University of Tampa - Moroccan Yearbook (Tampa, FL)

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into the south wing; bedrooms became offices; halls turned into bedrooms. The enormous structure was made to house laboratories, dormitories, all the departments of a modern uni- versity — under one roof. Plant's dining room with its huge dome, its arches on fluted pillars, became a library of 50.000 volumes. His writing room became a reception room with murals of scenes from “The Yearling. ” The students loved it, although the glories of the '90’s had given way to sagged ceil- ings. cracked window panes and the crying need inside and out for a coat of fresh paint. Esmeralda still leaned over her little goat at the main entrance. A few paintings still hung where Mrs. Plant had placed them. And the general atmosphere of the six-acre building itself still held much of the same mystic appeal that characterized its colorful past. As late as 1946 the university had 195 students. Three years later under President Dr. Ell- wood C. Nance, it had nearly 1,500 students, including 660 veterans. During World War II Dr. Nance trained 8,000 Protestant, Catholic and Jewish chaplains in the U.S. Army Chaplain’s school at Harvard. Before that, he had served as pastor of the First Christian Church of Tampa. His book Faith of Our Fighters won acclaim in military circles, churches and in the media Auer V.E. Day, he began pouring his energies into the University of Tampa. He enlisted the help of students and began hammering, painting and repair- ing in the dilapidated building. He roused civic clubs and churches, university alumni, and his own friends into raising $65,000 for new furnishings and improvements. He traveled the nation giving speeches, sell-

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 jv '' 1. Henry B. Plant on the golf course. 2. Plant with some of his guests ready for an afternoon of golf. 3. The Grand Salon (Ballroom). 4. One of the several writing rooms. 5. Main stairway of the hotel.