University of Tennessee at Martin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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