Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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Well on its way toward growing, the West commencement exercises in 1913 saw 25 Tennessee State Normal School, as new graduates walk across the campus on Memphis State University was then known, the traditonal graduation trek. (Photo from graduated over 40 seniors in 1 91 9. The first the Mississippi Valley Collection) t started out on the edge of a cotton field. It would only cost about a half million dollars to create, including the furniture for two large buildings: the main Administration Building and a dorm. Bids for everything from the latest device in a patent dishrag to a concert piano for the auditorium were included in its price (from the Commercial Appeal, Apr. 28, 1912). By fall 1912, these buildings would be filled with the excited voices of students entering the new West Tennessee State Normal School. These students were here to train solely for teaching and administrative school work. They gained acceptance because they had a high school diploma, good moral character and white skin. The profile of the average student — if there can be such a person among 22,000 — has changed. The school no longer is limited to education majors. But these foundations were the necessary start for Memphis State University. Get the cops off campus, was a slogan encouraging students to attend a freedom of speech rally. Students sit-in in front of Jones Hall Cafeteria in April 1969 to express their own attitudes about freedom. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Encouraging adult students to return to Memphis State is part of the recruitment job of Continuing Education. Memphis State used the slogan Weekend University to entice adult students to return to college for a variety of reasons including learning skills they ' ve always wanted to cultivate. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection)

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J ■■ • ■ ' ■ Xj- jJ 5 aia ' » «« 8 -« K3 History Hands across the tracks meet halfway, before the Civil War. For early students, Although the train tracks were considered was a main form of transportation. (Photo a hassle by 70s students as they are from the Mississippi Valley Collection) today, the tracks have been here since

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Considerably smaller. Memphis State ' s campus in 1 934 contained only 1 buildings, including the president ' s house which no longer exists. The Southern Railroad was still a viable part of the town at that time. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Slowly but surely the rural cotton field which housed the State Normal School has become the urban, sprawling... Location of the Campus Home away from home. Veteran ' s Villiage, an apartment complex built in 1947 to house the veterans of WWII and their families, was located approximately where the Meeman Journalism building and the Physical Plant are located today. Veteran ' s Village was torn down in 1966. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Some things don ' t change. Memphis State in 1965 was a growing part of the city of Memphis. Trees were abundant and parking was limited. Just a few short years later, in 1968, MSU gained a new dorm, Central Towers complex, to help alleviate the housing shortage. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) L- » Location of Campus