Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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m i i i i PAGEANT OF THE YEARS In 1909 under the impetus of a great educational campaign begun by leading spirits in the educational world, the people of the state awoke to the fact that Tennessee was lagging far behind other states in the new drive to educate our people for modern life. The campaign culminated in the plan of the Legislature to erect teacher training schools in the three great divisions of the State, and ac- cordingly the Educational Act of 1909 gave birth to West Tennessee Normal School. Many communities of the western portion vied for the location of the school. When the citizens of Memphis donated 81 acres of land for the location of the institution, with the promise of money grants, it was legally located there. The succeeding years have each brought additional buildings and enlargement of scope and student body. 1912 — Administration Building, Mynders hid!!, Presi- dent ' s hlome. Formdl opening of School, Sept. 9, 1912; 305 enrollment. 1919 — Two years hiigh School dropped, third year College added. 1920 — Three years College work required for graduation from Normal School. 1921-24 — Men ' s Dormitory, Dining hiall, Training School. 1925 — Full-fledged College, granting degree of Bachelor of Science. 1927-28 — Library and Gymnasium. 1929— Manning Science hiall. 1934— Equipment valued at $1,500,000. In 21 years has had well over 12,000 students, now has over 660 graduates with Bachelor of Science Degree, hias hundreds of graduates in Ele- mentary and High Schools of surrounding terri- tory. Average enrollment now 850.

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p fln vr?i ;fA ' . ' ' «w: Kvnic ' j DEDICATION to Dean J. M. Smith Whom we admire and respect as a man, whose good-nature, geniality, and devotion to the cause of Education and to Teachers College have endeared him to every student, this twenty-first anniversary edition of The DeSOTO is respectfully dedicated by the class of nineteen hundred and thirty-four