The Buildings of Sam Houston State University

Physical Plant update: November 2009

2009-11-15T15:11:00.001-06:00

If you read your copy of the Fall 2009 Heritage magazine then you may recall President James Gaertner saying that a new residence hall is on the horizon, as part of the Campus Master Plan. Specifically, “a new 300-bed residence hall located across from the University Health Center is in the plan. In addition, the Office of Residence Life will be housed on the first floor of the new building.” The Physical Plant released a rendering this month courtesy of Kirksey Architecture showing a new student residence building set to begin construction in April 2010 and to be completed around June 2011.

President Gaertner to retire in 2010

2009-10-30T15:00:00.000-06:00

News out of Huntsville from Today@Sam:

SHSU president James Gaertner announced during the annual faculty and staff picnic today Friday, October 30, his intention to retire effective Aug. 31, 2010. "Nancy and I have enjoyed this time of our lives more than I can describe. It has been an incredible honor to serve with the entire university community as president of this grand old university.”

Share your thoughts at the katfans forum.

CHSS Building Recognized For Design Innovation

2009-10-26T19:28:00.017-06:00

Today@Sam reports that the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building has received the "Award of Excellence" for its innovative design and contribution to the community and will be featured in the December issue of Texas Construction.

The constructors of the building, SpawGlass Construction Corporation, took part of the annual Texas Construction Best of 2009 competition held in September. Twenty-one projects, including the CHSS Building, were big winners in an "Award of Excellence" category. SpawGlass submitted photos of the CHSS Building under the subcategory of higher education/research project. SHSU’s building was the only higher education/research project to win in the "excellence" category. The competition, held by Texas Construction magazine, received 150 nominated projects. Each project was divided into categories including, "Best Of," "Excellence" and "Special." The judges reviewed each project based on safety, innovation, contribution to the community or industry; construction quality and craftsmanship; and function and aesthetic quality of design. Winners in each category also will be honored at an awards luncheon in Dallas on December 8.

Montgomery considers creation of historical park

2009-10-13T18:49:00.000-05:00

The town that lays claim as the birthplace of the Texas flag is considering creation of a historical park to enhance its niche in Lone Star lore, reports the Montgomery County Courier.

Montgomery officials will review options related to the creation of the Fernland Historical Park – a collaborative effort between the city, Sam Houston State University and Buffalo Springs....

The 1.75-acre site adjacent to the Charles B. Stewart Library and Memory Park would feature historical buildings representative of early Texas architecture – including four structures donated by SHSU from Fernland, a 40-acre historical site off Honea-Egypt Road owned by the university.

Plans call for the Crane Cabin, Jordan House, Tharp House, and a blacksmith shed to be moved from Fernland to the proposed site as part of a historical park. Fernland’s Bear Bend, the hunting lodge frequented by Texas statesman and military leader Sam Houston, is not part of the donation offered by SHSU, said [Brant Gary, city administrator].

In the News: Jabez Curry

2009-10-11T10:42:00.002-05:00

A statue of Helen Keller was unveiled Wednesday, October 7 in the United States Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection. Each state is allowed two statues honoring persons notable in their history in this collection, and there is little surprise that Texas is represented by Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. But in recent years the Capitol has allowed states to replace statues – for example, California swapped out Thomas King for Ronald Regan a few years ago – and it’s who Keller replaced that caught our eye.

Keller's statue replaced one depicting Jabez Curry, whose statue represented Alabama since 1908. Curry was originally from Georgia and served as president of Howard College (now Samford University) and it is this university where the statue will now reside.

Curry also has a slight tie-in to SHSU, too. In 1881, Curry was chosen as General Agent of the Peabody Education Fund. The fund sought to establish educational opportunities across the southern United States following the Civil War; because of a $2 Million endowment from this fund, Sam Houston Normal Institute was able to open in 1879. Following his death, a stained glass window was presented in his honor by the SHNI senior class of 1903 for placement in the Memorial Hall of Old Main. The window, like the many others honoring campus luminaries, was lost in the 1982 Old Main fire.

Persons who should not enter the normal

2009-10-10T19:02:00.000-05:00

As we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the first day of classes at the Sam Houston Normal Institute, we present a series of remarks from the SHNI catalogue, as printed in History of Education in Texas (1903):

If you desire to prepare for the study of law, medicine, or theology, do not come to the normal.

If you wish merely to obtain a general education, do not come to the normal.

This is not a reform school. It is not a place for children. Boys or girls incapable of self-control should not enter the normal.

If you have not completed a course of study that would fit you to enter a good high school, you can not be profited by our work, and should not apply for admission.

Our work is special, and will suit none but those preparing for the teacher’s profession. If you wish to teach in our country schools, our city schools, or high schools, we can give you good instruction by trained and skillful teachers, with all needed helps in the way of apparatus, libraries, etc., and special professional training that will be most valuable. But the normal school is not a college or university. If you are merely seeking to obtain a general education to prepare yourself for other than the teacher’s profession, do not come here. Our work will not suit you, and we will not be satisfied with you. Only those desiring to prepare for the great work of the teacher should come to the normal.

Conversations about the Master Plan

2009-10-01T20:34:00.002-05:00

More discussions about the Campus Master Plan from President James Gaertner in today Houstonian:

“We plan to tear down all of the small student housing, like King Hall for example, and build additional student housing. We are going to tear down the LSC and build a new LSC on the same spot, and build new Nursing and Allied Health, Engineering, and College of Business buildings and turn the old business building into general classrooms," Gaertner said. "We also plan to add to the Criminal Justice and Education buildings. There will also be three structured parking garages being built."

"The building schedule depends on our enrollment growth, the availability of funds, certain programs growing at a certain rate, and programs being approved, such as the Engineering and Nursing and Allied Health programs," Gaertner said. "One of the very first projects we will have is going to be new dormitories and student housing because we need a certain number of beds available when we tear down the older houses. We will probably break ground [on the housing project] within the next year and a half or so and then probably after that Allied Health and Nursing."

Chime in with your thoughts or questions about the Master Plan at the katfans forum.

Last (Small) House Standing

2009-09-15T19:47:00.005-05:00

If you’ve read your copy of the Fall 2009 Heritage magazine then you’ve been more or less brought up to speed on the status of the Campus Master Plan and the changes that will come to the SHSU horizon in the next decade or so. In an interview about the master plan, SHSU President James Gaertner notes some of the items on the planned demolition schedule include Allen, Randel, Spivey, and Vick Houses.

Those are but four examples of the small, brick residential units that have dotted the campus landscape over the years. There were originally 25 of these “small houses” (the oldest date back to 1956) and they’ve been home to underclassmen, fraternities, sororities, and a menagerie of other various campus offices (such as Residence Life). But in recent years they’ve slowly been removed to make way for bigger and better buildings. None of them are architectural treasures that were meant to stand a century or two or the classiest of digs to call your home, but they have served the campus – and their students – well over the last 50 years.

So that got us thinking: because they sit on prime campus real estate, and it's little surprise that they're regularly listed as candidates for demolition, which will be the last small house standing on the SHSU campus? Cast your vote today!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Building a Mystery #3

2009-09-06T16:27:00.002-05:00

Periodically we come across shards of uncertainty in our research. Today it's the Catholic Student Center (CSC).

First, the building, located west of main campus on 17th Street, is not owned by the university. Seeing how it's one of those close-by structures (and that it appeared on past campus maps) we decided to do some research into it. What we found was a number of interchangeable names.

The 1982 Alcalde notes the construction of a new Catholic student center called Morkovsky Hall. No location is given but we assume it's the building along 17th Street; our maps dated before the 1980s indicate nothing at that location so we feel safe that they are one in the same. Who was Morkovsky? No immediate clue unless it was John Morkovsky (1909-1990), the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston - who would have still been alive in 1982. And don't tell us that's the wrong Morkovsky because we'll then have headaches and be all cross.

We're not sure how official the "Morkovsky" name was, however, because campus maps from the mid-1980s identify the structure as the Newman Foundation. Many Catholic student centers across the country - indeed, the world - are labeled "Newman," named for John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who maintained the idea that "Catholic students attending public universities should have a place to gather where they would be able to support and encourage one another in their faith."

Hereafter the name of the building flip-flops from "Newman Foundation" to “Newman Student Center” to “St. Thomas Catholic Student Center” and finally to, what signage currently out front says, "Catholic Student Center." Saint Thomas? Yes, have no doubts, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church sits just north of the student center, facing 16th Street.

We've forwarded a few emails to the CSC but to date have heard nothing in return. That leaves it to our readers at large: does anyone have information on the history of the Catholic Student Center or other Catholic student organizations on campus?

USC Law School Wasn’t First "in the Southwest"

2009-08-28T08:11:00.001-05:00

Roger Grace writes in the Los Angeles Metropolitan News Enterprise that the University of Southern California’s website lays claim to be being home to “the first law school in the Southwest.” Grace counters that this isn’t so.

On March 17, 1855, the website of the Texas Historical Assn. says, “the first law school in Texas was established at Austin College” in Huntsville. It continues:

“Previously, all legal training in Texas had taken place by apprenticeship. The innovation was discontinued at Austin College after four students had completed the one-year course….”

Austin College still exists. Its March, 2009 magazine muses:

“Had the law school survived the money problems that doomed it, today it would be among the oldest dozen law schools in the U.S.”

The college is now in Sherman, Texas—but the Huntsville building in which its law school was housed is extant (on the campus of the Sam Houston State University) and a plaque on it commemorates the “First Law School in Texas.”

Writing on the Wall #4

2009-08-24T01:21:00.003-05:00

SHSU is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. Sort of.

Forty years ago...back in the summer of ’69...students and faculty had a new abbreviation to recite when they arrived for the fall semester and we’re assuming campus signage got a bit of a face lift, too, what with a sudden excess of the letter C. After four short years as Sam Houston State College, the Huntsville campus would now be known as Sam University State University.

To celebrate, can you identify the building or location where we took the below photo? Think of it as a scavenger hunt.

Just for U, here’s another haiklu:

laughing, talking, here
fine art of gracious living
all in unison

Update: Residences Razed

2009-08-15T09:00:00.007-05:00

As the Performing Arts Center rises on the other side of campus, two residential buildings were demolished over the summer months. Lawrence and Mitchell houses were recently razed from the northwest corner of campus after fifty years. The new campus dining facility is planned for this location.

That, and more from this August update from the Physical Plant:

Updated items

Energetic Material Research Facility
Status: Addressing Punch List Items

Ongoing items

Performing Arts Center
Start Date: November 19, 2008
Substantial Completion Date: June 2010

New items

University Camp improvements
Status: Under Construction
Programmed Amount: unknown
Start Date: Summer 2009
Substantial Completion Date: unknown

University Hotel renovations
Status: In Progress
Start Date: July 2009
Substantial Completion Date: unknown

Completed items

Applied Forensic Science Research Building
Status: Completed July 2009
(Part of the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility)

University Camp Caretaker’s Cabin
Status: Completed June 2009
(Part of the University Camp)

Item: W.S. Gibbs Home impressive structure

2009-08-08T10:53:00.004-05:00

The August 7 edition of the Item discusses the recent removal of the W.S. Gibbs house and the city's other structures designed by the Harry Payne:

Despite adjoining one of the city’s busiest streets, the home has long been receding into obscurity, shrouded by trees and ivy. Its obscurity is now complete: in the past month, it was dismantled.

Designed by renowned Houston architect Harry Payne, the home typified the Colonial Revival style: a symmetrical structure, a tall, slender design with side chimney, paired windows on either side of the door, and a side porch on the second story.

...

As it fades to complete obscurity, perhaps passersby will pause for a minute on 11th Street and reflect on the old Gibbs Home and hope that Harry Payne’s other homes meet a better fate.

Note: Five other structures designed by Harry Payne still survive in Huntsville, each of which, like the Gibbs Home, has contributed to the city’s landscape.

[IN 1931] SHSU President Harry Estill employed Payne to design his retirement home. This revival-style bungalow still stands at 1614 University and now houses the Episcopal Student Union.

Payne’s crowning achievement was the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, built in 1936, the 100th anniversary of the Texas Revolution. The museum, modeled after Jefferson’s Monticello, maintains an imposing presence in the center of town, amidst Sam Houston Park between the historic avenues and Sam Houston State University, not far off the downtown square.

On the Road to the SHSU Observatory

2009-08-02T11:46:00.004-05:00

Did you know you can get to the SHSU Observatory (where the planets were hung and the stars swung around the second story) in less than 90 seconds?

Well it would be nice if you could.

Item: Historical group celebrating 25 years with party

2009-07-16T16:32:00.004-05:00

From the Item:

Charged with the task of researching and preserving local history, the Walker County Historical Commission has been the key to maintaining that history and educating residents and visitors alike about the area’s past. After several decades of service, the commission has become a part of the very history it treasures and will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Sunday with a party after their regular meeting at 3 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, as are all of the WCHC meetings, which are held on the third Sunday of each month. All of the meetings, as well as the anniversary celebration, are held at the Gibbs-Powell House/Museum on 11th Street.

Take the elevator up to the mezzanine, press box

2009-07-11T15:23:00.001-05:00

The July 10 edition of the Item discusses some of the changes to the exterior of Bowers Stadium.

The five-year, three-phase renovation project for Sam Houston State's Bowers Stadium has been completed with the addition of an elevator to the press box for the 14,000 facility.

In the past few years, other changes have included a new playing surface, a video scoreboard, new lockers for the football team and dressing room improvements. The new elevator runs along the left side of the ticket booth at the main entrance. In order to even out the look of the building, a false shaft was added to the right side, providing large storage closets on each level of the press box.

The project began in 2004 when the old press level was turned into fan suites and the president's box was expanded. Those changes brought about the need to upgrade the fire codes for the facility. The second phase consisted of installing fire alarms, sprinkler systems and suitable exit doors in the building to assure it met the safety code standards.

The elevator was added to keep the press box in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The front of Bowers Stadium has a new look besides the elevator and false shaft. The ticket booth now was a metal awning and the entrance to the elevator is enclosed with numerous windows and marble flooring.

Item: Gaertner outlines SHSU’s 10-year plan

2009-07-08T14:09:00.000-05:00

The Item reports that SHSU President Jim Gaertner outlined the university’s 10-year master plan to the Huntsville Rotary Club during its weekly meeting Wednesday at West Hill Mall.

He covered classroom space — current and what is needed — housing, parking — current and what is needed — and athletics and intramurals, where an additional 10 acres are needed.

Gaertner said nothing in particular stands out about the plan, which covers the entire campus and includes a new student center, replacing the Lowman Student Center.

“If anything would stand out, it would be the South Quad area that has all the new academic buildings and creates a new academic quadrangle on campus,” he said. “The whole plan is important.

Gaertner said the LSC was built in the early 1960s and “it has gotten to the point where it’s getting outdated and needs to come down. It was renovated about eight or nine years ago.

“We won’t tear it down until three or four years from now. It will come down. It needs to. We will build a new student center right there in the same place in the middle of the campus.”

Some of the housing buildings scheduled to be demolished include Smith-Kirkley, Recital Hall, White Hall, Allen House, Vick House, Sorority Hill, Art Complex, Thomason Building, and Barrett House.

New buildings scheduled to be constructed on the SHSU campus include agriculture, forensic science, college of business, biology and allied health, integrated engineering and criminal justice expansion.

“We hope to build a couple of residential halls,” he said. They are included in a six-year plan along with intramural fields which would be moved to where the agriculture center is now located off Interstate 45. All ag center facilities would be moved to the location off state Highway 75 North.

Gaertner said the campus will take on a new look in upcoming years, but “it has changed a lot. It has changed from when I was a student. Over the past 10 years it has changed some and the next 10 years it will change again.

In the Alcalde #1

2009-06-20T12:53:00.006-05:00

Here's a look back at what’s in the Alcalde:

This seemed like a good picture to begin with: Professor of Education and Kappa Delta Pi counselor/advisor T. S. Montgomery. As for the girl, we don't know her name...or what she's doing.

"The purpose of Kappa Delta Pi to encourage high scholastic standards and desirable personal characteristics, to recognize outstanding contributions to education.... Delta Theta chapter...was secured May 5, 1936." (1941 Alcalde, p.231)

Regents Approve SHSU Program Changes, Promotions, Tenure

2009-06-08T07:55:00.004-05:00

A new degree, program changes, a building name change, and faculty promotions and tenure were all approved Friday for Sam Houston State University by its governing board. The Texas State University System Board of Regents took the action during its regular quarterly meeting in San Marcos.

...Sam Houston State University was authorized to re-name Academic Building II, which houses the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, in honor of Margaret Lea Houston, the wife of General Sam Houston.

"The re-naming of the building would honor Mrs. Houston's contributions to our state and her family's legacy, and it would recognize her as one of the most significant women in Texas history," [SHSU President James] Gaertner told the regents.

"Moreover, it would strengthen and enhance university tradition, while giving distinct identity to the facility, which is across the street from the Sam Houston Memorial Museum where two of the Houston family residences are located," he added.

Physical Plant update: May 2009

2009-06-05T07:38:00.006-05:00

The Physical Plant sneaked in another update recently and here’s a brief recap of what’s happening:

University Dining Facility
Status: In Design
Programmed Amount: $7,250,000
Start Date: Summer 2009
Substantial Completion Date: To be determined

Demolition of Lawrence and Mitchell houses
Status: Asbestos Abatement in Progress
Programmed Amount: $200,000
Start Date: May 20, 2009
Substantial Completion Date: In 90 days

Energetic Material Research Facility
Status: Under Construction
Programmed Amount: $175,0100
Start Date: April 15, 2009
Substantial Completion Date: June 30, 2009

University Camp Caretaker’s Cabin
Status: Under Construction
Programmed Amount: $130,000
Start Date: October 4, 2008
Substantial Completion Date: April 2009
(Part of the University Camp)

Applied Forensic Science Research Building
Status: Under Construction
Programmed Amount: $250,000
Start Date: December 4, 2008
Substantial Completion Date: April 2009
(Part of the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility)

On the procurement front, SHSU recently awarded D&M Paint Company the bid to paint the interior of Allen House in preparation for its conversion to offices.

Book takes a historical look at Huntsville

2009-05-04T19:23:00.001-05:00

From the Item:

Last year, Jeff Littlejohn partnered with the Walker County Historical Commission and began to research a book of photographs chronicling the story of Huntsville from its establishment to the mid-20th century.

The result is Huntsville, the latest installment in Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series. The book will hit stores May 4.

Huntsville will be available May 4 at online bookstores and local bookstores. Author Jeff Littlejohn will be featured at a book signing at the Huntsville Hasting’s on May 30 from 1-3 p.m.

Writing on the Wall celebrates 130

2009-04-21T01:00:00.005-05:00

On April 21, 1879 – 130 years ago today – Sam Houston Normal Institute was officially authorized by Governor Oran Roberts (SHNI opened that October). To celebrate, can you identify the building or location where we took the photo of the number 130 as part of the ~~exciting~~ buildingshsu scavenger hunt:

We were surprised to find during our March 8, 2009 visit to campus that something was now covering the Ø on this building. Bonus points if you can identify what that object is.

(Yes, we know our Texas history – it’s also the 173rd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto today, too.)

Psychological Services Center Open House

2009-04-15T18:37:00.002-05:00

The SHSU Psychological Services Center (PSC) will celebrate the move to its new location with an open house celebration on Friday, May 1 from 3-6 p.m.

Today@Sam reports that the PSC opened in 1999 and its staff

including approximately 12 doctoral students per semester and several licensed psychologists, offers affordable therapy for both adults and children with problems such as anxiety disorders, depression and behavior problems, or who need grief counseling or anger management.

Appreciating the Peabody Library

2009-03-17T17:49:00.001-06:00

TV's Michael Oder discovered a bit of history on campus recently. He shares his story of finding a pamphlet and, in turn, learning something about the Peabody Library:

The pamphlet is a short history on the Peabody Library and Sam Houston State University. Only 9 pages long, it showcases a small window into the early, developmental years of my University.

Writing on the Wall #3

2009-03-15T05:50:00.004-06:00

We go for a third letter (thus completing the word “the”) in the ~~big~~ buildingshsu scavenger hunt. Can you identify the building or location where we took the photo:

Here’s another haiklu:

The building of his fancy
Would another name be as sweet
It is (one of) the east