Memphis University School - Owl Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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Memphis University School, though its organization has Ijeen changed, has had a proud and colorful tradition of over half a century. In order to instill in the reader ' s mind a more vivid picture of what M.U.S. really means, and to convey an accurate account of the past tradition of which so many of us know only vaguely, the editors of this annual present a special feature PROFILES OF AN ERA Originally established as Werts and Rhea in 1893, the old University School was first located in the Bethel Building at Adams and Charleston. In 1896 the school moved to the Clara Conway Building on Poplar, and then in 1899 finally l)ec ame estalilished on its own campus at Madison and Manassas. By 1903 the school was being referred to as The Memphis University School; however, the name was not officially changed until 1910. From the l eginning, the curriculiun at M.U.S. has been very thorough. The 1894-5 catalog states that the threefold purpose of the school was: (1) To prepare students thor- oughly for Yale, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, U. S. Military Academy, U. S. Naval Academy, Princeton, University of Virginia, and other leading colleges and universities of the coun- try; (2) to give them substantial training in the various branches of a liberal education, and thus fit them for the business and respon- sibilities of life; (3) to develop them into high-toned Christian gentlemen. The school ' s preparatory work was so good that by 1914 M.U.S. students were being admitted without entrance examinations to such universities as: Virginia, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Purdue, and Sewanee, while Virginia, Washington and Lee, Tulane, and Hampden-Sidney were even offer- ing free tuition to high ranking M.U.S. gradu- ates. Of course M.U.S. students have always had activities besides the academic. Interscholastic football, for instance, was begun in 1894 dropped for several years, tlien permanently riie Founders: Werts and Rhea

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This is the Old School as it was in 1914. The building still stands at 23 South Manassas overlooking Forrest Park from its grassy terrace well above the street. The building looks much the same from the out- side as it did fifty years ago. even the date, 1899, is still visi- ble. But the interior has been divided up by cheap partitioning and is in use by the University of Tennes- see as a dormitory. re-instated in 1898. In this, as in everything else, M.U.S. students excelled ; tlie 1904 team was un- scored upon by six out of seven teams. School spirit ran high at these athletic contests; a game in 1900 with C.B.C. ended in a free-for-all over a score dis- pute. ( Feelings were hurt so badly on both sides tlial tlie two schools didn ' t play each other for another twenty years.) Baseball, introduced in 1895, was also popular with the students. The team played not only high school teams but also college teams, and won several city championships. Other extracurricular ac- tivities were quite numer- ous in the Old School. some of the clubs being the Mandolin Club, the Hunt Club, the Riding Chm. the Lunch Club, the Auto Chil). and a Fresh Ail Club. M.U.S. Topics, the school newspaper, was first puli- lished in 1900, and tlie annual in 1903. Originallv named the M.U.S. -Kito (after a common denizen of these parts), the an)uial