Southeast Missouri State University

As I noted in my previous posts on Washington University St. Louis and Fontbonne University last month, I had been in St. Louis and had some time to look around those respective campuses. As fate would have it, things fell into place which gave me the opportunity to visit another campus. I was driving back to my home in the Memphis area and needed to stop to fill up on gas. The need coincided with me being near Cape Girardeau, MO which happens to be the home of Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO). I have to admit that it was only in the last few years that I learned anything about the school. Back in 2018 I was flipping through a book on college campuses in a used bookstore in Nashville in which there was one photo of Academic Hall. As you will see in this post, Academic Hall is quite the structure. It was a relatively small black and white photo but the building was intriguing. There was nothing else in the book about the school or the building save for a note that some institutions have buildings with domes. It was an interesting tome and so the book went home with me. I wondered about the institution having no real knowledge of it prior to seeing the photo. Sometime later when driving to St. Louis with my family I realized it was on the way but never had a chance to visit. My need for gas on my return trip from St. Louis on this occasion and the fact that I was ahead of schedule thanks to less than normal traffic gave me the opportunity to swing by campus for a quick but enjoyable visit.

SEMO dates to 1873 and like many other schools I have covered began as a Normal School, that is a teacher training college. The Missouri legislature voted to create an additional normal school in March of that year and then Governor Silas Woods signed the legislation creating a “Third District Normal School” in the southeast portion of the state. A board of regents was selected, and Lucius H. Cheney  was hired as the yet to be named school’s first principal. They then turned to site selection. As was often the case, cities and towns around the area began vying to be the location of the new institution. Cape Girardeau was one of those, and despite initial interest was slow to move on preparations. When states created new institutions, they expected the host community to pony up funds to help with its creation. Typically, the highest bidder would be the host not unlike the way the Olympics are sited today, although then and now politics also play a role. None the less, over the course of the next couple of months community leaders got themselves in order and provided a $54,865 bid (worth just over $1.4 million in today’s value). This eclipsed the next bid, a $50,608 offer from Iron County. The board was a bit split but voted 4 to 3 to locate the new college in Cape Girardeau. It would be named the Southeast Missouri State Normal School.

Things moved quickly thereafter. Before a site had been selected, the college opened in the Lorimier School, the city’s first public school which had just opened in 1872. German immigrant Joseph Lansmon donated a hilltop site and sold the college an additional ten acres that would eventually become the campus. The first building was designed by St. Louis-based architect J.B. Clarke, a grand Victorian style red brick building. It was completed in 1874. Although on its way, the road would be rocky in some ways during the initial years. Before the building opened, construction worker Lemuel Randol was killed in a lightning strike at the site. Cheney was killed while conducting geological research in the Cumberland Gap in Tennessee in 1876 after only three years on the job. Alfred Kirk was selected as his replacement but remained in the position for less than nine months. Things would begin to settle, however, and in 1877 Charles H. Dutcher became the third principal and would stay for four years. The college had its first commencement that year and Emma W. Cowden was the first to complete a four-year course of study. In 1880, Richard C. Norton was chosen as Dutcher’s replacement and was given the new title of President. He would remain for about thirteen years.

As the college grew and expanded its mission, it had several name changes. In 1881 the name would change to Missouri State Normal School – Third District. In 1919 it would revert, in a sense, back to a name more in line with the first: Southeast Missouri State Teachers College. It would keep that moniker until 1946 when in recognition of the varied courses of study available it was changed to Southeast Missouri State College September 21. Finally, it would receive its current name in 1973. Today, SEMO has an enrollment of just under 10,000 students. The campus comes in at about 328 acres and is on rolling land. A main hill upon which Academic Hall and several other buildings stand is referred to by students as Cardiac Hill! I will begin my post at that hill where I parked and began my visit.

All of the photos in this set are of ​Academic Hall. Academic Hall is the iconic building on campus and my first stop during my visit. It is a replacement for the original Third District Normal School building, which was devastated by a massive fire on April 7, 1902. I have seen photos of that former building, and it too was impressive. Academic seems massive when you are standing at the base of the hill or across the street in the plaza in front of the library. It is big, but the perspective makes it seem even bigger. It is a lovely looking building and the way the sun and blue sky looked the day of my visit had me wishing I had more than the camera in phone to capture images of it. Hence the relatively large number of views in this set. The building was designed by architect Jerome B. Legg, who had previously designed Carnahan Hall (see below). Construction began in the fall of 1903 and it opened in 1906. The building underwent an extensive renovation and modernization between 1970 and 1975 at a cost of over $1 million, which is about $7.5 million today.

The first seven photos are of the front of the building looking up Cardiac Hill. It almost looks like a state capital building to me. I took a lot of photos from that vantage point and couldn't narrow my choices down beyond these seven. You can make out a young man in a cap and gown being photographed in front of the building. There were a few others on campus doing the same when I arrived. The spring commencement had taken place that morning. The eighth and ninth photos are the dedication plaques for the building which are just inside the front doors.

The tenth photo was taken just inside the front doors of the building. There is a great photo of the members of the 1950 Varsity Club standing on these steps here. I am always impressed by how grown-up college students, and even high school students, looked in the past. The young men in that photo seem incredibly mature when compared to students of today or even my generation and it’s not merely the clothes they are wearing or the fact that the photos are typically in black and white. As you can see, the space looks basically the same in the 1950 photo as it does in my 2024 picture thanks to a restoration of that floor. Indeed, as you can see in this photo from 1909, little has changed at least in terms of what we can see. Well, that may not be quite correct. Many things may have changed in the past, but again, this area was renovated back to its original appearance. The building once held a pool, although it has long since been removed. You can view a photo of it being installed from around 1931 here.

SEMO celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2023, hence the 150 you see in the thirteenth photo. The stone with the plaque you see in the fourteenth photo is on the front lawn to the right of the main entrance as you view them in the earlier photos. The fifteenth and sixteenth photos are of the rear of the building and a memorial to SEMO veterans installed in September 2000. To the east of the building is a large green space with a small stage. The stage is quite small, but the area is lovely.

The dome is copper and has been refinished at least twice that I know of, and likely more than that. In 1972, renovations to the building and regilding of the dome were began to the tune of $1 million, which is a little more than $7.5 million in today’s value.

​A two-year renovation of Academic Hall was completed in the fall of 2013. That’s when the second floor was restored to its historic look. The dome also received some fresh copper, making it at least the second time that has been done. The dome is incorporated into the university’s official logo.

Directly across Normal Avenue from Academic Hall is the Kent Library, the subject of the next set of photos. What you see in these pictures is not the original façade of the building. Th library was built in 1939 as part of the efforts of the Public Works Administration (PWA). At the time, it was a neoclassical structure clad in limestone and with grand art-style windows. The windows were not cheap. The original reading room’s windows alone cost $2,250, which in 2024 value is over $50,000!  The heart of the original building is still there. A major renovation and expansion took place between 1965 and 1968. The old building is subsumed within the new.

The original library cost just over $177,00 to build, which is only about $3.9 million in today’s dollars. At a meeting of the board in 1938, then SEMO President Walter Parker proposed naming the new building in honor of long-serving librarian Sadie T. Kent. The proposal carried in a unanimous vote. There was just one catch – the PWA did not allow buildings to be named for a living person. Since Kent was both alive and still working at SEMO the board had to rescind the vote. The name would have to wait but not until her passing. By the time World War II was underway, the PWA no longer existed and its rule on the naming of building constructed with their funds no longer applied. Thus, SEMO named the library in her honor upon Ms. Kent’s retirement in 1943. So dedicated to naming the library for Kent the university left a space in the stone entryway of the building blank for the future inscription of her name. This was done in 1943, and you can see a photo of her standing beneath the name here.
 
Sadie Kent came to SEMO in 1905 as an instructor of hygiene and geography. She would take over as the head librarian in 1910. She had the reputation of being particular when it came to the rules of the library. Apparently, she tolerated little in the way of shenanigans and was quick to shush anyone who made a sound. By the time I was an undergraduate in the late 1980’s, the volume of noise in collegiate libraries had already increased. No one policed people to keep them quiet. At least not paid staff. The noise level continued to rise for years, and by the mid-2000’s many college libraries were quite loud. Thanks to materials moving online, fewer people began using the library and today they tend to be about as quiet as they were in the 1980’s. Regardless, I imagine Ms. Kent would be stunned at the volume of noise, the ability to eat and drink, and the various other common behaviors in libraries today.

You can view a great photo of SEMO President Walter Parker speaking at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the library on November 8, 1938 here. You can see the original building under construction here and here. You can see a nice photos from 1939 here, 1945 here and here, 1950 here, and 1960 here. My favorite photo from the original library is a view from inside the building looking at Academic Hall. Seen here, the photo from September 1947 has Academic Hall framed perfectly through the entryway and its windows. I have to say, I prefer the look of the original structure. Even though modernist structures from the era of the current façade have grown on me over the years, the original look was much statelier than the present despite being much smaller. Kent dedicated the library when she placed a copy of the Holy Bible in the new building’s reading room on November 7, 1939. There is a great piece on Ms. Kent you can read here.

There are also some good photos of the expansion underway in 1966/67 here, here, here, here, and here. The cost of rebuilding the library was about $3.16 million, which is equivalent to roughly $30.7 million today. The library was rededicated in a ceremony in November 1968.

The first two photos are the main entrance side to the building taken from across Normal Avenue on the Academic Hall side. I like the fact that the inscription on the building notes both the date of the newer, enlarged building and the original contained within. The fountain in front of the library is formally named the Kala M. Stroup Fountain on the Plaza. Stroup was SEMO’s 14th president from 1990 to 1995. Stroup gave $35,000 for its construction. It was formally opened on October 6, 1999. 

The fourth photo was taken just inside the front door with the circulation desk on the left. In front of the circulation desk is the mural you see in the fifth photo. The mural is the work of Jake K. Wells. Wells, a SEMO alumnus and then chair of the Department of Art. The idea for a mural in this location came from Dr. F.E. Snider, who was the lead librarian at SEMO at the time. Wells took his time developing the piece which illustrates the four phases of southeast Missouri’s evolution up to the late 1960’s. From idea to completion of the piece took three years. The result speaks for itself. The sculpture you see in the sixth photo is a piece called "Revolution" by artist Tyson Schoolfield. I was not able to find out anything about Schoolfield. The library had a small exhibit about the university with the cool things you see in the last three photos.

The next set is the University Center. It became the student union in 1975, taking over those duties which to that point had been housed in Memorial Hall (see below). It is a modernist structure and as such matches the Kent Library next door. It has the accoutrements you typically see in student centers such as food options, sitting areas, student group offices, and more. You can a photo of the building when site construction began here. There was talk of either adding on to the existing student union in Memorial Hall or building an entirely new one for some time. Basic initial planning began in the late 1960’s, but truly began to take shape in 1969. Cost of construction of the UC came in at about $4 million, or some about $31 million in today’s money. The expense would be covered by student fees. The building was completed in July 1975.

The first photo is the front of the building taken from across Normal Avenue. It has both an inscription on its exterior wall and a plaque just inside the first set of doors. I have to say that I love the font used on the signage. It reminds me of my youth when those kinds of fonts were used extensively but which have now largely gone by the wayside. The last four photos are of the inside which was completely empty during my visit. I walked around the entire building and did not see a soul.

The first three photos of the next set are of Memorial Hall. It sits just to the rear and to the west of Academic Hall. Memorial Hall was originally the student union. It had a cafeteria large enough to seat 160 people, recreation facilities, and a store. A large ballroom on the first floor could also be used to seat 400 for formal events and meals. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new structure was held on August 20, 1947. The name is honor of all SEMO alumni having served in the military. You can see a photo of Memorial Hall under construction in 1949 here. 

The last photo of this set is the Foreign Languages Building, which sits behind (to the north) of Memorial hall. The Foreign Languages Building was originally called the Training School. Many normal schools operated their own schools, a natural outgrowth of their mission to train teachers. Many colleges and universities which began life as normal schools have long stopped having a school on campus. Many remain, however, and in the case of my current employer (the University of Memphis) have expanded. When I arrived on campus in 2016, the UofM had an elementary school on campus. It remains and has been joined by a middle school and high school. Like Carnahan Hall and Academic Hall, the building was designed by architect Jerome B. Legg. Construction began in 1902 and was completed by 1903. If it reminds you of Carnahan that is because the two buildings are identical save for the two towers added to Foreign Languages for effect. You can see a great photo of the building from 1903 around the time it opened here. It’s really cool to me that the sidewalk leading to the building is wood in that photo!

After the school vacated the space, it was known for a time as the Agriculture Building. It was subsequently named the Art and Home Economics building. This photo from 1969 shows the building with the Art and Home Economics name. I am not sure of the dates when these name changes occurred. The cost to construct the building was $19,032, which is only about $335,000 in today’s value. That is quite a bargain! Interestingly, the current SEMO website and various maps and documents refer to it as the Foreign Languages Building “which is also called the Art Building”.

Just to the east of the Kent Library is the Dearmont Complex, a mid-century dorm, seen in the first two photos of the set below. Construction on Dearmont began in 1957 and the building opened in 1958 and was for many years called the Dearmont Quadrangle. You cannot tell it from these photos, but it is complex of four buildings or wings of a single building with its own interior courtyard. When it opened, and for many years thereafter, it was a residence hall for women only, but today it is coed. It stands on the site of a former dormitory, Albert Hall, which was razed to allow its construction. It once had its own cafeteria but that has long since closed, although the kitchen is used as a training lab for the hospitality program. It takes its name from SEMO’s 7th President Washington S. Dearmont.
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The third photo is the Harold O. Grauel Building. Grauel was on faculty at SEMO from 1928 until 1971. He chaired the English department for over a decade and principally ran the journalism program. He passed away on November 15, 1995, aged 94. Can you imagine the changes he saw both at SEMO and in higher education in general during his time as a faculty member? I would have loved to have been able to pick his brain on things higher ed. The building opened in 1966 with as the Language Arts Building.

​The set concludes with two views of the university's entrance sign on the east side along Normal Avenue.

The next set begins with two photos of Rosemary Berkel Crisp Hall, the current and longtime home to nursing. Designed by the St. Louis-based architectural firm Study & Farrar, the building was completed in 1923. Roughly 450 tons of stone was used in the building’s construction. It opened as the new training school, taking over these duties when the school moved out of the current Foreign Languages Building. It housed the university school and the university high school until the latter subsequently moved to the Mark F. Scully Building after it opened. After the school moved out, the building was known as the Old Campus School building. The high school would close in 1986, and I am pretty sure the other university schools at SEMO did the same year. Regardless, there has not been a campus school at SEMO in a long time. A significant renovation was begun in 1987 and after its conclusion in 1988 it was renamed in honor of Ms. Crisp. Crisp was on the board of the SEMO Foundation for many years and was a well-known advocate for women’s health. You can see a photo of the building under construction on August 31, 1922 here. By November 30th of that year, the building was really taking shape as can be seen here. I love the old cars in that photo!

The next two photos are of the main entrances to A.J.S. Carnahan Hall. I was taken with the fact that it had two front entrances on opposite ends of the building. I was going to walk to a place where I could capture the entire front of the building in one photo, but there was a young lady being photographed in her cap and gown in the area and I didn't want to interfere with the photoshoot. I figured I would come back for it, but forgot to do so. As noted above, Carnahan was designed by architect Jerome B. Legg who would later design Academic Hall. Carnahan is the oldest building on campus, having opened in 1902 some 122 years prior to my visit. It opened as the Science Building and was later re-named the Social Science Building. You can see a photo of it when it housed social sciences from around 1975 here. Although I am unsure as to when that change occurred. An extensive renovation began in 1994 and was completed in 1998. It was then that it received its current name which is in honor Albert (A.J.S.) Carnahan, former member of Congress and U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone. Carnahan was an alumnus of SEMO (Class of 1926). Carnahan began his career as a teacher then school administrator before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. His son Mel was governor of Missouri for two terms from 1993 until 2000. Mel was posthumously elected to the U.S. Senate. His wife Jean filled his seat. He was governor when the building reopened. You can see a photo of him along with then-SEMO President Dale F. Nitzschke, SEMO Board of Regents President Don Dickerson, and Missouri Commissioner Kala Stroup cutting the ribbon at the dedication ceremony on October 14, 1998 here. The building was officially dedicated as A.J.S. Carnahan Hall in 2004.

Next up is the Serena Building, seen in the last three photos of this set.. As you can see, the building houses KRCU, the Southeast Missouri Public Radio affiliate. Construction on the original portion of the building – the center, obviously – began in 1905 and was completed in 1907. Its basement was the site of the heating and electrical generation plants for the campus for many years. This view is the south façade. On the right is an addition completed in 1962 and on the left is an addition from 1983. They were meant to be modern structures and not meant to match the original portion of the building, which they clearly do not. However, despite the intervening twenty-one years in their construction, the two additions match each other. Serena is named for Joseph Serena, the 8th president of the university. You can see the building without the additions in this photo from 1932. It was originally called the Manual Training Hall. Later it would be renamed the Industrial Arts Building. It would receive its current name in 1975 which is in honor of the eighth president of SEMO, Dr. Joseph A. Serena. The last photo was taken a bit further away because I wanted to get the bus stop in the photo. I liked this bus stop as it keeps the same stone cladding as many of the buildings on campus. Its substantial as well, although not fully enclosed.

The next set of photos are of Brandt Hall. It opened in 1956 as Brandt Music Hall. When it was being planned and initially under construction it was going to be used for the sciences. A decision was made early in construction to make it the music building. The stairs you see to the right of the building lead up to Academic Hall atop Cardiac Hill. Today, the building houses Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Sociology. Parts of the building look a little rough and although the spiral staircase is an interesting design feature, I imagine traversing it in rain and snow is tricky. The areas at the bottom with the curved windows in the arches were originally open spaces to the ground. I am uncertain as to when they were enclosed and the space incorporated into the building. The name is honor of J. Clyde Brandt, a long-serving professor of music. You can see a photo of the building from 1969 in this original configuration here.

The next are two views of a what appears to be either a gym or a physical plant building. I cannot say for certain as the campus map has no name for it despite the fact that two other physical plant structures are identified on their map. I took the photos at first thinking it was a gym thanks in part to the various banners adorning it. I really can't say anything about it. If you are familiar with the structure, please leave a comment.

Next, we have Cheney Hall which was originally a men’s dorm. Cheney was designed by the Jamieson and Spearl architectural firm. Like the library, Cheney was constructed with the support of funds provided by the Public Works Association (PWA). Work on the sire began on October 18, 1938. That month, the Board of Regents voted to call the new dorm Cheney in honor of SEMO’s first president, Lucious H. Cheney. The setting of the cornerstone ceremony was conducted by local Masons. You can see a great photo of the ceremony with the Masons in their traditional attire here. Other photos of Cheney under construction can be found here, and here. A photo from around 1940 seen here shows the building’s original cafeteria.
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The women moving into Cheney in the Fall of 1966 had some freedom they would not have enjoyed at the start of the previous academic year. The university altered its rules and for the first time women were allowed to wear pants and shorts, at least those deemed long enough, both on campus and in town so long as they did so after 4pm. There was one exception – no such attire could be worn in the Kent Library! What a difference time makes! Before the end of the Spring 2024 semester, I passed a woman coming out of a classroom on my campus at the University of Memphis wearing tiny shorts and a translucent halter top. No one paid her any mind. Back in ’66 someone might have called the campus police.

The set below begins with another of the bus stops which is like the one seen above. I really appreciate the fact that the university not only took the time and effort to build a covered stop (something frequently forgotten on college campuses), but also made them fit in with the architecture of the place. Kudos to whoever was involved in making that decision.

The second photo is a distant shot of the Robert A. Dempster Hall. It doesn’t look like much in this photo and that is my fault. As noted at the beginning of this post, I had already toured Washington University in St. Louis and Fontbonne University and in addition to being a little tired I didn’t have all that much time. I knew I was going to miss many things on campus, and rather than have nothing for Dempster took this quick snapshot from across the parking lot. Mr. Dempster was an attorney in nearby Sikeston, Missouri. If you have ever driven north on Interstate 55 to St. Louis, you are likely familiar with Sikeston. It is a crossroads where you can turn onto I-57, an alternate path north to Chicago, and is one of only a handful of town s in the area with multiple options for gasoline and food. It is also home to Lambert’s Café, a place which has been serving up homestyle food and the “Home of the Throwed Rolls” since 1976. Anyway, Mr. Dempster was a long-time donor to the university. In fact, it is not the first building to carry the Dempster name. In 1980, the university bought an existing building on Pacific Street and moved the then-named Department of Business into the facility. When the new building opened, that building would be renamed Pacific Hall, and the Department of English moved in. The now-named College of Business of Computing moved into the existing Dempster and, obviously, took the name with it. English has since moved to Grauel Hall and although Pacific Hall is still in use, I didn’t make my over to the building and am thus unsure as to what is inside. A photo of then SEMO president Kala Stoup and other dignitaries at the ground breaking for the building in 1995 can be seen here. You can view a photos of Dempster under construction here and here. The building opened in a ceremony held on July 1, 1996. Dempster was damaged by a fire on July 15, 2013 with repairs taking weeks to complete. Mr. Dempster gave $100,000 to the university and they named the apartment building for him on April 27, 1982.

​The third photo is a combo picture. The main structure you see on the left is Rhodes Hall. Behind it you can see Magill Hall, noted by the dark windows. Rhodes (also seen in the fourth photo) comes in at about 46,000 square feet across its three floors. Although not visible in these photos, it is connected to Magill Hall via a pedestrian walkway on the second floor. Mr. Rhodes and his wife gave considerable funds to support the construction of the building. He and his wife were farmers and business owners from Gideon, MO. A photo of Roger F. Rhodes along with his wife Ella Frances Rhodes standing beneath the sign seen in this photo taken at the time of the building’s opening in 1983 can be seen here. The fountain and the area around it are collectively called the Jeanine Larson Dobbins Plaza. As you can see from the fifth and sixth photos, she was the founder and director of the Missouri Statewide Early Literacy Intervention Program. Student designed and built the plaza. I love that fact and wish students could be engaged in such things more often.

Work on Magill Hall began in 1958 and was completed in 1960. Originally, the structure was going to be called the Science Building. But in May 1960, the SEMO board voted to name it after Dr. Arthur “Art” C. Magill. Magill was chair of the Science Department and long-time professor of chemistry. And by long-time, I mean twenty-eight years! Such long tenures were once common in higher ed, and still are to some extent, but are getting rare as time goes on. His path to SEMO was tragic. Born on October 12, 1881, Magill would begin his career as a teacher in his native Ray County, Missouri. All was fine until 1908 when a typhoid breakout changed his life. Typhoid is not something we think about in the U.S. these days. But for many years, the illness caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria was common and frequently fatal. The lack of refrigeration, clean water, and proper septic sanitation for waste helped the bacteria grow and in places with warmer climates was particularly an issue. When the fever came to Ray County it really hit home for Magill. His mother, two brothers, and three sisters all came down with the illness. His two brothers died and two of his sisters were left with twisted spines. Magill, who had been teaching for seven years and reached the position of principal of a school in Bonne Terre became a man with a mission. Over the years he was a one-man army in the fight against typhoid fever. He introduced chlorinated water to the southeast portion of the state, tested tens of thousands of water samples, and taught people how to purify their water. He did all of this at no charge. He moved to SEMO in 1909 and by 1924 was chair of his department. He developed the water cleaning system for Cape Girardeau along the way. He retired from the university in 1952 and entered politics. He had two terms in the Missouri state house and then went on to be on the Cape Girardeau County Court. A three-story addition was made to the building beginning in 2010. It opened on August 26, 2013.

The next set of photos are all of the Mark F. Scully Building. Construction on the building began in 1968 and it opened in 1970 with the name Education and Psychology Building. Total cost of construction came in at $2,546, 361, which is about $26.7 million in 2024 value. You can view a photo of Scully under construction here. It is named in honor of SEMO’s 10th President Mark F. Scully. President Scully was at the helm during the massive expansion period of higher education which occurred due to the Baby Boom generation and the fact that more people could afford to go to college. He began on May 1, 1956, and stepped down on June 30, 1975. When he arrived on campus, enrollment was around 1,500; nineteen years later it was around 8,000. To handle all of these new students, SEMO added twelve buildings including the UC, five academic buildings, and three dormitories. Some fifteen new majors were added as well. 

The first two photos show the west side of the building. The third is the south façade which faces a lovely green space. The area has a good bit of outdoors seating and a lovely stepped green area where I imagine students hang out when the weather is nice. It also has a covered seating area as seen in the fifth photo. The sixth photo is the building's dedication plaque and the sixth is a portrait of Dr. Scully inside the building.

The set below offers two views of the Parker Building. Named for Walter Winfield Parker, the ninth president of the university who served in the position from 1933 to 1956. He saw the university through the end of the Great Depression, World War II, and the was in Korea. It was under his helm that the university experienced the inrush of veterans after the war. In response, during his term five new buildings were constructed on campus. These were the Kent Library, Cheney Hall, Myers Hall (not seen in this post), Memorial Hall, and the Houck Field House (also not seen in this post). A native of Arkansas, Parker graduated from Hendrix College (Class of 1912) and then taught high school for a year before returning to Hendrix to teach for two years. He then left to earn his master’s degree from Columbia University (Class of 1915). He then joined the faculty of Central Missouri State Teacher’s College (now the University of Central Missouri). He moved up quickly, and in 1928 was named president of Northwestern State Teacher’s College (now Northwestern Oklahoma State University) in Ida, Oklahoma.

The building was formerly called Parker Hall on many official SEMO documents and before that Parker Athletic and Physical Education Complex, and some point Parker Hall Physical Education. I am uncertain as to when and why the name changes occurred. The basic name – Parker – was chosen by the board during their May 1960 meeting. When I was walking around the raised portion you see in this photo looked to me like it may have once contained a pool. As this 1974 photo shows, this was not the case. The building opened in 1960, but the surge of Baby Boom era students made an addition completed in 1969 necessary. The addition came with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, but this removed in 2002. It was originally a facility for women only when it opened in 1960.

The next photo is a view of the Towers residence hall complex. There are four residence buildings connected by a central dining facility. Each is named after their general direction in the complex. The building on the left in this photo is North Tower, West Tower is in the center with a bit of East Tower visible beyond, and East Tower is on the right. You can see the cafeteria in the middle of the complex at its base. Like so many dorms, these were built to house the growing number of students in the 1960’s as the Baby Boomers matriculated. Construction on the complex began in 1966 and they were opened in 1968. Like so many dorms of this era, they are rather plain, tall boxes, the like of which can still be seen on hundreds of campuses across the country.

The last set of photos show some of the many different styles of lamppost signs seen across the SEMO campus. I often show these and note how they are the norm on campuses today. Increasingly, colleges and universities have different kinds of signs. Usually, there will be at least one main kind and sometimes another for sports or some special occasion. Increasingly, there are different kinds on campus at the same time. Here we see several kinds promoting SEMO including the one in the second photo denoting its ​sesquicentennial the year prior to my visit.

​If you want to learn more about the university, I highly recommend the book Normal to University: A Century of Service by Arthur H. Mattingly (Missouri Litho and Printing Company, 1979). It is obviously a little old, but it is an enjoyable read and gives lots of great information. You can still buy used copies of the book online, but I got my hands on a copy through my university’s interlibrary loan service (ILL). I use the ILL pretty frequently when writing posts and have found that many of the books I get are loaned from the University of Alabama. I don’t know if that is because we have an agreement with them, that they are close, or simply because they have a bigger collection of books on the history of higher education. Either way, I have been surprised at just how many books I have had from them. Kudos to the librarians and their collection in Tuscaloosa.