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Since 1831: LaGrange College is a pictorial celebration
of the history of one hundred and seventy five years of
LaGrange College. First a women's college, named in
Gone With the Wind as the school Aunt Pittypat attended,
LaGrange Female Institute became LaGrange Female
College, and today the coeducational LaGrange College
draws students from around the world.

Unlike most books tracing college histories, this volume
does not attempt to catalogue the growth of the college
chronologically. Rather, we chose to juxtapose vintage
photographs of the early years with contemporary ones.
In this way we hope to illustrate the traditions and
innovations that have led the college forward.

The campus has outgrown its lofty hilltop, expanding
into space and new buildings that now include the
Callaway Campus, Price Theater, The Lamar Dodd Art
Center, Cleaveland Field, Hudson Natatorium, softball
and soccer fields, tennis courts, a football practice field,
and Sunny Gables, the Alumni house. The cohesive,
binding locus of the original quadrangle, however,
can still be felt at the center of the college community
of students, faculty and administration. Venerable old
Smith Hall served as a hospital during the Civil War,
and students more than a hundred years later still know
its grand pillars as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It
retains the honor of its title College Home.

The 2 1st centuiy LaGrange College embraces its history,
with a continuing mission to enable students to take their
places as leaders, and with the vision and commitment
to take its place as a premier liberal arts institution.

COVl-R Smith Hall. 2005

Digitized by

the Internet Archive

in 2014

https://archive.org/details/scince1831lagran2005lagr

LAGRANGE

COLLEGE

Copyright 2005 LaGrange College

Published by LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any

form without written permission from the publisher

Since 1831: LaGrange College

Edited by John Lawrence, Nina Dulin-Mallory, and Jared Ragland.
Book design by Jared Ragland and Design Group.

ISBN 09636717-1-5

Printed in Birmingham, AL.

Commercial Printing Company
222 Sixth Avenue
Birmingham, AL 3521 I

www.lagrange.edu
www.jaredragland.com
www.commercialprinting.com
www.tbdg.com

Forward by President F. Stuart Gulley

History 13

PART ONE Challenging the Mind 23

Miriam Lowe Adamson '49 27

PART TWO Inspiring the Soul 39

Fred Brown '64 51

PART THREE Traditions on the Hill 55

Andrew Johnson '04 103

Acknowledgements 1 1 I

<Ss0^- he pages of this volume reflect the passage of 175 years and the essence of an institution
thatnas endured, adapted, and thrived as those years gave way to the present.

It is the nature of historical and pictorial works that, once produced, they are out of date. In this
LaGrange College retrospective, for instance, there is no mention of a new football team, a renovated
Callaway Auditorium as a musical performance venue, plans once funds are raised for a 45- 000
square-foot library in the heart of the Hill, or an enrollment that has reached an all-time high and
is projected to increase. Happily, LaGrange College is not static, but thrives on an ambitious and
compelling vision for the future.

What has not changed since the founding of LaGrange College, however, is its deep and abiding
commitment to head and heart. Our mission of "challenging the mind and inspiring the soul" has
been the guiding force for us since our earliest days. Not content to give students just a credential
for a career, we educate the total person through moral, character, and spiritual development.

On the pages that follow, you will be inspired by the growth and progress of this institution over
the decades as it has worked to fulfill that mission. John Lawrence, Jared Ragland, and Dr. Nina
Dulin-Mallory have done exceedingly good work in capturing the transformation the College
has experienced since its 1831 origin, and I am grateful to them for their labors.

As you peruse this volume, I hope that you will take pride in our institution's many accomplishments,
past and present. May this "snapshot" of LaGrange College at her I75th year be a reminder of our
rich legacy, and a calling to great possibilities for our future.

F. Stuart Gulley, Ph.D.
President

Smith Hall

Originally called College Home, the building was completed as a
dormitory in 1842. The clay for the bricks was dug from the back
of the hill, and the four columns are brick covered with plaster.
Typically, eight girls occupied four double beds in each room.

12

'vsi^Qf ndrewjackson was President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was twenty-two years
old, and there was only one other college in Georgia the small school that would later become
The University of Georgia the year that the LaGrange Female Academy was chartered, 1831.

That school occupied a building at 406 Broad Street until the construction of what would later
be known as Smith Hall in 1842 on the Hill. Only a few decades later, that building would serve
as a Civil War hospital while classes continued to produce graduates in each of the war years. In
1847 it became the LaGrange Female Institute; in 1 8 5 1 it became the LaGrange Female College;
and in 1934- LaGrange College. In 1856, it became affiliated with the Georgia Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South. It officially became coeducational in 1953-

Today, the college offers baccalaureate degrees in twenty-three majors, an associate of arts degree,
and master of arts in teaching and master of education degrees.

Throughout its long history, LaGrange College has continued to do what it has always seen as
its mission, but articulated anew with the inauguration of Dr. Stuart Gulley, its twenty-fourth
president, in 1997: to challenge the minds and inspire the souls of students.

The Dobbs Academic Building

Completed in 1 8 5 1 . the year LaGrange Female Institute became
LaGrange Female College, the building had no name until the
1940s when it was named for the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, Samuel C. Dobbs. After more than a century of service,
the building was destroyed by fire in I970-

1

ABOVE Cut postcard with panorama of the Quadrangle, circa I 940
OPPOSITE Dobbs Academic Building, circa 1950

I

A

Hawkes Hall

Completed in igi I , Hawkes Hall is named for Mrs. Harriet
Hawkes, mother of early college benefactor A.K. Hawkes. Today
three floors serve as a dormitory for female students, and the
Education Department occupies the ground floor.

ABOVE
OPPOSITE
FOLLOWING SPREAD

Hawkes Hall as seen from the Quadrangle
Cows grazing outside the back of Hawkes Hall
Autumn near the Nick Allen Pavilion, Callaway Campus

t/cen

PART ONE

ABOVE (left to nght) Class Presidents;Jean Madaris.Wyndy Vineyard, Martha Young, and Miriam Lowe,
Senior Class President 1947-48

'y classmates and I arrived at LaGrange College in September of 1945- And, like freshmen
everywhere, we thought we already knew much of what we would need to know in life. As freshmen we
grew up quickly; our world had been turned upside down by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Our brothers left
for two years of active duty with the Eighth Army Air Force and Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army.

With no gasoline and no tires, transportation was limited, and that meant there would be no "away"
games in sports. Everything was rationed. At school we soon realized how little we really knew and how
over protected we had been. We had a lot of growing yet to do!

As we settled into college life, we heard the words of John Milton for the first time, we read Shakespeare,
and we began to appreciate great works of renowned composers. Organ music and vocal exercises filled
the Quadrangle from Dobbs Auditorium's open windows. Adding to the cacophony, "How Now Brown
Cows?" was Miss Arnett's 'exercise dujour' in Speech Class.

The world righted itself, and we emerged on May l8, 1949- as reverent, mature, caring, well-educated
young ladies - reluctant to leave this home - this LaGrange College, a place where loving-kindness had
lived for more than a century.

Miriam Lowe Adamson '49

27

28

above Library in Hawkes Hall
OPPOSITE Detail of columns from William & Evelyn Banks Library

Social and reading room. 1800s above

37

Chapel

The LaGrange College Chapel was completed in 1965- It includes
two stained glass windows which came from LaGrange 's original
Methodist Church and had been made in Belgium over a hundred
years ago. The Chapel also includes a stone from the temple of Apollo
in Corinth, Greece; one from the Benedictine Monastery in Iona,
Scotland; and one from St. George's Chapel, Windsor, England.

THE ABOVE STONE IS'FROi
OF APOLLQAT CORINTH. EREC
540 8. C. SAINT PAUL PREACHED
IN THE MARKETPLACE AROUND 50 A.
ff AND ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH TO WHICH i

1!)

The LaGrange College Honor Code

The Honor Code was written by a committee of students and faculty
and implemented in 1999. It has as its goal creating a community of
scholars based on trust and responsibility.

Since its inception, the Honor Council, comprised entirely of
students, has served to educate the student body, foster academic
integrity, and hear cases brought before it when any student may have
violated the Code. The Council is entrusted with this responsibility
by the college community, and its members endeavor to act upon the
highest principles of fairness and respect.

Servant Leadership

The mission of the college calls for its members to strive to be a "caring
and ethical community." Each year a different group of students,
staff, and faculty are named to explore the meaning of servant
leadership and ways they may individually and collectively express
that leadership in their lives and in the life of the college. To date,
hundreds of members of the college community have participated.

43

Interim

A new core curriculum and a new academic calendar were
introduced in 2001. A January Interim Term between the two
semesters now gives students opportunities for short course
studies unprecedented in the three-quarter system. Students
engage in internships, courses on campus, or travel courses,
all of which have challenged them in interesting ways. Whether
learning to build a computer, engaging in service learning
projects, or studying in Italy, Spain, Greece, England, Ireland,
France, or the Galapagos Islands, LaGrange College students
have entered the exciting new world of "Interim."

clockwise FROM TOP Students on the equator in Ecuador. 2004;

English students at Dante's Tomb, Ravenna, Italy. 2004;
Student sketching in Ancient Corinth, Greece. 2005

OPPOSITE Student in Metera, Greece. 200 1

44

BELOW LEFT Creative Music Technologies. 1998
BELOW right The LaGrange College Orchestra. 1926

1.

A performance in Price Theater. 1990s ABOVE

47

18

Lamar Dodd Art Center

In the late 1970s, Lamar Dodd donated over a hundred paintings
and drawings to establish an art collection that led to the building
of the Lamar Dodd Art Center, a gift of Callaway Foundation, Inc.,
dedicated in 1981.

< -LiS^'n !959 I graduated from Georgia Military Academy (now Woodward Academy) where I was a
captain in the cadet officer corps, lettered in football and baseball and was elected "most popular."
In the fall of that year, I went to the University of Tennessee where I lived in a fashionable apartment
off campus, joined Sigma Chi Fraternity and was picked by my fraternity brothers to represent them in
the University's "Joe College" contest. I was a business major and probably one of the most miserable of
the 20,000 students at UT that year. I left the University of Tennessee. I joined the Marine Corps and
served at Parris Island and Camp Lejeune. I went to work for Delta Air Lines where I carried out time
and motion studies on how long it took mechanics to overhaul jet engines.

Hugh Williams, a mechanic supervisor in my area and a man who was to become one of the best friends
I've ever had, had a daughter who was an art major at LaGrange College. We hadn't worked together long
before Hugh gave me a piece of advice. "You need to get out of here," he said, "and get back into college."
He arranged for me to visit LaGrange and meet some of the administration and faculty. It didn't take
but one visit for me to fall in love with the College. I liked the campus with its picturesque Quadrangle
surrounded by red brick. I liked the administration and faculty and I liked the students. I liked the fact
that it was a small college in a small town but only an hour from Atlanta.

I enrolled at LaGrange as a history major. Alan Thomas, then the College's Director of News Services,
recruited me to work on (and eventually edit) the college newspaper, The Hilltop News. Why, I'll never
know. I didn't know the difference between a front page and "Hints from Heloise. " Within a couple of
months, I knew I had picked the right place - or the right place had picked me. The small classes, the
interaction with professors, the students who became my friends working on The Hilltop News all
combined, gave me a sense of purpose and place and belonging that I had never known before and that
has served as a kind of measuring stick for "job satisfaction" ever since.

My experience at LaGrange College set the course for the rest of my life. I have written or edited a dozen
books and edited three magazines. For ten years in the 70s and 80s I had the privilege of publishing Browns
Guide to Georgia magazine. In 1997 my co-author (and wife) Sherri M. L. Smith and I were named Atlanta
Press Club Authors of the Year for our work on The Riverkeeper's Guide to the Chattahoochee . I consider those
mile markers along an adventurous road I'm still traveling and whose end I do not see. The Sigma Chi,
Joe College, business major at the University of Tennessee would not have - could not have - traveled
that road.

In the 60s who had any idea we were on the threshold of a personal computer revolution? I edited The
Hilltop News typing on an ancient Smith-Corona in a small office in the back of Smith Hall. I credit the
openness and flexibility of the Liberal Arts education I received at LaGrange with being able to embrace
not just computers but the Web and the Internet and the streaming video technologies that are opening
up new vistas in my field of publishing every day.

I am forever grateful to LaGrange College administrators, faculty and students. . .and to the I75~y ear ~ld enduring
institution of LaGrange College itself for being there for the most important years of my life.

Fred Brown '64

51

PART THREE

Lafayette

In 1975 tne honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters was
conferred on the great, great grandson of General Gilbert de Lafayette,
Count Rene de Cambrun of Paris. Three years earlier, Chambrun
had presented LaGrange College President Waights G. Henry, Jr.,
with an American flag that had flown over the patriot's grave.

LaGrange itself was named for the home of Lafayette, who served
with Washington, was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, and
was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. In 1825 he visited
this region of Georgia, and legend has it that he claimed it looked
similar to the land around his home, the Chateau de LaGrange.

The statue of the Marquis de Lafayette in LaGrange's town square is on
loan from the college and is a copy of the original in Le Puy, France.

Houdon bust of Lafayette
Postcard of La Statue de Lafayette, Le Puy, France
Statue of Lafayette, downtown LaGrange

TOP

BOTTOM
OPPOSITE

The Gates

The posts of the college gates were originally cast in 1856 for
the Broad Street entrance to Belleview, the home of Senator
Benjamin Harvey Hill. Belleview's gates were a replica of those
at the White House in Washington, D.C. They were moved in
1905, and the posts were given to the college to form an archway,
eventually taking its current place beside the chapel.

Christmas on the Hill

Observing Christmas on the Hill offers a celebration of the spirit
of Christmas in a variety of ways through sharing traditions,
programs of the performing arts, and opportunities to provide
help to those who need it beyond the college campus. One of its
stirring highlights is the Service of Lessons and Carols.

The Centennial Celebration of LaGrange College

The Centennial Celebration of LaGrange College, October 9, 1931.
The large poplar tree on the Quadrangle in the background of the
photo had been struck by lightning. One of the college cooks carved
away the damaged bark, filled the area with concrete, and the tree
lasted another fifty years.

65

Sunny Gables

Sunny Gables, an outstanding example of early twentieth century
Tudor Revival architecture, was completed in 1926 and renovated
in 2002. Once the site of the Nursing Division, today it is the
home for college alumni.

TOP Sunny Gables

left The Candler Residence Hall, named in honor of Mrs. Lee Edwards
Candler, was completed in 2002.

right Remer H'02 and Emily Crum '35 H'02 pause with President Gulley
with an aerial view of Atlanta's Century Center office park, which
they plan to bequeath to Mercer University and LaGrange College.

William H.Turner.Jr.Hall was renovated in 2003. One floor continues to
be used for women's housing, and cwo floors are now a student center.

1

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69

70

Student organizations. 1 920s - 1 940s THIS SPREAD

71

ABOVE Choralaires in Smith Parlor. 1950s
opposite Formal evening at Pitts. 1950s

72

"10 Outstanding Seniors." 1974 LEFT
Association of Black Collegiates. 1974 right

75

76

ugNsMKnY

Date Permit

A couple walks hand in hand on the Quadrangle
A window in Smith Hall etched by engagement rings, "giving notice" of new engagements

May Day Court. 1934 above
Phi Mu performs at Step Sing. 2003 OPPOSITETOP

The Rabbits of May Day. 1 95 1 OPPOSITE BOTTOM

85

Championship Basketball Team coached by Alfred Mariotti. 1973 ABOVE

Women's athletics opposite

Cleaveland Field

In 2000, Cleaveland Field opened as the new baseball facility. Callaway
Foundation, Inc., gave the land and a challenge grant to honor
Philip Cleaveland, a college trustee for nineteen years. In 2003.
the baseball team won the United States Collegiate Athletic Association
National Championship.

LaGrange College Golf USCAA Championship Ring. 2003 top

2004 Panther Golf Team, the first team to represent the college at middle

an NCAA championship

LaGrange College students welcome golfing legend Bobby Jones to bottom
the opening of the Highland Country Club.

Basketball Team. 1926 opposite

93

Commencement invitation. 1888 above
Convocation at First United Methodist Church. 2004 opposite

97

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The LaGrange College mace is carried by the President of the Faculty Assembly
at the head of processions for convocation and graduation.

Diploma. 1 85 I

102

ABOVE Andrew Johnson, Class of 2004, receives a congratulatory embrace
from his father.

-Jz^rT^y graduating class was lined up waiting to walk up to the quad on that beautiful May morning.
My professors were intermingled amongst my classmates, reminiscing about past classes and discussing
plans for the future. I walked over to my favorite place on campus, the swing on the patio, and sat
down. I began to swing, tassle flopping around, gown rustling with the breeze I was creating. Many a
day had been spent on that swing, but this day was different, it would be my last as a LaGrange College
student. This was a tough idea to grasp. Once I overcame the anxiety of this thought, I too began to
remember the events of the past four years.

I began to remember the wonderful friends who had come and gone and the nights spent talking for
hours with them about important topics and those more trivial. Watching the movie Superstar until
we could reenact each scene word for word. There was that triumphant day when I scored my first goal
on the beautiful LC soccer field. Those classes and professors that challenged me and made me grow
in ways that I would have never dreamed if not for them. Turning in that paper that felt almost perfect
and a true reflection of who I was and what I had to say. Experiencing the art and music of my extremely
talented friends. Feeling the clay spin between my fingers as I tried to create a masterpiece. Seeing my
Cornerstone professor's face when we brought a keg (empty of course) to his Christmas party, and then
when he said to tell the kids "it's a stool." My skin baking in the Costa Rican sun as we helped build
a parsonage for the local pastor. Discovering books like From Brokenness to Community that I feel the need
to read at least once a year. Dancing for hours at the many socials and parties and oddly in front of
everyone at May Day. Experiencing death through the eyes of my amazingly strong roommate.

My LC experience was filled with memories like these and just as importantly with a great sense of
community. I felt truly accepted at LC by everyone, even those who completely disagreed with me
on every topic. This was a feeling that is hard to come by if not nearly impossible. The community
was alive, healthy and helped me grow in immeasurable ways. I always had someone to turn to in
whatever situation I found myself in. There are not many colleges, or places in general, where people
feel comfortable talking with the people in charge. Yet, I felt this comfort with the President, the staff,
faculty, students, everyone. College was an amazing time in my life and I would not trade LC for any
other school. My mind was challenged and my soul inspired. I am still learning from my times at LC
and will probably come to new realizations for the rest of my life.

Andrew Johnson 04

0-1

ABOVE Graduation procession. 1 950s

id center) President Waights G. Henry, Jr. , assists graduates with regalia. 1970s

IB * -

Graduates. 1905

qg^-fiis book celebrating the I75 tn Anniversary of the college has been a collaborative effort. It
was designed most skillfully by alumnus Jared Ragland 'OO, who was intent from the beginning
that the book be like no other, more of an aesthetic scrapbook than a pictorial history. He was
adeptly aided by alumni Laura Butler 'OO and Maria Hays '04 at Design Group in LaGrange.
Heather Cowart 'OO also served as design consultant.

We are particularly indebted to Dean Hartman and Stacy Gormanjackson OO in our Communications
Department, as well as Martha Pirkle and Susan Hancock in the Alumni Office for helping us
compile images and gather information. A very special thanks to Nina Dulin-Mallory who wrote
the captions and text and also provided much needed encouragement. Additional help and advice
were provided by Kay Minchew at the Troup County Archives and Julia Dyar, the college's former
Director of Institutional Relations.

We thank Miriam Lowe Adamson '49- Fred Brown '64, and Andrew Johnson '04 for their essays
of memories of college days which added significantly to the content of the book. Fred Brown
helped us launch the book with advice concerning the concept and production.

While many of the earlier images were made by photographers we cannot identify, there are a number
of photographs we can credit. We are extremely grateful for the rights to reproduce the works of Joe
Benton, John McKeith, Tommy Thompson, Charles Nix, Stacy Gormanjackson, Dean Hartman,
Derrick Dukes, Mike Jacoby, John Hughes, Rob Dicks, Jared Ragland and John Lawrence.

CONTRIBUTORS

Jared Ragland is a 2000 LaGrange graduate who
joined the faculty at LaGrange as an adjunct professor
for the 2004-05 academic year. He is a founding
partner of themarvelouscollective.com, an online
artist co-op, and has worked as a graphic designer
and photojournalist for numerous international
mission and aid organizations.

John Lawrence, Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Art,
is chairman of the Art and Design Department
and director of the Lamar Dodd Art Center. His
photographs have been published in numerous books
including Faulkner's Rowan Oak, Travels in Troup County,
and Walls of Light: The Murals of Walter Anderson.

Dr. Nina Dulin-Mallory is a Professor of English
at LaGrange College. She is advisor to the Honor
Council and past president of the Center for Academic
Integrity at Duke University.

Miriam Lowe Adamson '49 studied English and
Literature at LaGrange College. She has driven
dogsleds in remote areas of Canada and won the
Ms. Senior America Pageant in 1995. Her story
of surviving breast cancer was featured in Portraits
of Hope: Conquering Breast Cancer, 52 Inspiring Stories of
Strength (Wonderland Press, 1998).

Fred Brown '64 is the author and publisher of
numerous books and journals including Brown's
Guide to Georgia. He is co-author with his wife,
Sherri Smith, of the book The River Keeper's Guide to
the Chattahoochee, which won the Atlanta Press Club
Authors of the Year Award in 1997

Andrew Johnson '04 was a Cunningham-Traylor
scholar, a Servant Leadership Fellow, and a member
of both the SGA and the Environmental Task Force
at LC. After graduation he spent a year working and
living in a home for disadvantaged youth in Atlanta

ISBN O-963-67171-5