between West Village and the Catherine Burrow Refectory is known as Craddock Quad, seen here in the first photo. It was a gift of the Craddock family, several of whom are alumni of the college. West Village follows in the remaining photos. Following the path of the walkway from the quad (heading west), you see the southern side of the building in the next five photos. The second photo is the east end of the building and south side. The third photo shows a walkway through the middle of the structure (I call these arcades, but that may not be the correct term). The fourth through sixth photos are of the south elevation proper, and the last photo is the west (back) side of the building. The LEED® Silver Certified structure was designed by Hanbury and comes in 52,000 square feet.

Below is another set of dorms, in this case a set that was created to serve women. The first photo below is Voorhies Hall. It sits to the east of Clough and Burrow. Ground was broken for the building in 1946. The bulk of the funds used for its construction were a gift from the estate of Emma Denie Voorhies. An interesting bit of trivia about Voorhies - according the Rhodes website, inner spring mattresses were not available to residents until 1958! Directly attached to Voorhies is Margaret Townsend Hall, seen here in the second photo. It is named for the first female faculty member of the college and its first Dean of Women. It was dedicated in a ceremony on June 3, 1961.

Behind is the Trezevant residence hall seen here in the next three photos. Groundbreaking for Trezevant was in 1957 (you can see a photo of the building under construction here). It was known as East Hall until 1967 when it was dedicated to Suzanne Trezevant Little. Her husband, Edward H. Little, gave funds to Rhodes which led to the building being named in her honor. He was former CEO and President of Colgate-Palmolive. There is a new residence hall complex located behind (to the east) of Trezevant which now carries the East name - East Village. The sixth photo below is part of that complex, East Village A. East Village is home to upper division students and the complex offers apartment-style accommodations. The complex opened in 2001.

Photos seven through twelve are of Williford Hall. Williford was the last structure built during the 1960's. It was designed by local Memphis architecture firm McGhee-Nicholson Associates (now McGhee Nicholson Burke). The firm has designed numerous collegiate buildings across the country. It was renamed for Anne Marie Caskey Williford, former Dean of Women and Dean of Students. She was also an alumnae of the college (class of 1952). I love the gothic arch gate! A photo of her family at the rededication ceremony can be seen here.

The last two photos are of Blount Hall. Blount opened in 1986 and was initially called simply "New Dorm". It was rededicated on October 17, 1996, in honor of Carolyn and Wynton Blount (sometimes misspelled "Winton"). Blount, a self-made millionaire and philanthropist, was also the 59th Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service. He and wife Carolyn gave to many causes and universities. Read more about him here. To the left of Blount in the last photo is Robinson Hall. Originally named East Hall when it opened in 1985, it was renamed in honor of James D. Robinson in December, 1989. Robinson was a local businessman and developer who founded the Auto-Chlor company.

Earlier in this post, the Robb residence hall could be seen at the point where it nears the Catherine Burrow Refectory. Robb is physically connected to two other residence halls, White and Ellett, which are also directly adjacent to a third, Bellingrath. Along with Robb, White was one of the first dorms on campus. The first photo below is the gateway between White and Ellett which leads to the courtyard beyond. Robb and White were completed in time for the start of the fall 1925 semester. White Hall was originally known as Calvin Hall but was renamed on November 13, 1947, in honor of Dr. Gordon White, a dentist from Nashville. In the first photo, to the right would be White Hall and to the left Ellett. Ellett was added to this complex of dorms twenty years after White and Robb, but its foundation was laid down at the same time in 1925. Construction on Ellett began in 1946 and was completed in 1947. The name was not added until December 18, 1956. It is named for Edward Coleman Ellett, a noted Memphian ophthalmologist. He was the first dean of the University of Tennessee School of Medicine (now part of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center here in Memphis) and held many leadership positions in medical societies and other organizations. A statue of him is located at the UTHSC to this day. You can read more about him here. You can also see photos of the dedication ceremony in 1956 here and here. As you pass through the cloister seen in the first photo, you arrive in a quadrangle seen in the second. The structure you see in the second photo is the Bellingrath Hall. Bellingrath opened in 1961 and is named in honor of Walter Bellingrath, a notable donor to the college. He and his brother acquired the first Coca-Cola bottling franchise in southern Alabama. You can read more about him here. A photo of the building under construction may be found here.

History has it that Diehl was keen on having a grand formal entrance to campus and this desire was the impetus for the Ashner Gateway, seen below. The gateway flanks Thomas Lane. Each pillar is eleven feet tall and are toped by lynx which hold the Rhodes coat of arms. The gateway is awesome in appearance. I love the light fixtures!

The original campus in Clarksville would not sit idle for too long after Southwestern's departure for Memphis. In 1927, the Tennessee General Assembly established a new two-year college to be named after the then sitting governor Austin Peay. The Austin Peay Normal School would take over the Clarksville campus and it remains there today as Austin Peay State University (APSU). I hope to post about APSU in the future.
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There have been several books written about Rhodes. I have read two of them and can recommend them both. For a history of the institution from 1848-1948, check out the aforementioned book Southwestern at Memphis, 1848 - 1948 by Waller Raymond Cooper (John Knox Press, 1949). The UofM has a signed copy of the book in its collection. It is a good book with one serious shortcoming - it has no index (which made finding information for this post quite difficult at times). For an awesome review of the campus and its architecture I highly recommend Collegiate Gothic: The Architecture of Rhodes College by William Morgan (University of Missouri Press, 1989). 

If you have gone to college, you have no doubt lived in a residence hall. Dorms are an integral part of campus life and something that incoming students, fresh out of high school and free from parental rules, think about quite a bit. After the first year, the number of students residing in dorms goes down and there is typically a massive drop off thereafter. The freedom (from parents) of dorm life quickly give rise to the desire to move off campus. The reasons for the desire to move are many. Dorm rooms are typically small and shared, and thus students today find that they have less personal space in their dorm than they did in their rooms at home. Another factor is the fact that students who live in dorms never leave their workplace. When I went to college, my dorm room faced the campus and from my room I could see every place I had to “go to work”. For a first-year student, that is not a big deal, but over time it gets to you psychologically. Dorms can also be quite loud compared to off campus housing where non-students simply will not tolerate blaring music or other noise in the small hours. The frivolity of campus life quickly becomes intolerable if you cannot sleep.

Perhaps the biggest driver of the exodus from campus is the condition of dorms – their cleanliness and upkeep. In others, it is the design. For the former, I know that one of the biggest complaints I had when living in the dorms as an undergraduate was the condition of the buildings. Although not unlivable, the dorms on my campus in the late 1980’s were generally unkempt, had heating, air conditioning, and plumbing problems on a routine basis, and were frequently inhabited by more roaches than people. In one case, that latter problem was a full-blown infestation that should have resulted in the building being closed for fumigation. We joked that the roaches in the building complained about all the people running around. The buildings were only about twenty years old at that point and there was really no excuse for them being in such a condition. The fact that the university allowed the building to get into that shape and charged people to live in it still strikes me as unforgiveable. It was intolerable and I have never forgotten the university turning a blind eye to us by letting that be the case.

As for design, the layout and look of dorms have varied quite a bit over time both due to economics and fashion. For example, my doctoral alma mater’s first two dorms were scaled back thanks to the Great Depression. Those buildings are ornate by today’s standards but were reduced in scale from what was originally planned and their roofs – envisioned as tile covered slopes – were changed to flat surfaces which were cheaper to install. Even without such dire times, budgets in academe always seem to be limited and dorms are an easy option to slight in terms of funding.

Naturally, aesthetics change. What is fashionable at one point will not be at another. Needs change as well. The explosion of students after WWII put a tremendous strain on all campus buildings as did the flood of the Baby Boomers a generation later. On many campuses, the GI Bill related rush of students after WWII required the construction of temporary structures and in many cases the use of trailers. The mass of Baby Boomers entering college was foretold by their entry into K-12, and more permanent solutions were developed. The dorms that dominated my undergraduate campus in the 1980’s were of this latter generation, and tended to be mid-rise structures with little features about them aside from being large boxes.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a box design. In fact, a simple design devoid of multiple angles and corners can be both cheaper to build and more energy efficient. If the scale is off, however, they can be abysmal especially to those who have to dwell in them. A woman I dated as an undergraduate who went to a different university described our dorms at the University of Tennessee as looking like “something straight out of the Soviet Union or East Germany”. I wouldn’t go quite that far but I understood her point. They were nondescript hulking masses that had no outward appeal and functional interiors that were even less notable.

In the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s, the big box dorm seemed to be going away. Smaller apartment-building style residence halls were going up all over the country. The smaller scale had them fit in better with their campus counterparts. They were much more modern in terms of the square footage provided per resident, and in many cases, they actually had a bit of architectural flair. Only time will tell what will happen in the future.

All of this came to mind as I read the academic news in the last couple of weeks. A dorm is being planned at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A couple of pieces about the building have appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Los Angeles Times, and on insidehighered.com. Although it is not unusual for news of a building to make the Chronicle, this one stands out for having not one, but two pieces appear in that outlet. You can gather that means something, and in this case, it is not good. The building is not even under construction at this point, but it is already causing a stir.

Munger Hall is to be an 11-story behemoth on the UCSB campus and will – if the current plans are followed – house about 4,500 students. Yes, you read that correctly, 4,500 students. The building will be the result of a $200 million donation by billionaire Charlie Munger, for whom the building will be named. But Munger is not merely the benefactor of the building, he is also the principal architect. Munger made his wealth via his work with Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway. He has no training in architecture, but this is not the first building he has designed. The Munger Graduate Residence at the University of Michigan was also his. But the size of the building and the fact that Munger has no training in architecture are not the main complaints being aired about the UCSB project. Although it is hard to imagine the structure not overwhelming its surroundings, it is the lack of a certain feature that has drawn the most ire. You see, the rooms of this residence hall will be suites with eight bedrooms, a kitchen, bath, a common area, and a single window. Not a single window per bedroom. Just a single window in the common area above the kitchen sink. Eight bedrooms and no windows! Some 94% of student living space will be devoid of an external view of any kind. The bedrooms are designed to have “false windows”, a light roughly the size of a typical rectangular window.

A consulting architect for the project, Dennis J. McFadden resigned and penned a scathing op-ed in the LA Times (see it here). He described it, among other terms, as “destructive”. He noted that over a century ago, New York City outlawed windowless living spaces in the New York Tenement House Act. The building would come in at some 1.68 million square feet, which McFadden noted is larger than Dodgers Stadium in LA! Plus, the building would only have two sets of doors.

I have had an office without a window, and I can tell you it was not a pleasant experience. I would lose track of time, have no idea what the weather was like, and worse. After a few weeks of being in that office on a daily basis, I found that would get dazed and dizzy at times (and that would happen within only a few minutes). I would absolutely hate to have a bedroom without a window. I also would not want my sons to live in such a place. I will go so far as to I don’t think it would be a humane space. If the dorms I resided in were like a Soviet housing block, this seems more like a prison block!
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I will let you draw your own conclusions. In addition to McFadden’s op-ed, you can read about the project here, here, here, and here.

The future of residence halls is always in question. We are in the middle of the biggest decline in traditional college-aged students in modern history. That alone will likely shape the dorm environment. I don't know if it will result in smaller buildings being built, or simply no new construction at all. On the other hand, urban serving institutions have and are continuing to build dorms to provide an economical alternative to housing in the competitive environment. Only time will tell.

Today’s post takes us to Alabama. I was in Huntsville and had the opportunity to visit the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) on a very early Sunday morning this month. UAH is the smallest of the three institutions in the University of Alabama System (the other two being the flagship campus in Tuscaloosa and the urban campus in Birmingham). Total enrollment is a shade under 10,000 students. Community leaders in Huntsville, which is also the home to the public Alabama A&M University, had worked for several years to secure an extension campus of the University of Alabama. The approval came in November 1949 and classes began at the then named University of Alabama Huntsville Center the following year (1950 is considered the official start date of the university). Classes began in the West Huntsville High School and enrollment the first semester was 147. Enrollment growth was quick and substantial. By the late 1950’s, the university began looking for a site that could not only serve the current enrollment, but which would allow the institution to continue to grow well into the future. The Center offered coursework but did not confer degrees as it was an extension site of the main campus in Tuscaloosa.

Community leaders and local employers, however, wanted a more substantive presence. In addition to being the home of Alabama A&M, Huntsville was also the site of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal. Developed as a chemical weapons facility during World War II, Redstone would become the base of rocket and missile development for the Army. When the Space Race heated up after the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite, the Marshall Space Flight Center would be located there. At the dawn of the 1960’s, tens of thousands of employees were being hired for the various space and missile programs. The location of such important research and development centers and the shear size of the workforce there led to a call to increase the size of the Huntsville Center into a full-fledged university. Even before the move to the current site, a Joint Army/Marshall Flight Center committee, led by famous engineer Werner von Braun, issued a report calling for the creation of what was called the University of Alabama Research Institute. Directed to President Frank A. Rose of the main campus, the June 13, 1960 proposal was jointly signed by von Braun and Lieutenant General August Schomburg was then in command at Redstone. It was viewed favorably by the administration in Tuscaloosa and Dr. F. H. Mitchell was named Interim Director on October 1, 1960. An 83-acre site was chosen as the new home to the school which would provide the basis for the current campus. The first building to be opened on the new campus was Morton Hall, completed in 1961. Calls by the community in general and specifically by von Braun and NASA Administrator James E. Webb led the state to issue a bond initiative for $3 million (about $27.5 million today) to support the growing institution.

The infusion of funds would allow for the acquisition of an additional 200 acres and two new buildings. Ground was broken on December 20, 1962 for what would become Spragins Hall. Madison Hall (named for the county in which the campus is located) followed shortly thereafter. These developments helped the campus to move from being a “center” of the University of Alabama to being a branch campus. This allowed the university to offer a full baccalaureate curriculum to in-coming students in 1964. The Alabama class of 1968 had the first cohort of students whose entire education was acquired in Huntsville. Although the main commencement was held in Tuscaloosa, a ceremony was also held in Huntsville. The university would acquire its present name in September 1966. In 1969, the university opened Wilson Hall, the Louis Salmon Library, and the University Center. With the curriculum and facilities in-place, the university was made an autonomous that year (as was UAB).

A unique feature of the university is its foundation. Just about every college and university in the nation has a foundation, a non-profit entity that holds and invests donor dollars and doles out funds to support the institution. The UAH Foundation is one of the very few, at least among public institutions, that was created prior to the establishment of the school. The UAH Foundation began life as the Research Sites Foundation in 1956, 13 years prior to the campus becoming independent.

The campus is very nice with lots of green spaces and even its own pond. Granted, I was there on an early Sunday morning, but I was impressed by just how clean the place was. The campus is very well laid out. The campus extends to just over 500 acres, most of which is east of Sparkman Drive and south of University Drive. The place has a very "young" feel to it and rightfully so. Thirteen buildings went up across campus in the thirteen year period from 2003 to 2016. I was at Virginia Commonwealth University for many years and it too had an incredible amount of building going on during that period. In both cases, the growth did not take away from but rather improved campus.

The photos below begin at the main entrance on Sparkman Drive. The main entrance is flanked by brick walls with the university name and logo, as seen in the first photo. You drive across a bridge with a pond on either side followed by a large open green space as seen in the following three photos. 

The first set of photos is the Invention to Innovation Center (I2C), which is one of the newest structures on campus. The I2C is a research-oriented structure that houses UAH and community technology companies in tandem. Start-ups can rent space in the facility and work with UAH to develop and implement new technologies and business endeavors. The three-story building contains some 45,000 square feet of space and is linked to the Business Administration Building. Funding for the structure came from the State of Alabama, Madison County, the City of Huntsville, and a $5 million donation from Dr. Dorothy Davidson. Dr. Davidson had a long career with various units of the Federal government. She and her husband Dr. Julian Davidson founded the Davidson Technologies Company in Huntsville in 1996. Together, they had a long history of philanthropy in the Huntsville area (read more about her here). The first two photos are of the east façade of the building (facing the Salmon library), and the last two are of the west side.

Next, we have nine photos of the M. Louis Salmon Library. Named for Maurice Louis Salmon Jr., the library was one of the three buildings that opened in succession in 1969. A two-time alumnus of the University of Alabama (class of 1943 and 1948), Salmon came to Huntsville as an attorney in his father in law’s practice. A strong supporter of the Huntsville community, he served on the UAH Foundation for many years and chaired that group from 1986 to 1993. The library was named in his honor 1996. The building has four levels, one of which is below grade.

Interestingly, the walkway that you see at the front of the building is located on a former street. Now used for pedestrian traffic only, photos online show a street there as recently as 2003 (see here for example). I ran across the photo in the link while looking for information about the building and the man for whom it is named. I reached out to the person who posted it for more information. That happened to be David Moore, who is Director of the Library. He graciously provided me with a great deal of information that is used throughout this post. I asked him when the change from street to sidewalk happened and he wrote:

“The street you are referring to in front of the library was actually a round-about, that connected to a parking lot, and it went away in 2013. The president at the time wanted to remove it to make room for a new greenway that would run north-south and connect the campus together better. I went back in my email to verify, and the area was closed to the public on October 13, 2013, with renovation beginning soon after, and completed in the spring of 2014. Greenway construction is still ongoing, with the most recent work happening on the library’s east side right now”

He also clued me into to the fact that the library has digitized photos and documents from the UAH Special Collections’ archive. I have links to historic photos for several of the buildings I photographed included as you go further into today’s post all thanks to his providing information.

In looking at the building when I was there, I assumed it was built in two stages as space was needed. I could visualize the front (south side) and the back (north side) being built separately. However, as Director Moore noted, it is not two but three elements that were completed at different times. He noted that:

“I should add that the library building actually represents 3 different construction projects, our north tower (original building) built in 1969, the Central tower (1976) and the South Tower (2001). Such construction makes for an interesting shaped building with lots of nooks and corners. The south tower is what you see as the main entrance. It was named the Salmon Library in 1996 after an endowment given by his wife 3 years after his death.”

A can view an invitation to the dedication here and a speech given by Patrick Richardson at the event here.

You can see some great historic photos of the library online. Links to views of the building's exterior can be found here, here, here, here, and here. Links to interior photos (including some with some old computers and a dot matrix printer from when I was young) can be found here, here, and here. My thanks again to Director Moore for his time and thoughtfulness in providing such great information!

The next set of photos are of the Nursing Building. The first photo is the main entrance of the building on the west side of the structure. The Nursing Building was one of the few buildings open on the Sunday morning when I visited, and hence the only one besides the Charger Union for which I have interior photos. The first photo is the main entrance on the west side of the building. I loved the fall display at the front door (the second and third photos) with a Care Crow! The fourth through sixth photos are the interior just inside the main door at the rotunda as seen in the first photo. The seventh photo is a sitting area just outside the lecture hall seen in the eighth photo and adjacent to the exterior shot in the ninth photo. The ninth photo is the east façade of the building. The last photo, an obverse view from the same spot as the ninth photo, is an art installation on the hillside beyond the building.

I thought the building was relatively new, but it opened in 1974. It was enlarged and modernized in a two-phase process beginning in 2014. The addition is the part you see in the first photo. The cost of the addition and renovation came in at about $17 million. The addition and the original portions of the building are nearly identical in terms of outward appearance, and his my thinking that it was all relatively new. Previously, part of the College of Nursing was housed in Wilson Hall but the addition allowed it all to be contained in the same building. The Salmon Library has four historic photos of the building you can  online view here, here, here, and here. Their photos are from sometime in the 1980's, although a precise date is not given.

​Wilson Hall was the first of three buildings on the UAH campus completed just as the university transitioned to independence from the main campus in Tuscaloosa. The building is named in honor of Dr. Harold Wilson, the first African American Dean of the UAH College of Science. Prior to the name change, it was known as the Science and Engineering Building. Wilson was on faculty in the Department of Biology, which he joined in 1972 and chaired from 1974 to 1978. He was dean from 1984 until his death in January 1991. The building was named in his honor on May 14, 1993. The building is home to a variety of units including arts (with its own gallery and theater) and the student health clinic. The first photo is the east façade facing the Salmon Library. The second photo is an art piece that is situated in a green space between Wilson and Salmon. The third photo is the west side of the building and a close up of a historic marker by the entrance on that side. A photo of members of his family viewing his portrait inside the building on the day it was named in his honor may be seen here. 

Charger Union is another new building on campus. The building was designed by Mackey Mitchell Architects of St. Louis, MO and local Huntsville firm TurnerBatson. If you are interested in campus architecture, Mackey Mitchell is a firm you probably know as they are a big player in that arena. They have designed two buildings at my doctoral alma mater Texas Tech (the West Village Residence Halls [along with Whiting-Turner and BGK Architects] and the Honors Residence Hall). The 96,000 square foot facility has a variety of food services, study and meeting rooms, game rooms, and a 332-seat theater. The building, which opened in 2014, cost about $25 million (about $29 million today). The building anchors the southern portion of the campus at Holmes Avenue. The first four photos are the north façade. The fourth photo highlights the enclosed bridge from the main part of the building (on the right) to the theater. The fifth photo is the ground-level entrance to the theater. The remaining photos are of the inside of the building, which had just opened at 7am few minutes before my arrival. The name Charger Union is taken from the mascot name (the Chargers) for the university. The original mascot was the Uhlan (Lithuanian and Polish cavalry units were called the Uhlan). At some point the name was changed to the Uhlan Chargers to give both the sense of movement and excitement and to reflect the area’s importance in electricity production as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority power generation system. Over time, the Uhlan part was dropped, and the name was settled as merely the Chargers.

The Union has a number of great nods to the mascot. The first can be seen in the sixth through eighth photos. A great sculpture by Peter Robinson Smith of a horse may be found to the left of the information desk on the first floor. The UAH official colors are blue and white (with black as an accent), and the color theme is seen throughout the building as well as can be seen in the furniture and color accents in these photos. The horse theme is also seen in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth photos of this set. These hang from the ceiling on the north side of the structure and form a stampede over a seating area. The sixteenth photo is a collection of student-created art on the second floor. The seventeenth photo is an example of branding inside one of the meeting rooms on the second floor.
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The next two photos are the bridge to the theater as seen from the inside. The twentieth photo was taken out of window on the bridge looking south over a quad. I love the wide-open green spaces on the UAH campus, and this is one of the best ones and it is appropriately known as the Greenway. The 21st photo is a similar view captured from a balcony. The 22nd photo again highlights the branding in the building, this time with an inspirational quote amid a background of information about the goals and purpose of the university by an elevator on the second floor. The 23rd photo is a view of the central seating area on the first floor as viewed from the second. the 24th and 25th photos are the south façade. Although not visible here, part of this side of the building is used as a projection screen for movies with people sitting on the Greenway to watch. The last photo is a view southward along the Greenway from the same position as the previous photo looking northward toward the Union.

Residence halls tend to not be the most the aesthetically pleasing structures (although the two mentioned above at Texas Tech designed by Mackey Mitchell Architects are clear exceptions). Other exceptions are out there of course. At one time, mostly before WWII, you would find dorms going up that closely matched their campus themes and some were quite attractive. The post-war surge in students followed by the Baby Boomer Generation going to college in massive numbers created such demands for space that many new dorms were simply mid-rise boxes with little attachment to the campus architecture except for perhaps use of the same color brick. More recent additions have at least attempted to be more than unadorned boxes, at least when available funding is sufficient to allow for some interesting features. Although there is nothing at all wrong with a box design (in many cases, a simple rectangular box is both less expensive to build and potentially more energy efficient), the lack of style can be both blasé and, for those who live in them, depressing. The latter can certainly be the case when the scale of the building is out of place with the rest of campus. During my time as an undergraduate I lived in such a dorm and it was not what I would call an inviting space.

The newest residence hall complex on the UAH campus are more recent additions and thankfully have some interesting aspects to them. The first six photos below are of Charger Village, connecting structures that were built in two stages. The first photo below is the original structure. Opened in 2010, this portion of the complex is a five-story structure which can accommodate about 400 residents. Currently, the building houses students at the sophomore and above level in suites with common areas and kitchenettes. In the second, third, and fourth photos, this is the part of the complex on the left. On the right of those photos and in the sixth photo is the second phase of the structure, which sits to the south of the original portion. All of the first four photos were taken on the west side (Greenway side) of the building looking eastward. The addition, which opened in 2018 can also hold about 400 students in the same basic format. It too is meant for students at the sophomore level and above. The connection between the two buildings can be seen in the fourth photo. The fifth photo is of the original part of the complex. The sixth is the addition as seen from the other side of the complex. The seventh and eighth photos are of the courtyard area of the original part of the complex. The ninth and tenth photos are of the Greenway just to the west of the complex.
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Finally, the series closes with a photo of the mid-rise Central Campus Residence Hall. It is a rather plain box, which as I’ve said is not a particular favorite of mine, but I will say that the building has some attempts at individuality to it. The bay window feature which is repeated across the façade does break up the monotony a bit as does the blue awning. The seven-story building opened in 1991 and can house just over 400 students. It is dedicated to first year students. 

Next up is the Conference Training Center Building. The Conference Training Center is a unique looking structure that looks like something that might have appeared on Miami Vice back in the 1980’s. The white façade and curved awning give it that vibe to me which I like a great deal. It is a cool looking structure all the way around to me, but one of my favorite features has to be a glass walkway over the stairs leading to the below grade entrance! The building faces due east, and all of these photos are from that side of the building. It hosts conference spaces, a coffee shop, and some administrative offices. I was unable to find out much more about it online, but I will continue to look into it. The last photo is a UAH sign on the green in front of the building. This appears to be one of the old UAH signs/logos which once stood at campus entrances. You can view a historic photo of one here. It was closed when I was there and it left me wondering if the inside was equally unique. 

The photos below are of the Business Administration Building. The first and second photos were taken on the west side of the building. The first photo shows the main entrance which faces due south. The second photo is a seating area in the rear of the building. The third photo is a double staircase on the east side of the structure. The next two are photos of the green spaces on the east side of the building looking toward the Nursing Building. Last is a few of the east side of the building through those trees from further east. The Unfortunately, I was not able to learn much about the building online. You can see a photo of the Business Administration Building under construction here. There is another great historic photo of the building taken from sometime in the 1970’s (or so I guess from a car in the photo) available here. If you compare the photos below to the one available in this link, you can’t help but notice how much the trees have grown! It is easy to forget that although students, faculty, and staff come and go, things like these trees remain on campus for decades.

The first photo below is the Roberts Hall and Roberts Recital Hall complex. It was the first building on campus dedicated to the arts. The building was designed by local Huntsville architectural firm Jones, Crow, Mann, and Associates. The building got off to a rocky start. As originally envisioned, the Humanities Building as it was known initially, was meant to be much larger than the structure you see today. The main block was devised as a six-story structure as opposed to the four that actually went up. The reason came down to expense. The plan would cost more than 66% greater than the available budget. To fit the project to the available funds, two floors were eliminated on the block side, the recital hall’s size was reduced, and much of the acoustical dampening and insulation planned for the recital hall were never installed. Still, the building was occupied and continuously in use. In 1987, UAH President John C. Wright suggested renaming the building after Dr. Frances C. Roberts. Dr. Roberts came to the university as its first full-time faculty member in 1950 and would stay until 1980. She established the Department of History and would go on to be its chair. She also founded the university’s academic advisement center. The building would be renamed Frances Hall in honor on May 14, 1988. The structure has undergone several renovations over the years.

The second photo occurred, in part, by mistake. ​When I decided to visit UAH, there were several buildings I wanted to photograph. One of these was Morton Hall given that it was the first building on the campus. But I was a bit confused about my location when I took this photo. Yes, I had my phone with me and could have easily looked at my location on my map app. But it was very early on a Sunday, and I was convinced I was looking in the direction of only some residence halls. I wanted to get photos of the very building I was looking at (and dismissing as a dorm) and did not want to waste the brief time I had walking over to a random dorm. So, I took a quick snapshot of what I thought was a collection of dorms, not for posting but merely as a frame of reference when I was looking at the pictures later. It turns out that the building on the left in the image is Morton Hall. Such is life. The building on the right is a dorm - Frank Franz Hall.

The state legislature approved naming the first building on campus John R. Morton Hall in September 1961. It has remained one of the most iconic structures at UAH since. Although you cannot see them in this photo of the rear of the building, the red brick structure has a traditional collegiate look about it with a set of columns in the front. The building is named in honor of John R. Morton who was named Acting Director of UAH when it was founded as a center of the main campus in Tuscaloosa in 1949. It was under his guidance that the fledgling institution took form. The building underwent a substantial renovation and addition starting in 2018. When it opened in 1961, Morton had about 72,000 square feet of space. The renovation and addition increased this to about 118,000 square feet. The addition looks nothing like the original building. It has a modern look and glass walls with only a bit of brick on the façade. The project was initially set to cost about $20 million, but the final price came in at over $30.5 million. A unique feature of Morton is that there is an old cemetery behind it. The property was once part of a family farm, and three box graves and two headstones stand in the area.  
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Frank Franz was the fourth president of UAH. He came to Huntsville from West Virginia University where he was the provost for six years. His tenure at UAH began in July 1991. When he arrived, enrollment had been increasing as had course offerings and other university functions. However, thanks to the need to finance the growth and to an economic slowdown in the early 90's, the institution’s debt had also increased. He sold off some university assets and realigned the budget to address the deficit. Still, the growth in enrollment continued as did the need for additions to the campus. During his sixteen years in office, multiple new academic buildings went up on campus including the Olin B. King Technology Hall, the Shelby Center for Science and Technology, and the Robert Cramer Research Hall. Also built during his tenure was the North Campus Residence Hall, a Greek housing complex, and a dorm that would go on to carry his name. Franz Hall opened in 2003 at a cost of about $8.5 million (about $12.7 million today). The four-story building is home to the Honors College administration and housing for the Honors College students.

Hopefully, I can return to campus again and capture these buildings in greater detail and perhaps the interiors of other buildings on campus as well.

The first photo below is the Optics Building, a modern structure that would look at home in a research park and for good reason. The 110,000 square foot building was designed to house an optics research center that could rival any other facility in the nation. Indeed ,about 6,700 square feet of space in the building is dedicated to optics labs and test facilities. These labs form the core of the Center for Applied Optics and take up four floors of the building. These areas are vibration isolated from the rest of the structure. 
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Just to the south of the Optics Building is the ​Engineering Building, seen in the second photo. I could not find anything of substance about the history of the building online. I believe it was built in the 1980's, but I am not sure. 

The third through eighth photos are of the Student Services Building. This large structure is the first building you see if you enter campus via Knowledge Drive. The first three photos of the building (photos four, five, and six) are the front of the building facing west toward Sparkman Drive. The next three (photos seven, eight, and nine) are the back of the building as seen from the Greenway. The building encompasses 90,000 square feet and has a footprint of about ten acres. It was designed by Huntsville-based architectural firm Nola|Van Peursem. The construction costs of the building came in at about $24.5 million or about $28 million in today's dollars. The three-story structure has student services on the first and second floor and administrative offices on the third. I understand the interior is pretty spectacular - a lecture hall in the building apparently has large seating in the university's blue with the seal embroidered on the headrest. If I am ever back on campus I will try to get some photos of the inside.

This group concludes with one photo of the ​Shelby Center Center for Science and Technology. Shelby opened in 2007 and cost about $60 million (or roughly $79 million today). ​Shelby is a very large structure, coming in at about 205,000 square feet. It opened in October 2007 and cost some $60 million to build (just over $79 million now). The building is named for Richard C. Shelby, one of the two current U.S. Senators from Alabama. He has been a fixture in Alabama politics for decades and this is but one of several buildings at public universities in the state.

The first photo below is the Materials Sciences Building which sits south of (but which is connected to) the Optics Building. I was unable to find out much about it online unfortunately.

The post concludes with a building named for the man who was instrumental in getting the university the support it needed - Wernher von Braun Research Hall. Given his role in the university's nascent years, it is only appropriate that a building on campus would bear his name. Heck, given his role in the development of the space program he should have buildings on many campuses named after him. Given his history with the university you might imagine that a building named von Braun would be the largest on campus, or perhaps the most recent. Neither of these is the case. Indeed, the building was not constructed with intent of naming it for him. In fact, the building you see below did not get renamed in his honor until 2000. A first blush, that might seem like a slight but its not. The von Braun Research Hall was originally known as the University of Alabama Research Institute Building. The funding for its construction was secured in part through the actions of von Braun (and many others) who lobbied for bond measure to be passed to support it. So, it is fitting the building carries his name in multiple ways. 

UAH has a beautiful campus, and although I saw very few people during my early Sunday morning visit, everyone I did meet were very nice and welcoming. I hope to come back to Huntsville in the future and if so I will try to get photos of the buildings I missed during this visit. My thanks again to David Moore of the UAH Salmon Library for providing information and links for this post!

If you have two alma mater’s you sometimes have to make choices. If you donate, do you donate to both? Only to one? More to one than the other? The same is true for athletics. If the two teams do not directly compete, it may be easy to root for both. But does one take the edge from the other as being the one you really support? And just who do you support if they go head-to-head?

For many, these questions may not be relevant at all. I don’t know the numbers off the top of my head, but the vast majority of alumni do not make financial donations to their schools, at least in any given year. For those alumni who donate, however, the question must be addressed. A friend of mine who is a president of a major research university had an interesting take on donations. Although his institution receives more funds from undergraduate alumni donors than graduate alumni givers, he believes that it makes more sense for those who have completed graduate or professional school to donate to their graduate institution. The rationale? In large research universities, you are more likely to have one-on-one interaction with faculty (and hence a more meaningful experience) at your graduate institution than your undergraduate institution (at least if you attended a research institution as an undergraduate). I understand the rationale, at least in the abstract, but it is a complicated issue.

As for sports, another friend of mine who has since retired from academe once remarked that only your undergraduate alma mater mattered for intercollegiate athletics. His rationale was that by the time you got to graduate school, you should have matured out of the need to drape yourself in school colors and would also be so immersed in your undergraduate sports traditions by that point that your graduate institution should not really matter.

These things came to mind as my wife and I were talking about our winter holiday travel. We always take a trip during the holidays, typically to someplace warm and sunny. We had thought that perhaps this year we would go somewhere with colder weather. She is a native New Yorker and has been wanting to go to NYC for some time, but we haven’t had the opportunity. We have basically decided that if time (and the pandemic) allows, we will visit New York City prior to Christmas. Initially the idea was to see the sights, do some shopping, and take in a show. But then I realized something. Texas Tech will face Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic on December 7th. It seems I will have the chance to test my loyalty to one or the other institution that night. It will not be the first time for me or either basketball team. Tech travelled to Knoxville on December 3, 1953, and beat the Volunteers at home 88-71. Obviously, I was not at that game! But I have been in attendance at two of the more recent matchups in other sports.

On December 18, 1996, I was a doctoral student at Texas Tech when the Tennessee Women’s basketball team came to town. The Lady Vols beat the Lady Raiders that night in a game that was not quite as close as the final score of 79-71 might suggest. It was in the old Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and the place was packed. I had been on campus for four months having arrived at Tech with two degrees from UT. I wore a Lady Vols t-shirt (to the frustration of my date who was not pleased with my choice of attire!) and was loudly in favor of the ladies in orange. It was a good game, and the Lady Vols would go on to win their second national title in a row that season. They beat the Lady Raiders the season before and would do so again in 2005 and 2009. They have not played each other since.

The two have played each other in baseball twice and have split the games. Texas Tech won the first game in March 2008, 7-3 (a game played in Houston). Tennessee had the win in February 2020, 6-2 (a game played in Round Rock, TX). I was not able to make either of these games. The two have also met on the gridiron twice, once in 1973 (a Gator Bowl appearance) and again in 1997. Tech took the first game 28-19 and Tennessee the second by a large margin (52-17). I was at the August 30, 1997, game and again rooted for the Vols. The photos I took at that time are the subject of today’s entry.
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It was a fairly typical August Saturday in Knoxville: sunny, hot, and humid. I had flow into town the day before and the campus was already buzzing with the thought of a new football season. The team walks from the Circle Park area of campus to Neyland Stadium prior to the game and it is generally a big show. The band plays, the spirit teams come through, and then the team. People line the streets. It's an amazing sight. The photos below start with the walk. Smokey, a Bluetick Coonhound, is one of the mascots for UT. The parade is led by someone wearing a large (and undoubtedly hot) Smokey suit. I can’t imagine how hot, sweaty, and stinky it gets in that suit in the early season when it is hot out. Or to quote Red from The Shawshank Redemption, maybe I just don’t want to! Two photos of Smokey leading the parade come first. He is followed by the cheer squad in the third photo and the band in the fourth and fifth. The next two photos are of the crowd starting to disperse and enter the stadium. The stadium was sold out that day with the official attendance being 106,285. To put that in perspective, the population of the city of Lubbock at that time was around 191,000. 

Most schools have a pre-game show and they tend to be pretty good. At the time, Tennessee’s was great, and it included the traditions of the band forming a “UT”, a “Power T”, and a “T” at the end through which the team would run onto the field. The photos below are of that show, starting with the general performance of the cheer squad, band, and flag team (the first four photos), to the UT (the fifth and sixth photos), the Power T (the seventh and eighth pics), and finally the T through which the team runs.

​The first picture below is the only one I took during the actual game. Peyton Manning is under center for the first play from scrimmage for the game. The second is my brother John and his date at the game.

Next, we have two photos of the band during half time. They make the UT again, this time oriented differently. I can’t remember for certain, but I believe the theme of the half-time show was an homage to Tennessee music, hence the band forming a piano in the second photo.

Last is the post-game handshake.

Tennessee was ranked #5 in the nation going into the game and was the hands down favorite. They did not disappoint, winning the game easily. I was there with my brother and his date, and the same date I went to the Lady Raiders/Lady Vols game the prior December. I was again wearing a Vols t-shirt and in complete support of the Tennessee squad. She was not wearing orange that day and the fact that I was for the second time should have been an indication to us both that our hearts rested elsewhere…
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So, who will I be supporting in December? As fate would have it, I have virtually stopped watching all collegiate sports, aside from the occasional game on television and when I take my family to a University of Memphis game here. Tennessee was a juggernaut in sports then, and its easy to support a winning program. But, over time, I have had the chance to put the institutions into perspective in terms of fit and how they impacted me. I am proud of UT and think highly of it. But today I only have two Tennessee baseball caps and that’s it (I actually have more things from the UTHSC here in Memphis than from my alma mater). On the other hand, my closet is full of Texas Tech items (including some two-toned sneakers complete with the Double T!). My loyalty to Tennessee is still there, but my heart is more for Tech. Should we be able to go, I will be wearing the Red and Black. So will my wife and two sons.