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PAGE SIX
The Original Campus As It Was In 1931
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The architectural drawing, pictured above, show the layout of
West Georgia College in February of 1931. Actually, when this sur
vey was taken the school was still known as the Fourth District
A. & M. As you will note, four buildings made up the main part of
the campus. The administration building appears at center with
Adamson hall on the left. Melson Hall, then a boys dormitory, ap
pears immediately to the right of the Administration building with
the Gunn House still at the same location that it now occupies. The
president's home, pictured between Gunn House and Melson Hall
Looking Back
The Fourth District A. & M.
West Georgia's Beginning
The Georgia general assembly passed a bill in 1906
creating agricultural and mechanical schools across the
state.
The citizens of Carrollton and
Carroll County donated the pon
derous sum of $39,000 with lights
and water for ten years for the
establishment of the Fourth Dis
trict School. Of this $9,000 was
paid for 270 acres of land which
was bought from B. A. Sharp.
The first two buildings, the
lxy*s dormitory, now Melson
Hall, and the Administration
Three F>residents—
(Continued from Page Five)
academic career as the first
head of the Mathematics and
Science Department of the newly
created Carrollton college. In
1935 he joined the staff at Geor
gia Tech. By 1957 he had be
come director of the Engineering
Experiment Station in charge of
research.
Dr. Boyd is a member of the
American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science, the Amer
ican Physical Society, and a sen
ior member of the Institute of
Radio Engineers. In addition to
other scientific and professional
societies, he holds membership
io Phi Beta Kappa. Phi Kappa
Phi, Sigma Xi, Gamma Alpha,
graduate social fraternity, and
the Carrollton Rotary Club. He
is a captain in the United States
Naval Reserve.
His wife is the former Eliza
beth Reynolds Cobb of Carroll
ton. They have two children:
James, a student at West Geor
gia. and Mrs. David Thomas Jr.
of Atlanta. I
i building were erected bv Man
| deville and Aycock. contractors
: tfor $30,000. The classrooms, do
mestic science department, din
ing hall and kitchen were lo
cated in the administration build
ing and were adeuqately equip
| ped.
The price of board the first
month per pupil was seven dol
lars and thirty-five cents, which
represented the actual cost of
(Continued on Page Eight)
Historical Notes —
(Continued from Page Five)
of the original faculty group of
1933.
The first graduating class of
41 students in 1957 had as its
motto “A Good Today Makes
A Better Tomorrow.” Also an
increase in enrollmen in 1957
demanded the launching of a
building program. By 1958 con
struction had began on anew
classroom-office building and an
nexations to Mandeville Hall for
women and to Sanford Library.
Then in 1959 a contract was
let for the construction of anew
warehouse.
Fall quarter 1958 result
ed in a record enrollment of
seven hundred and ten. With the
completion of the new buildings
then. West Georgia had facilities
for one thousand students. Even
then, many of the boys were hav
ing to live off campus.
Today, West Georgia College
is a tax-supported institution of
higher learning and one of twen-
THE WEST GEORGIAN
The Frantic 4'o’s
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jflßfMPpfl 9 l|.;
HuMP t Pot, ■ vvp
Here, we view a typical dorm party of 1943 vintage. The pic
ture was taken in the lobby of Mandeville dormitory before it
was remodeled in 1958. Quaint, wasn't it?
S 9^9
Pictured here, is the physics laboratory of 1946. The
lab was then located in the administration building
where the president's office is new situated. It was later
moved to the old science building when it was erected.
ty units in the University Sys
tem of Georgia. Enrollment for
the Winter quarter of 1962-63 was
was recently moved to make room for new construction. Located im
mediately behind the administration building is old Ayccck Hall,
which burned down in the late thirties. Note the tennis courts and
well on the front campus. On the lawn, at center, is a speaker's plat
form that was used by the principal to conduct convocation. As im
plied, the ceremony took place on the front lawn. The mass of small
buildings surrounding the campus are small agricultural housing
facilities used for various farming purposes.
1,195 double the enrollment of
1957 and five times the enroll
ment of 1952.
MONDAY. JANUARY 14. 1963
Lot Number 99;
Original Site
Lot No. 99. Land District No.
10 were the numbers drawn by
Lawrence Richardson of Colum
bia County in the land lottery
of 1825. This grant consisted of
i approximately 200 acres of land
west of the Chattahoochee River.
Richardson never saw' the land
and in 1830 it was sold to settle
a clain against Richardson. It
brought s2l or about 10 cents an
acre.
It passed into the hands of
William A. W r alsh who never oc-
I cupied the land. Obadiah Wright,
a recent immigrant to the fron
tier country, secured the land
and immediately made some
clearings and improvements. But
the land was again sold at the
fall of the Sheriff’s hammer be
fore the end of the decade.
Thomas Bonner from Clarke
County bought it and construct
ed a dwelling house which was
completed in 1844. The big house
stood on a little knoll about
halfway between the road and
our present drive. The kitchen
was twenty yards back where
Adamson Hall now stands and
the slave quarters were strung
along the ridge to the present
site of the Administration build
ing. The Melson Hall area was
then the present burying ground
for the slaves.
The war came and in time the
land became the property of the
Sharp family. Through the pas
sage of the Perry Act in 1906, the
General Assembly created the
District Agricultural and Me
chanical Schools of Georgia
which later became West Geor
gia College. This is how Lot
No. 99 became the location of
West Georgia College.
Beverly Owen