We’re going global Monday.

Dr. Graeme Harper recently joined the University of Montevallo family as the Vacca Professor of Liberal Arts for the spring semester.

Harper comes to Montevallo from Australia by way of Wales, where he is Director of Research in the College of Arts and Humanities at Bangor University.

Harper is interested in creativity of all sorts. He holds doctorates in creative writing from the University of East Anglia and from the University of Technology, Sydney.

A fiction writer, Harper has published many novels and short story collections, including Camera Phone, Moon Dance, and Small Maps of the World (under the name of his alter ego, Brooke Biaz). He is also a widely published advocate of critical thinking in the creative arts, is the director of the international Creative Writing Conference, editor-in-chief of the Routledge New Writing series and chair of higher education for the National Association of Writers in Education in the UK.

At UM, Harper is teaching a course titled Creativity: Actions, Artifacts and Them Apples, which explores the interplay of creative knowledge and critical understanding. He is thrilled to have the opportunity to live in central Alabama near a swamp.

Harper, fascinated by the way technology creates connections, will be conducting a number of video link-ups with writers from across the world.

On Monday, Feb. 8, there will be a live video link-up with British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion via state-of-the-art teleconferencing facilities in the Malone Center for Innovative Teaching, Learning, and Technology.

This transatlantic chat, the first of its kind on this campus, is organized by Graeme with technical assistance from the College of Education and Technology Services.  It will give twenty or more UM creative writing students an opportunity to talk with one of the most celebrated poets in the English-speaking world. A reception will follow at 12:30, and Harper will be available for brief interviews at that time.

Harper, his wife Louise and their son Tyler are living in Hill House this semester and are eager to get involved in the UM community. He can be reached at gharper1@montevallo.edu.

(Courtesy of The University of Montevallo Public Relations Office)

What’s it gonna be?

As soon as midnight chimed the day students got back to campus in January, one of the oldest homecoming traditions in American begins as purple and gold side begin hanging ribbons across the campus to signify the true start of the College Night season. Of course there have been a few events to get things going in the fall: the College Night Mixer, purple side potluck, gold side’s “Gold Rush” for new golds, etc., but the spring semester is when things really begin to heat up!

Immediately following the ribbon hanging on Monday are cast auditions for each side. In a 2-3 day process the cast is chosen, the orchestra has its players, and the rehearsals immediately begin. And not only are the shows being produced and score being written, but each side has gathered together athletes to compete in the volleyball, soccer, and basketball games. So anywhere you go on campus, you can find someone holding up there PV or GV to one another hoping to win against the other.

And as we all know, the show and its details are held secret until the revealing on the opening Wednesday night in February, but there are a few things along the way to give a few clues as to what it could be. A few weeks into the semester the Sign Raising/Pep Rally are held! Each side designs a sign that hints at what the show could be about, but few truly figure it out. At the pep rally the Purple and Gold cheerleaders raise the morale of each side before the announcement of cast and cabinet. This is the first time the cast has been revealed to anyone; even each side’s own members.

The month finishes up with the beginning of the sporting competitions on the last Saturday of January, and continuing the next two of February. But the moment everyone waits for is the second Wednesday in February: Opening Night! Each year thousands of people flood Palmer Auditorium to watch sides cheering, singing, and anxiously anticipating the start of the show. This year Gold side will go first, and Purples will immediately follow. The shows go on through Saturday night, which is the true “College Night.” That day the cheerleaders perform and compete for the win, the men’s basketball team plays the last game of the College Night season, and that night judges watch and critique each show while points are accumulated based on their professional opinions of the performance. After both shows are done on Saturday, all points are added up: Sporting events, spirit, cheerleading competition, music and musical direction, script, acting, etc. It all goes in to play. After weeks of hard work, dedication, and time put into everything, it all comes down to one moment. As cabinet, cast, and orchestra stand on stage, and the audience listens closely, the SGA president walks on stage and thanks all those involved. Each side has given a line to signify something special to their side, and as the SGA president finishes his speech, both Purples and Golds are listening closely to each word stated to hear if it’s “their” line. And as the moment comes, you have to wonder: What’s it gonna’ be?

Real Estate: Anna Irvin Hall

Anna Irvin Hall

For more than a quarter century, all dining facilities were in the basement of Central Main.  When the student body became too large to be seated there, another dining area was added in 1929 to the opposite side of the kitchen which served both.  It was named for Miss Anna Irvin, dietician for thirty-two years before her retirement in 1952.

With the coming of coeducation and the resulting increase in students, the facilities soon became inadequate.  In 1959-60, plans were implemented to enlarge the facility and to turn it into a cafeteria.  Basic work had been done earlier but the work on the kitchen itself had to be done in a brief five weeks between the end of summer school and the beginning of the fall semester.  The old plumbing, wiring, fixtures, and ceiling were removed and the whole area reconstructed.

The fact that the job was completed in allotted time was due chiefly to Aubrey C. Folsom, Director of Operations and Planning, the engineer who planned and supervised the project.  Jones and Hardy of Montevallo did the construction and installed the new equipment.  The building cost $115,000 and the new equipment $60,000.

In 1977-78, dining facilities were again upgraded.  Anna Irvin Hall was completely renovated and enlarged, a new kitchen was installed and the building separated from the Main Dining Room.  In addition to adequate cafeteria facilities there are two private dining rooms for small groups.

Architects were Renneker, Smith and Kirkwood and the contractor was Champion Construction Company.  The final cost was $1,150,139.

Main basement is presently being used by Student Affairs of the University.

Miss Anna Irvin

Miss Irvin, a native of Indiana, was Supervisor of Food Services at Alabama College from the spring of 1920 until her retirement in 1952.  With degrees in Home Economics from both Oxford College, Oxford, Ohio and the University of Chicago and three years experience in the latter institution, she was highly qualified for the position in Montevallo.  President Palmer expected close cooperation between the Food Services and the Home Economics Department.  She was employed at a salary of $1500, plus room and board, for 12 months a year.

When she retired in the spring of 1952, the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution, that it express “to Miss Anna Irvin, Dietician for Alabama College for thirty-two years, its lasting appreciation to her for all that she meant to the institution through her skillful and untiring direction of the food service of the college which had warmed the hearts as well as satisfied the appetites of hundreds upon hundreds of students, teachers, and visitors giving the College an outstanding reputation for good and happy living, and wishes for her and her sister, Miss Edna, (Miss Anna’s assistant) many years of happy reflection, good reading, and of being waited on.”

A third of a century after her retirement, people throughout the state remember the homemade ice cream she served in vegetable bowls and her delicious whole wheat bread.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Ramsay Hall

Ramsay Hall

Ramsay Hall was built in 1925, from money raised during the school’s “Million Dollar Drive,” a campaign to augment capital improvement funding from the state.  It was named for Mrs. Janet Erskine Ramsay, mother of Erskine Ramsay, one of the drive’s prominent benefactors.

The second dormitory was built on campus; it was designed by architect, John Davis of Warren, Knight, and Davis, and erected for $100,000.  In the words of contemporary accounts, it was said “to surpass anything in the way of dormitory construction in the South.”  Rooms to accommodate 200 students were of varying sizes and featured built-in vanities flanked by closets.

The laying of the cornerstone on College Night, March 9, 1925, was directed by the Grand Lodge of Masons of Alabama.  The building was dedicated on Founders’ Day, October 12, 1925 by Governor W. W. Brandon; the ceremonies, followed by a campus barbecue for 2000 guests, featured a number of speeches – one of them by Mr. Ramsay – and a variety of musical numbers, including a dedicatory song, lyrics by Judge W. H. Taylor, a member of the Board of Trustees.

The building was used as a dormitory for upper-class women for a number of years, then by men, after coeducation came.  For a couple of years Ramsay was idle, and in great need of repair.  In March 1979, based on plans drawn by Dampier Harris and Associates of Alabaster; bids were let for major renovation; Bachus Engineering won the contract and 55 years after $100,000 the dormitory was built, over $900,000 was spent on its conversion from a dormitory to Ramsay Conference Center and Lodge.  It was ready for occupancy in the late summer of 1980.

The first floor of the building houses meeting rooms and several campus offices.  The upper floors contain 39 double bedrooms with baths and a suite with kitchen facilities.  The rooms are used by overnight guests and conference participants; 25 to 30 organizations such as the Alabama Library Association, Elderhostel, WCTU and the FBI hold meetings there each year.

Janet Erskine Ramsay

Little is recorded of Janet Ramsay’s life.  She was never famous, never a highly educated career woman.  She was an immigrant and a wife and mother.  It is through the generosity of her sons that her name is remembered at the University of Montevallo.  She was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and married Robert Ramsay in 1861.  In 1863, she and her husband, his father and brothers, immigrated to Six Mile Ferry, Pennsylvania, where the men worked as miners.  Her second son, Erskine, was born on September 24, 1864.  The Ramsays prospered and a large family of children was raised to appreciate hard work, industry, education, and loyalty.

Erskine Ramsay was indeed an exemplary product of such loving, hard-working, ambitious household.  His story is typical of the American dream – if not exactly from rags to riches, at least from an immigrant working class family to a position of wealth, power, and influence.  His formal education was sketchy; his father trained him to be a miner, but he received additional schooling at St. Vincent’s College in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, graduating from a commercial technical course in 1883.  At the age of 19 he began his career in mining, as the superintendent of Monastery Mines.  He came to Birmingham in 1887 as mining engineer for Pratt mines division of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company.  During his 15 years with TCI, he received over 40 patents for devices and machines used in mining manufacturing.  In 1902, he became vice-president and chief engineer of the newly organized Pratt Consolidated Coal Company.

Throughout a long and active life, Ramsay’s interests were varied.  He was a leader in the Masons, Rotary, and Kiwanis, and on the boards of over a half dozen businesses, including Alabama By-Products, Buffalo Rock, Avondale Mills, and First National Bank of Birmingham.  Although he never married, his concern for young people and their education was deep: he was director of Boys Clubs, president of the Birmingham Board of Education, and contributed to scholarship funds in Alabama and Pennsylvania.  His generosity was renowned.  Over his lifetime, it is estimated that he donated over $2,000,000 to an amazing variety of groups, institutions, and individuals.  One of the institutions to benefit from his interest was Alabama College, which received a $100,000 contribution in the 1920’s as a part of its Million Dollar Drive to raise capital funds.  As a result, Ramsay Dormitory was built and was named for his mother, Janet Erskine Ramsay.

He was a much beloved man and a number of honors came his way.  In 1911, he was a member of commission sent to Europe by the U. S. Bureau of Mines to study conditions there; during World War II he served on the National Committee on Coal Production.  In 1925 he was awarded the Birmingham News Loving Cup as the outstanding public servant of the year; he was named Birmingham’s Man of the year for 1947.  In 1934, he and a group of Americans, which included Birminghamian Victor Hanson, were invited to Italy to “observe developments of the Mussolini regime.”  In 1937 he was awarded a gold medal by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.  In 1952, he received an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Alabama.

For a number of years his birthday parties were occasions for city-wide celebrations.  At one party, over 3000 guests were present to share in an immense birthday cake, barbecue and Brunswick stew.  The host clad in kilts of the Ramsay tartan was accompanied by a bagpiper.

Mr. Ramsay died on August 15, 1953, just a few weeks short of his 89^th birthday.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Palmer Hall

Palmer Hall

The enrollment of Alabama College grew rapidly in the 1920’s until in 1929-30 there were 899 students, far too many to be accommodated in Reynolds Chapel.  The problem was solved by building Palmer Hall, named for the third president.  As President O. C. Carmichael reported to the Board of Trustees in the spring of 1930, the building had an auditorium that seated 1600 and office spaces for all the administrative offices, the first time they had all been housed under one roof.  The pride of the college, and especially of the Department of Music, was the four-manual Skinner organ, one of the finest in the South.

Palmer Hall was dedicated on the weekend of April 26-28, 1930, with appropriate ceremonies: a play, a Sunday church service for everyone in Montevallo, an organ recital and a formal dedicatory service.

Warren, Davis, and Knight were the architects; Oklahoma Scenic Company had the contract for the stage equipment and the American Seating Company furnished the seats in the auditorium.

By the middle of the 1970’s the building needed extensive repairs.  In 1977-78, Renniker, Smith, Kirkwood and Associates were selected the architects for the million-dollar-plus project which included the dismantling of the old Skinner organ and the instillation of the Holtkamp organ, all new seats and a restored and rearranged stage and orchestra pit.  The contractor was Bachus Engineering Company of Birmingham.

On May 3, 1980, Palmer Hall was rededicated, fifty years after the dedication.  Dr. Palmer’s grandson, the Reverend Richard B. Palmer of Colorado Springs, gave the invocation and dedicatory prayer.  Dr. Palmer’s youngest daughter, Miss Lula Palmer of Montgomery, spoke of the pleasure it would have given her father to know that his memory was being perpetuated in the beautiful building which provided “for activities in all forms, such as arts, religion, politics and current affairs.”

Thomas Waverly Palmer (1860-1926)

Dr. Palmer, the third president and the man from whom Palmer Hall was named, came to Montevallo after many years in higher education in Alabama.  He had graduated from the University of Alabama with degrees in both engineering and mathematics and had taught mathematics at his alma mater for many years, eventually becoming the head of the department.  In 1905, he was made Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the position held when he was elected president of Alabama Girls’ Industrial School in 1907.

For all his experience in education, there had been nothing to prepare him for heading an industrial school.  Recognizing this limitation, he spent the summer of 1907 in visiting various schools that had programs similar to the one in Montevallo.

Dr. Palmer was president for almost nineteen years, the longest presidency in this school’s history.  It was also the period of many changes.  Alabama Girls’ Industrial School gradually added years of college work and dropped high school courses until by 1922 it was Alabama College, the State College for Women, granting degrees.  Shortly before Dr. Palmer’s death the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools granted the school full accreditation, the goal Dr. Palmer worked toward for years.

During the Palmer years the physical plant was greatly expanded.  New buildings were erected to care for the increased enrollment and expanded programs: Bloch Hall, Peterson Hall, Wills Hall for the library, and Calkins Hall.  The first major fund drive, the so-called Million Dollar Drive (1924), raised the money to help build the new president’s home as well as Ramsay Hall, the high school, and Palmer Hall.

Many traditions and institutions also had their beginning in this era: College Night, the first newspaper, the yearbook, student government, the employment of student help on campus, and the first summer school.

Dr. Palmer was a thorough scholar and a good administrator but he was also an affectionate, fun-loving, gregarious man.  He loved a good joke; he was an excellent story-teller but according to his secretary, he never said an unkind word about anyone.  At the hour of his funeral in Tuscaloosa, the students assembled in the chapel here and after a brief devotional sat thinking “of how and why they loved him.”

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Flowerhill

Driveway to Flowerhill

Since the spring of 1926, each of the presidents of Alabama College/University of Montevallo and their families have lived in a stately, two-story brick dwelling a third of a mile away from the heart of the campus at the end of a tree-lined drive: Flowerhill.

Before that date, the presidents had lived elsewhere.  Captain Reynolds had his own home in Montevallo on a spot where Whaley Center is now.  It was a huge, rambling Victorian structure that housed not only his own family but, in the early years, some students and faculty as well.  The second president, Dr. Francis M. Peterson, lived in a brick veneer president’s home built in 1906 that stood on a spot between the present Wills and Palmer Halls.  Dr. Palmer also later lived there until it burned on May 5, 1921.  The Palmer family moved into the Infirmary where they remained until Dr. Palmer died in 1926.

The president’s new home had been designed by Mrs. Palmer but she did not choose the furnishings, leaving that to the next “first lady,” Mrs. O. C. Carmichael, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.  Insurance money from the first president’s home was used for that purpose.  Loveman’s in Birmingham were low bidders for the furniture and Jobe Rose for the silver.  The first official function in the new facility was a reception on May 22, 1926.

During its first half century, the house had had only minor repairs so it was not surprising that a thorough overhaul was needed by the time the coming of UM’s 11^th president.  In 1977-78, at the direction of the Board of Trustees, floors were shored up, new wiring and plumbing installed, the walls restored and redecorated and furnishings either restored or replaced.  Today, it is again a lovely place in which to live and entertain and is a focal point of campus social life.

That Flowerhill is a beauty spot is primarily due to the interest and gardening skills of two presidents’ wives, Mrs. A. F. Harman and Mrs. D. P. Culp.

Flowerhill

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Wills Hall

Wills Hall

Wills Hall was the library from 1923 until Carmicheal Library was opened in 1969.  The Board of Trustees authorized the construction of the building at the same meeting (May 1921) that it instructed Dr. Palmer to expand the curriculum to make the school a degree-granting college.

The library originally (1896-97) was a project of a number of Montevallo women interested in forming a literary club.  They engaged the support of the Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs in supplying books and periodicals for a library.  Before 1923 the books had been stored in many temporary places, from the pastor’s study at the Baptist church to the “Fun Room” on the second floor of Main.

Warren, Knight, and Davis were the architects, and Smallman and Bryce the contractors, who used Alabama materials almost exclusively.  Interesting architectural features include beautiful arched windows on the side toward Palmer Hall and a triple arch Palladian window at each end of the ninety foot reading room.

In 1939-40, more stacks and a periodical room were added, doubling the size of the building.  Another change came in 1968-69 when the building was renovated and enlarged for the College of Education.  Air-conditioned, completely carpeted, serviced by an elevator and furnished with colorful equipment, it is now an office classroom building – but one that combines the traditional and modern.

In 1975, an addition was added to the west, doubling the size of the building.  Dampier Harris and Associates were the architects; R.H. Parsons and Company the contractors.  Funds came from the Alabama Public School and College Authority.

Edward Houston Wills (1882-1946)

Edward Houston Wills was connected with this school from 1909 until his death in June 1946, thirty-seven years.  To each of the three presidents he served under – Palmer, Carmichael, and Harman – he was “a good right arm, handling the countless business details of the college.”

With degrees from both Alabama Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University, he was equipped to move from position to position as the need arose.  He came to what was then Alabama Girls’ Industrial School as purchasing agent; he was soon adding classes in history and, later, commercial law.  By 1929 he had become Registrar and Business Manager; but in 1945-46, his last year, the two positions had been divided with him remaining Business Manager.

But Mr. Wills was more than a good business manager.  As the Montgomery Advertiser said at his death, he was an admirable gentlemen “with warmth and an honest humanity that drew students to him for friendship and counsel.”  Twice students honored him publicly – in 1933 they dedicated the yearbook to him and in 1940, College Night.

Wills Hall is named in his honor.  After his death his widow, Phoebe Wills, continued to live in Montevallo, maintaining a close relationship with the campus.  She was for many years the gracious hostess at Reynolds Hall and assistant to the Head of Residence.  She outlived her husband by a third of a century, dying in 1981.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Calkins Hall

Calkins Hall

Calkins Hall was originally built to house the Department of Music and served that purpose from its completion in 1917 until the new music hall was completed in 1971.  It was renovated for administrative offices in 1972-73 and today, is used accordingly.

Wartime conditions with shortages of labor and materials delayed the completion of the building and, by 1917, had increased the final cost several thousand dollars to $31,237.50.

Although the building was smaller than originally planned and the studios diminutive in size, it was the “jewel” of the campus.  Built of brick in the Williamsburg style, it had “unusual charm and permanence from the (hand) carved stone entrance to the lovely concert room upstairs.”  The whole interior was decorated with details of musical instruments.  The concert hall was finished in ivory and old gold and the walls richly decorated with plasterwork.  The dark blue stage curtain gave an accent of color.

Evan Terry was the architect for the renovation in 1972-73; Lewis Mayson, an authority on old buildings, who had supervised the work at King House, was the contractor and general supervisor.  Under their direction, Calkins was completely renovated.  Almost everything inside, from the roof to the carpet and drapes was moved, replaced, refinished or redecorated.  The most obvious change was on the second floor where suites of offices replaced the concert hall.  The rooms are still beautiful but more functional than before.

Housing the offices of the President it was the first building on campus wholly given to administration.  The Board of Trustees Conference Room, where the Board meets quarterly, is also located in the building.

Charles Rendell Calkins

Calkins Hall is named for the man who directed the Music Department from 1916 until his death in Boston on August 28, 1921, just a few days before the opening of the fall term.

Mr. Calkins was a New Englander by both birth and training.  He lived in Melrose Highlands, Massachusetts and studied Faelton Pianoforte School where he graduated in 1908.

His first teaching assignment was in the South, although it is not clear how he got from Boston to Evergreen, Alabama.  In Evergreen he was in charge of music instrumentation at the Second District Agricultural School where he put many of his ideas in to practice; he organized an orchestra, a brass band for the boys and a community choral society.  Furthermore, he was an organist and choir director at the Baptist church where, according to the pastor, he was an exceptionally fine musician and teacher.

After leaving Alabama, he spent the next to years in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he was soloist with the largest choral group and gave concerts in conjunction with Saint Paul Symphony.

He had many opportunities to use his musical skills in Canada but the severe climate there made him long for the mild weather of Alabama.  So when President Palmer offered him a position in Montevallo, he readily accepted, but with the clear understanding that he would reorganize the department.  The school bulletins of the next two or three years show that he enlarged course offerings and organized music groups, both on campus and in the community.

As time went on, he became one of the most influential factors in standardizing school music study in Alabama and other states where he was a frequent consultant.

At the first meeting of the 1921-1922 session, the faculty adopted resolutions which praised him for being a great and inspiring leader and an artist of the highest type, a man of high ideals, clear vision and lofty purposes, a devoted friend to faculty and students, a true citizen active in all that made for the highest good of the community and state.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Bloch Hall

Bloch Hall

Bloch Hall was the first entirely academic building built for the new school, but it was not built until 1915.  During the prior twenty years, the “industrials” which made the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School distinctive had been taught “all over town” – in Reynolds and Main Halls, in temporary buildings and even in private homes.  In the early years, for example, cooking was taught in the kitchen of the E. S. Lyman home.

On August 27, 1914 the Building Committee accepted plans of architect W. T. Warren for the “new science building.”  It was ready for use the following June.  Contractor R. V. Labone built it for $60,000, the original contract price, “unusual in Alabama school building history.”

As in the case of all other old buildings, Bloch has been renovated several times to make it more modern and more adaptable to current needs.  In the beginning, all science classes were taught in this two-story (plus basement) building but after Harman Hall was built, only Family & Consumer Sciences and Art departments are housed here.  The gracious Lois Askerley Living Room on first floor is a special feature, as is The Gallery in the basement.

Bloch Hall is named for Sol D. Bloch, who introduced the bill in the Legislature to create this school.

Sol D. Bloch (1855-1924)

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Sol Bloch in the early history of this school.  In fact, it is doubtful that the school would ever have taken form or survived those first crucial years without Mr. Bloch’s wisdom and sound business sense.

For years the idea of some kind of practical school for girls had been tossed about, but it was Senator Bloch from Camden who introduced the bill in the Alabama Legislature to establish the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School.  On the very last day of the legislative session, February 21, 1892, the bill passed both houses; Mr. Bloch had himself appointed a special messenger to take it to Governor Thomas G. Jones for signing all in one day!  It was a great triumph for Bloch and the young women of Alabama.

This was only the beginning of Mr. Bloch’s connection with the school.  He served on the Board of Trustees until shortly before his death in 1924.  Until the school had a treasurer, he was chairman of the Finance Committee, scrutinizing every expenditure (and often complaining the school was spending too much for such items as butter and turnip greens) and paying every bill.  But he kept the school solvent.  He often visited the campus several days at a time to see if there were ways to make improvements.  He considered being a trustee the greatest honor of his life.

Until shortly before his death he always came to the opening of the school and returned for commencement.  In the fall, he would go to Montevallo on the same train with “his girls,” seeing that they were well cared for and had all the fruit and candy that the “butcher boy” had.  He loved the girls and they loved him.  Once he overheard one of the girls say they were all “chips off the Old Bloch.”  That pleased him greatly.  After he could no longer visit the campus, he regularly sent flowers for the opening of school, Founder’s Day and other ceremonial occasions.

While the school may have been his “true love,” he had other interests.  He was born of Bavarian immigrant parents in Wilcox County, Alabama where he grew up.  He studied law, became a merchant with wide connections, served his hometown as alderman and mayor, and his state as a legislator.  He was a Democrat, a Mason, a Pythian and an active member of many historical and wrote long sketches for the Wilcox Progress and the Wilcox Progressive Era, both of which he owned.

Mr. Bloch was present for the dedication of the science building on January 16, 1915, but although he had worked hard to get it built, he did not know until then that the new hall was to be named for him.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)

Real Estate: Peterson Hall

Peterson Hall, named for Dr. F. M. Peterson, was dedicated with proper ceromonies on May 18, 1914.  Two young grandsons of Dr. Peterson, Edgar Gilmore Givhan and Francis Peterson, who were also the sons of the school’s first physician, unveiled the dedication plaque.

The infirmary had been built in record time.  The Board authorized its construction on May 19, 1913, designating $13,000 for the building and its furnishing to which they later added $500, and less than a year later, on April 1914, it was ready for patients.  It had beds for thirty-six patients, and an isolation area, offices and apartments for a resident physician and nurse.  It was the first structure placed in accordance with a landscape plan drawn up by Charles W. Leverette, Jr.

Previous to this, sick patients had been housed in rooms on second floor Main, and later in King House (then called Nabors Hall) which had been renovated for that purpose.  Presently, it is being renovated to house the Arts Department.

Dr. Francis Marion Peterson (1854-1908)

Unlike Captain Reynolds who made no pretense at being an educator, Dr. Peterson, his successor in 1899 was a classical scholar, a Methodist minister and a member of the faculty at Southern University in Greensboro.  The fact that  he had been acting president of that institution was probably the deciding factor in choosing him as president of AGIS.

To keep the new president from making some financial errors, the Board gave him specific intructions as to the manner of handling school finances.  He must have done well for Senator Sol Bloch, chairman of the Board’s Finance Committee, was “wholehearted in his endorsement of the president’s scrupulous and careful bookkeeping.” Nevertheless, Bloch often complained about expenditures for specific items, such as buttermilk and turnip greens, that he believed could have been bought at lower prices.

When Dr. Peterson took over the school, the annual legislature appropriation was $15,000, the same as it had been in 1896.  This was simply not enough to pay expenses, especially since the Board had added two departments.  So he decided to demonstrate to the Legislature the need for larger appropriation.  To that end he invited the whole body to spend Thanksgiving Day, 1900, on campus to see for themselves demonstrations of the training the school was giving.  The L&N Railroad ran a special train to take the legislators from Montgomery to Montevallo.  Evidently they approved what they saw for the next day they appropriated $65,000.  This money enabled Dr. Peterson to lengthen the school term to nine months and raise teachers’ salaries from $480 per year to $750.  Heads of departments were paid $1000.

During Dr. Peterson’s years, the physical plant was expanded by adding East Wing to Main Dormitory and installing steam heat, electric lights, and running water.  Wings were added to Reynolds Hall, so that the school had twenty-seven classrooms.  There was now a home on campus (between the present Wills and Palmer Halls) for the president and his family.

Dr. Peterson was a classical scholar with no training in “industrials” but he used every opportunity to acquaint himself with them.  He was in sympathy with the purpose of the school but he wanted to be sure that the students were getting well-rounded educations.  He tried, as reported to the Board, to “magnify the work of the individual departments and to correlate the literary and industrial features of the school.”  In other words, he wanted each graduate to be able to not only to earn her living but to be fitted “to adorn any society.”

Dr. Peterson, a popular father figure to the young students, took his responsibilities seriously.  He stated publicly that he was never too tired or too busy to see anyone.  Evidently, the girls took him literally so that his family complained “his meals, his naps, his attempts to escape from school problems within the circle of family were interrupted constantly.”

Dr. Peterson needed rest.  His health declined so rapidly that the Board of Trustees granted him a year’s leave of absence in 1906-1907.  He never returned to his duties, dying on March 3, 1906.  Half a century later his students still remembered the grief they shared at the death of their beloved president.

(This is an excerpt from White Columns & Red Bricks by Lucille Griffith, Ph. D.)