Virginia Military Institute - Bomb Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

Page 24 text:

V. M. I., 1 918 new barracks, which remained as such until December, 1923. These rooms were added on the west side of the barracks, and they extend from the Jackson arch to within a few feet of the Library, thus adding a third side to the proposed quadrangle of Greater V. M. I. Between 1900 and 1919, although no additions were made to barracks, improve- ments were launched along different lines. The new Academic Building, contaim ' ng all the classrooms and lecture halls, and the Jackson Memorial Hall, which serves as a chapel and hall for the Final exercises, were built in 191 6, and this added greatly to the symmetrv ' and appearance of the Institute. On the main floor of the Jackson Alemorial Hall, and serving as a background to the platform in the rear of the hall, is the original painting of B. West Clinedinst ' s Battle of New Market. It depicts the Cadets at the very height of their historic charge. These two buildings have greatly enhanced the growth and prominence of V. M. I. and were a natural step in the next lap, begun in 1919, toward a larger and better institution. The next annexation was made in 1919, when more rooms were added on the same wing of barracks. This was done shortlv after the armistice ending the World

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i i t t 1 1. 1111 II ' i«5 - HARRACKS I-RD.M THi; I ' ARADI, (IROUND, 1 9OO of General Hunter, famous Yankee general. The school was burned in 1S62 b - Hunter ' s men for military reasons — to prevent its being used by Generals Robert Edward Lee and Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson as a training camp for Southern soldiers. Today, the Institute still boasts of the fact that one of the walls on the east side of barracks contains a round, old-fashioned cannon ball pumped into its side by one of the Federal artillery batteries under the general command of Hunter, but directly in charge of Col. H. A. DuPont. In spite of the fact that the Institute was totally demolished, only the brick walls being left standing as a grim reminder of what had happened to Virginia and the Cause of the men beIo« ' the Mason-Dixon line, the headquarters of V. M. I. were moved, and with Staunton as a camping ground, cadets and alumni took command of the rawest rookies and turned them into well-trained and disciplined soldiers. In the next illustration we jump to a period nearh ' fifty years later, and see the Virginia Military Institute as it appeared in 19110, the ery beginning of the twentieth centurj-, the age which was to denote such a pronounced improvement in every condition pertaining to the college ; in this cut may be seen the addition of

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THE xj; v roi RTU v i. t; ur ijarracks War, and the rooms, containing running water, were double, and were thought then to be the last thing in ultra-modernism. It was thought, at this period, that the pinnacle of the Greater V. M. I. had been attained, but ambition, until now lying dormant in the breasts of Institute sons, leaped forward by huge bounds, and plans were immediately drawn and approved for the demolition of the Francis H. Smith building and the erection of the fourth side of barracks on its site. New rooms were to be added on the north side, thus completing the square and bringing to a crowning conclusion the dream of all Cadets for the final steps necessary to com- plete and enclose the courtyard with barracks on all four sides. After the addition in 19 19, there was only a short span of time before the final step became a fact and not merely an idle pipe dream of devoted sons. The accom- panying photograph shows the last stage in the long-dreamed-of Greater V. M. I., the completed quadrangle. The last picture shows the entire Institute as it is today. The difference in this illustration and that of V. M. I. in 1859 is too marked to need any comment — the pictures speak for themselves — and succeed very well in depicting the giant strides '