Louisiana State University - Gumbo Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

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View or quadrangle from the Memorial Tower Ground Breaking in March of 1920 16 Nostalgia

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admitted to the University, and there being only a dozen or so of them, we had not even the strength usually attributed to numbers to rely upon. Naturally we were much disturbed upon finding our- selves actually launched upon the sea of University life. Each and every one of us felt, upon general principles, that she was bound to make a bloomin ' idiot of her- self before those fatal first days were over. After a while it dawned upon us that boys had numerous clubs; therefore clubs must be the proper thing, and it would add to our dignity and importance to get up one of our own. What happened at that first meeting, and how the officers were elected, we will never tell! After deep thought and much discussion a name was selected. C.C. was given to the public, but what those letters stood for we agreed to keep a secret. Then the fun and excitement began. Of course, as a mystery was involved, it immediately became the topic of conversation among the boys. When they found it was useless to implore us to tell them the name, they called special meetings to try to discover the meaning of C.C. Of course, we heard of it, and enjoyed the joke immensely. After the meetings the boys triumphantly announced that the name had been guessed by one of them, and that we might as well confess that the C.C. stood for Cadet Catcher, and that we certainly lived up to our reputa- tion. Doubtless this was a gentle hint for us to notice them, as lately we had ignored them entirely. CADETS TO THE CO-EDS Our arms for defense, Your arms for recompense. FALL IN! Coed Oub of 190 s m .- .

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. 5TAT E LM E R S Proposed plan of L t ' in Xtohcr s the years passed at the Old Campus, the University experienced phe- nomenal growth. The quarters became inadequate to meet the rising enrollment with no possible form of expansion because the city had almost encircled the site. The need for a new university plant prompted President Boyd into action. Boyd favored the Gartness Planta- tion, a large tract of land located three miles from the city of Baton Rouge, as the location of the new university. When a bill was introduced into the legislature for the purchase of a demon- stration farm for the school, selling at the same price as the plantation, Boyd was convinced to get this money reap- propriated for the new site. In May 1918, the University held a barbecue to help convince members of the legislature to pass this bill appropri- ating the money for the purchase of land for the new university. The festivi- ties were held on the Indian Mounds i located on the plantation. Speakers urged the passage of the bill, and the band played with the Glee Club singing rousing songs. Barbecue, buns, butter- milk, and black coffee were served. The absence of liquor caused the old-timers to call this the only dry barbecue in the history of Baton Rouge. Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant, a former member of the faculty, made the sweeping state- ment that the money would be forth- coming if the legislature bills passed. The barbecue had its positive effect and shortly afterwards the bill was passed favoring the new site. Before the legislative funds could be raised to pay for the Gartness Plantation, a note bor- rowing $50,000 to subsidize the pur- chase of the plantation was signed by nine interested citizens. The following year, a severance tax was levied by Gov- ernor John M. Parker (the Father of the Greater State University ) which pro- vided an appropriation for the new uni- versity, and the Louisiana Constitution of 1921 also provided a state tax for the support of the school. The building committee submitted its plans and the first spade of din was turned in March of 1920. The entire campus consisted of twenty buildings totaling up to $5,000,000 to build. The Memorial Tower wa s built in honor of the war dead of Louisiana during World War I and was paid for by the funds gathered from public subscription, the American Legion, and the legislature. The old campus was relinquished and the University moved to the new plant in 1926. Nostalgia I