Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

Page 8 text:

Out of Cottonfields . . . On May 27, 1909, Mayor J.H. Malone had appointed a committee to put together a proposal for the location of a post secondary school in Memphis. Mayor Malone ' s instructions were to work fast since the State Board of Education was meeting in July to decide where three Normal schools would be located. The people on this committee were the forebearers of MSU. They shaped what has become a fine institution out of what was then a last minute The famed tracks next to campus once housed a station which has left traces of its foundation between Walker Avenue and the tracks. Catching a train for trips to town was only one of the uses of the railroad. Students load their belongings as they prepare to answer their call of duty during World War II (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) Untied and undefeated. Allyn McKeen was the 1938 head football coach. His team was not only untied and undefeated, but also was the highest scoring team in the nation that year. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) A new historical chapter at Memphis State began with the acquisition of university status in 1957. The process of being MSU History

Page 7 text:

%6t« - I . The beginning of a university. Still under construction, Joseph H. Creath ' s cottonfield formed the border of the West Tennessee State Normal School. There were only three buildings on the campus at that time: the Administration building, Mynders Hall and the president ' s house. There was also a water tower. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) A complete campus. In 1924, WTSNS ' s campus growth. (Phcto from the campus was completed by the president ' s Commercial Appeal archives, courtesy of residence. No longer in existence, the MVC) building was destroyed to make way for A Passing Parade

Page 9 text:

effort to draw thunder from Humboldt, Milan, Jackson, Trenton and Covington, Tenn., for the location of West Tennessee State Normal School. After the committee ' s proposal was accepted by the State Board of Education, speculation began on who would be the first president of the new Normal school. The committee chose Professor Seymour A. Mynders to receive charge of the school on June 1, 1911. Mynders was an exceptionally well organized and crafty administrator. He went to the opening of the other two Normal schools in East and Middle Tennessee and arranged to lecture. Mynders managed to turn his lectures into a recruitment for teachers to come to his school. He then rushed back to Memphis to oversee the construction of the Memphis Normal school which would be larger than the other two and therefore would take another year to complete. (continued on page 7) redesignated from Memphis State College to Memphis State University faced opposition from UT Knoxville and was a long political struggle that started in 1951. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) A Passing Parade