the buildings of Sam Houston State University

Today@Sam: The Building Rises

2008-07-23T20:06:00.001-05:00

Work continues on the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, which will be the largest classroom and laboratory facility at Sam Houston State University when completed in November. The project is now estimated to be 70 percent complete (photo credit: SHSU).

Today@Sam: Exhibit Shows History Of 19th Century Homes

2008-07-10T20:59:00.002-05:00

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will tour some of Walker and Montgomery counties’ prime real estate during the 1800s with a photo exhibit beginning July 17.

“Mudcats and Dogtrots: Historic Log Buildings in Walker and Montgomery Counties,” includes approximately 45 pictures, that will be on display through Aug. 31 in the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center.

Taken by museum curator of exhibits David Wight and borrowed from Walker County Treasures, the photographs highlight the structural details of houses that were once so common they weren’t carefully documented, Wight said.

These structural details include not only differences in the way cabins were “notched” and whether round or square logs were used, but also how the fireplaces were built—with mudcats, a special kind of mud—and the dogtrots, the open but covered central breezeway that separated two “pens” or “cribs.”

“Many dogtrot log houses evolved from a single log structure; as the family expanded, a second crib was added,” according to Gordon Echols’s book “Early Texas Architecture.” “The name dog run is derived from the fact that the family dogs found the shade and the breeze during the summer as comfortable as did the residents.”

Inside the Bear Bend Hunting Lodge, built in 1850, where Gen. Sam Houston often stayed while hunting.

While some of the pictures in the exhibit date back to around 1896, many of the cabins that are part of the exhibit are dated as early as the 1830s, according to museum director Patrick Nolan.

Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

The Walker Education Center is located at 1409 19th St.

For more information, visit the Sam Houston Memorial Museum online.

Something about Abner H. Cook

2008-06-10T21:45:00.003-05:00

The name Abner Cook has popped up in a handful of news articles of late, what with the Sunday, June 8 fire at the Texas Governor’s Mansion in Austin. Cook designed the Greek revival building in the mid-1850s and it has been the home of every Chief Executive since 1856 (that being the term of Elisha M. Pease for those playing along at home).

Prior to his time in Austin, Cook lived and worked in Huntsville where his best-known project was the Texas State Penitentiary, or the Walls Unit, completed in 1848. However, there has been a long-standing assumption that Cook had a hand in creating the iconic Greek-revival Austin College Building on the SHSU campus.

Paul Culp, the university’s Special Collections librarian notes in an 1989 article that:

It has been traditionally maintained that Austin College was designed by Abner Cook, the master builder who created the finest residences in Texas before the Civil War (notably the Governor’s Mansion and a number of other beautiful house still standing in Austin), but evidence for this is largely circumstantial. He came to Huntsville...to build the penitentiary...and he was a trustee of Austin College; however he returned to Austin in 1850 (before the building was begun) and he is not mentioned except possibly by inference in the contract for construction which is preserved in the Walker County deed records. It is certainly not a wild conjecture, however, to assume that Cook would leave plans with his friend Robert Smither for a project in which he was so involved.

As for the Governor’s Mansion, it was said to be haunted by a handful of ghosts including that of Sam Houston himself.

Today@Sam: Master Plan Presentation Set For June 11

2008-06-04T19:03:00.002-05:00

The draft Campus Master Plan will be presented at an open forum from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11 in the Lowman Student Center Theater. During the event, the planning team led by JJR of Ann Arbor, Michigan will give a 45-minute presentation on the progress of the master plan, including an overview of the draft plan. The presentation will be followed by 45 minutes of interactive dialogue where participants will be asked to give feedback on the overall plan, specific building opportunities, parking and circulation, and open space and pedestrian circulation. The input received will aid the consultant team in refining the draft plan into the final Master Plan, which will be completed in late July.

Discuss this topic at katfans.com.

Item: Historical marker dedicated at Rather Memorial Park

2008-05-19T11:04:00.002-05:00

From the May 17 edition of the Item: A City of Huntsville historical marker was dedicated at the Rawley Samuel Rather Memorial Park at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street.

The park is located on the home site of Rawley Samuel Rather and his wife, Mary Caroline Henry — lifetime Huntsville residents — and their five children — Marian Leigh, Rawley Goss, John Henry, who died in infancy, Edward Seay and John Henry.

The Rathers’ oldest child, Marian Leigh, was the first woman elected to the local school board and served as the Walker County chairman of the women’s suffrage movement. Marian Leigh was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She taught math of Sam Houston Normal (later Sam Houston State University) and wrote the college song for homecoming in 1910.

The house was demolished in 1977, and the Rather-Powell family made the site available to the City of Huntsville for a downtown park in 1979.

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Today@Sam: Approval For Two New Degrees Among Actions Of Board of Regents

2008-05-19T08:22:00.000-05:00

New degrees, new standards for transfer students, a new building to house a portion of the forensic science program, a new intercollegiate sport and a holiday schedule were all approved Friday for Sam Houston State University.

The forensic science facility will be a garage-like structure costing about $115,000, with a small pond, and will be used for the study of body decomposition in the unique climate of East Texas.

Today@Sam: New Sam Houston Statue Honors World War II Hero M. B. Etheredge

2008-05-09T11:45:00.001-05:00

A new statue of General Sam Houston has been erected at Sam Houston State University. It is a smaller replica of the 67-foot "Tribute to Courage" on I45 south of Huntsville. SHSU donor Ron Mafrige provided funding for the statue and said it honors M. B. Etheredge of Huntsville, the United States' most highly decorated surviving soldier of World War II.

Item: Regents OK Performing Arts Center

2008-05-02T07:43:00.004-05:00

The May 2 Huntsville Item (as well as Today@Sam) reports that SHSU has been given the go ahead by the Texas State University System Board of Regents to begin construction on a $38.5M Performing Arts Center:

The Regents unanimously approved the project during a Thursday morning conference call. The project had been submitted for approval twice previously but withdrawn for further work.

Construction could begin as early as September 2008, pending approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Bond Review Board. The Coordinating Board meets in late July. Completion of the center is estimated in the fall of 2010.

The new building will be constructed on the parking lots just north of the Music Building and Theatre Center, uniting the three into a Fine Arts Complex.

Something about Henry Pritchett

2008-04-26T13:28:00.005-05:00

SHSU’s fourth president, Henry Carr Pritchett, was the son of William Ira Pritchett, who in turn was the brother of Carr Waller Pritchett (1823-1910). Henry's uncle Carr Waller had migrated from Virginia to Missouri in his youth and as an adult was a preacher, astronomer, and later founded the Pritchett School Institute in Glasgow, Missouri.

“Legend has it that Berenice Morrison, 17-year-old niece of [Carr Waller] was staying at the home of Pritchett.... The two were observing Coggia's comet pass overhead when Pritchett expressed his desire to have a proper telescope to observe the heavens.

“Morrison, the heir of her deceased parents' considerable fortune, obliged Pritchett's wish. The young woman pledged $100,000 for the construction and endowment of an astronomical observatory at the school. The facility — the first permanent observatory west of Chicago — was completed in 1875 and featured a state-of-the-art Clark telescope.”
ruralmissouri.org

The Morrison Observatory remained in Glasgow after the closing of the Pritchett school in 1926. A decade later it moved a few miles southeast to Central Methodist University where it still stands to this day.

Houstonian: Alumnus leaves mark on university with statue

2008-04-24T19:04:00.003-05:00

Information about Ron Mafrige's latest gift to the university appears in today's issue of the Houstonian. A newly erected 15-foot statue of Sam Houston now graces the east mall area between Academic Building One and the Smith-Hutson Business Administration Building:

"The statue of Sam Houston was donated by Mafrige earlier this month. It is sculpted by local artist David Adickes, who Mafrige believes, will eventually be known as one of the better artists of our time. The statue is aptly located adjacent to the Smith-Hutson building, where Mafrige has made such large contributions. Mafrige said the statue adds to the university that carries its name and since it was created by a local artist, offers tradition too.

'I felt the combination of what [Adickes] did with the Sam Houston statue and the fact that he was the artist was a double hit,' Mafrige said.

The location for the statute is one of two selected by an art committee formed by the university. Mafrige is pleased with the placement and Lewis said he couldn't be happier about it."

Today@Sam: Exhibit Reflects ‘Past, Present, Future’

2008-04-14T15:25:00.000-05:00

he Political Science Junior Fellows and Huntsville Main Street are showing the “past, present and future” of the city with an art exhibit in the Lowman Student Center Gallery.

“University Corridor: Past, Present and Future” features more than 100 historic photographs, dozens of contemporary photographs specially commissioned for this project and several renderings of future possibilities for the area between downtown Huntsville and SHSU, according to junior fellows adviser and political science visiting professor Mike Yawn.

The “corridor” is an ideal focal point because it “is Huntsville’s street,” said Huntsville Main Street director Harold Hutcheson.

“It was originally called ‘Main Street,’ and for 160 years, it has been a vibrant part of the city,” he said. “We hope to celebrate its rich history.”

The exhibit’s photos date back to 1863 and include such landmarks as the Walker County Courthouse; the district attorney’s office; Rather Park; Old Main; and the Rogers-Baird home, the oldest extant dwelling in Huntsville; the Wynne Home; Gibbs-Powell Home; Sam Houston Memorial Museum; and City Hall.

Local photographers Melody Gathright and Dena Shipley contributed to the exhibit by donating “their time and talents and were wonderful assets to the project,” Yawn said.

Another part of the city’s “past, present and future,” Huntsville’s nine living mayors, will be in attendance at the exhibit’s reception on Monday (April 14), from 5:30-7 p.m. in the gallery.

The exhibit will run through April 25.

Today@Sam: College, Alumna To Remember Bowers At Dedication

2008-03-30T15:09:00.001-06:00

SHSU’s College of Education will dedicate a statue donated by the daughter of former university president Elliott Bowers on Tuesday, April 1, 2008.

The ceremony for the Frances Handley Bowers Statue, which depicts a boy pushing a girl on a swing, will be held at 3 p.m. on the lawn in front of the Teacher Education Center.

The statue was given to the university last year by alumna Linda Bowers Rushing and her husband, Charles, who purchased the statue during a fundraiser auction at Alpha Omega Academy, where their daughter teaches.

“It reminded me of how my mother always taught school,” Rushing said. “It was the first thing I saw when I walked through the door, and I decided on the spot that I wanted to buy it.

“It’s very whimsical, and I thought it was a very sweet statue,” she said.

A Huntsville resident for more than 50 years, Frances Handley Bowers’ ties to SHSU and the community ran deep.

She came to Sam Houston State University as a drum major for the Bearkat Marching Band and earned her bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from the university.

One of her master’s theses was on the history of the Country Campus, “the second largest city in Walker County” that housed 850 veterans after World War II and where the Bowers family had lived for five years, Bowers had said in an interview.

She also taught, mainly the fifth grade, within the Huntsville school district for 23 years and “stayed busy” in the Huntsville community through civic organizations after she retired.

She died in 1999.

A reception will follow in the Teacher Education Center.

Houstonian: Campus Master Plan

2008-03-06T07:51:00.001-06:00

The March 6 edition of the Houstonian reports on the Campus Master Plan discussion that was held Wednesday, March 5 on campus. Three potential plans were presented by JJR, as reported in the article:

"Alternative A involves changes with just the current campus layout. Possible plans include more residential areas in the north and south, additional recreational fields and center expansion, more storage and service, three new parking structures, parking on the agricultural campus with shuttle services, street alterations, a new student center, north and south dining, an expanded library, a new hotel/conference center, a new alumni center, a new art office, administrative services in an expanded AB2, a new business school, and a new science building and expansion of the Criminal Justice building.

"Alternative B involves north and south expansion, residential expansion, recreation and athletics expansion, two new parking structures, road changes, removal of the west plant with a new south plant, an expanded student center, a new library, a satellite recreational center on the agriculture camps, a new hotel/conference center on the agricultural campus, the alumni center in a renovated AB2, the library on Sam Houston Avenue behind Austin Hall with a connecting bridge, a new business school, new science building, new admin services, the Criminal Justice building expanded, new art office and reconfigured complex.

"Alternative C involves two new parking structures, with more surface parking and new land acquisitions, possibly selling part of or all of the agricultural portion, a new student center, north dining, new library, expanded recreational center, a new alumni center, a new business school, new science building, new administrative services, expanded Criminal Justice building into the horseshoe and a new and relocated art complex."

Today@Sam: Team To Unveil Three Potential Campus Plans

2008-03-02T21:19:00.003-06:00

JJR, of Ann Arbor, Mich., SHSU’s campus planning team, will present three alternatives for the university’s 2010 Master Plan for public consideration on Wednesday, March 5.

The meeting will be held from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theater.

In addition to the 45-minute presentation on the progress of SHSU’s Master Plan, which will include three potential concepts for how the campus could be developed in the future, the open forum will include 45 minutes of interactive dialogue, during which participants will be asked to give feedback and vote on alternative aspects.

The input received will aid the consultant team in identifying a preferred direction for the next steps of the master planning process.

Performing Arts Center

2008-02-19T19:13:00.004-06:00

Here’s some proposed artwork – from the Office of the President’s website – of the forthcoming Performing Arts Center, to be built in the parcel of land between the Criminal Justice Center and the Music Building.

Farewell to the Concordia Campus

2008-01-26T18:45:00.000-06:00

Concordia University Texas celebrated its 82-year-old campus today as they prepare to move from their landlocked location in central Austin (alongside the Interstate, no less), to a 250-acre nature preserve in northwest Austin. The day-long event included an open house of the university, allowing visitors the opportunity to tour and learn about each of the historic buildings on campus.

KXAN-TV reports that over the last year, a committee has been trying to figure out what to take from this 23-acre campus when the final class graduates April 26.

"They walked from one end of the campus to the other down all the sidewalks, through all the buildings and said here's all the things we need to keep," said Tom Cedel, university president. "And I think, if I remember correctly, it was 7 pages, single-spaced, of stuff we want to take with us. Things like windows out of the chapel, the entrance way to our original building in Kilian Hall, tiles in various buildings."

Plaques, cornerstones and even time capsules will be going -- one is not supposed to be open until 2045.

So what will the university will be doing with all of the artifacts?

"We're going to put a lot of those materials in storage, and we're looking at building an alumni center that will be a focus of these historical artifacts," Cedel said.

The one thing that will fade into history when the buildings come down in May will be the names. Concordia with start fresh with its new campus.

Incidentally, one of Concordia’s buildings is the George J. Beto Academic Center, home to classrooms, laboratories, and offices. Beto taught history at Concordia from 1939 to 1949, and later served as president of the college from January 1949 to June 1959. Completed in 2003, Concordia’s building marks the fourth building in Texas to honor Beto, including the Beto Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice at Tennessee Colony; the Beto House, a halfway house operated by the Texas Youth Commission, in McAllen; and the George J. Beto Criminal Justice Center on the SHSU campus in Huntsville.

Today@Sam: Planning Experts To Open House For Master Plan Input

2008-01-11T18:36:00.002-06:00

Sam Houston State University students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the direction the university should head in terms of construction during a second campus master plan open house on Jan. 22.

The informal session will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Mall Area.

Participants will be asked to identify issues regarding parking, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, buildings and facilities, open space, and the surrounding community.

The input received will aid the consultant team in identifying issues important to the university community, according to John McCroskey, associate director for the Physical Plant.

“We’re trying to get a vision so we’re not surprising the (Texas State University Board of) Regents every time we turn around,” he said. “It tells us in ballpark numbers what the budget needs to be for the next 10 years.”

The plan will be submitted by campus planning specialists JJR, which will establish a 10-year plan with a 20-year look ahead, McCroskey said.

The process is anticipated to be completed by July, in time for the TSUS Board of Regents meeting in August.

SHSU’s current master plan was established in 2000.

According to McCroskey, the current plan didn’t anticipate the enrollment surge the university has undergone in the past few years, and everything that could be done with it has already been completed.

Campus Master Plan Open House

2007-11-28T08:11:00.000-06:00

Sam Houston State University is embarking on a monumental journey that will establish the institution's physical signature for years to come. A comprehensive Master Plan is being initiated to study the campus' physical make up and to set future recommendations for guiding development on the campus. JJR of Ann Arbor, Michigan, campus planning specialists, in collaboration with local architects and engineers, will guide the planning effort.

President Gartner and his Cabinet are asking for the University community to provide input that will help identify critical issues that the planning consultant should consider. The comprehensive planning process will occur over the next 9 months and will address the campus' future physical organization, growth capacity, and image.

The first opportunity for students, faculty and staff to engage in the planning process will be on Wednesday, November 28 in the form of an open house. There will be two separate sessions held to capture the greatest participation. One session will be held over lunch from 11:00am to 1:00pm at the Lowman Student Center and the other will be in the evening from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Belvin-Buchanan Dining Hall.

During the informal event, participants will be asked to identify issues regarding parking, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, buildings and facilities, open space, and the surrounding community. The input received will aid the consultant team in identifying issues important to the University community.

Something about Henry Crawford

2007-11-12T08:26:00.001-06:00

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of Henry Crawford, the longtime coach and administrator at Sam Houston State. Crawford attended Austin College in Sherman and made his way to Huntsville where he became part of the SHSTC Athletics Department, eventually rising to the position of football coach. Along the way he acquired the nickname “Molly,” as evidenced in the scholarships and residence hall that honor him, and pretty much every other time we see his name in print (as H.O. "Molly" Crawford).

The question begs: why Molly? Was it a family name? Was it early-19th century football slang (“he sure mollied that ball....”)? Was it an off-the-cuff epithet from a peer that stuck? Was it something mundane that really doesn’t matter all these years later?

We've asked around about it ourselves but the people we've questioned either 1) don't know themselves or 2) don't...uh... share our level of enthusiasm in the subject (yeah, that's it...).

Crawford is buried in Huntsville’s Oakwood Cemetery.

Today@Sam: Bearkat Plaza Opens

2007-11-08T18:15:00.001-06:00

Today@Sam: Students took advantage of the mild fall weather Thursday afternoon by enjoying opening day of the new central campus plaza [more scenes] (photo credit: shsu).

Today@Sam: Bearkat Plaza Opening Soon

2007-11-02T17:43:00.001-06:00

Today@Sam: Phase I of the central campus plaza is nearly complete and should be open for foot traffic about November 8. Some of its plants include red oak, willow oak, live oak, red maple, crape myrtle, Indian hawthorne, wax myrtle, camelia, Louisiana iris, butterfly iris, jasmine, and St. Augustine grass. Phase II of the project will be removal of the telephone building and additional landscaping, and is expected to start in August 2008 when the communication equipment will be transferred to the Humanities and Social Sciences Building (photo credit: shsu).

Construction Updates

2007-11-01T07:10:00.000-06:00

Thursday's Houstonian [November 1, 2008] notes the impending completion of the expanded Mall area, on the former Frels-Wilson buildings.

Also, the SHSU Physical Plant page has been updated (though you wouldn't get that from the top of the page where it still says "April 2008") to include current (or mildly recent) photographs of construction at Academic Building V ("Substantial Completion Date: September 2008") and the Mall area ("Substantial Completion Date: October 2007").

In addition, a design of the forthcoming Performing Arts Center is pictured ("Substantial Completion Date: December 2009"), as are plans for the new Agriculture Complex at Gibbs ranch and north dining facility ("Substantial Completion Date: December 2008"). Finally, one can view a few pictures of the Colony Apartments in an early stage of demolition.

Also, the contents of the Telephone Services building (that unsightly holdover from the Frels-Wilson demolition) appear to be on the move to Academic Building One...? (I thought it was AB5?)

Visitor and Alumni Center Naming Ceremony

2007-10-18T07:37:00.000-05:00

Alumnus John R. Ragsdale will be honored during 2007 Homecoming festivities in recognition of a $1.25 Million gift to the university. The recently completed Visitor and Alumni Center will be named for Ragsdale during a ceremony Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 10 a.m.

Item: Regent - Best facilities possible wanted for SHSU

2007-10-07T04:47:00.000-05:00

Reporter Kristin Edwards writes that Texas State University System Board of Regents member Dora G. Alcala gave a special presentation Friday afternoon [October 5] as part of the Grassroots speaker series at Sam Houston State University.

As she addressed the audience in the Olsen Auditorium, which more than filled the available seating, Alcala discussed the merit of higher education, family values and work ethic.

“We on the board always want to see our students getting a very good education,” she said. “I know that’s happening here because of the university’s enrollment.”

In the short term, Alcala said the board hopes to maintain the best facilities possible at SHSU. “We want to make sure the students have the best facilities and a good learning environment,” she said. “I’d like to see them have a new music building, because we have a lot of music makers and they deserve the best facilities.”

Alcala served two terms as mayor of Del Rio and has received several state awards during her career. She was appointed to the board in July 2004 by Gov. Rick Perry.

Houstonian: SGA to discuss new bills

2007-09-05T19:54:00.000-05:00

Rachael Gleason reports in the September 4 edition of the Houstonian about some of the Student Government Association’s (SGA) proposed bills this semester, including one for a possible shuttle system and student safety on Sam Houston Avenue.

In the article, SGA President Christopher Whitaker says that one of the bills involves student safety, specifically pedestrian safety for students walking to school from apartments on the other side of Sam Houston Avenue. In the bill, he said "Hundreds of students who live on the west side of Sam Houston Avenue must cross this busy street on a daily basis; as pedestrian and vehicular traffic increases along this road, Sam Houston Avenue becomes more dangerous for students." The bill calls for the school to "request the Texas Department of Transportation increase the safety of Sam Houston Avenue" and proposes that crosswalks be installed at Montgomery and Lake Roads. The bill also recommends that the speed limit on Sam Houston Avenue from 14th Street to Sycamore Avenue be decreased.

Interestingly enough, one of the previous Campus Master Plans called for the demolition of Academic Building Two and Jackson-Shaver Hall to build an underground pedestrian tunnel for a similar cause.

Other topics up for discussion include a possible University Shuttle System and development of the Downtown Music Project, allowing local musicians and bands to play in the Old Town Theatre.