Baylor School Moved To Current Campus 100 Years Ago

For many alumni and supporters of Baylor School today, a visit to the scenic campus alongside the Tennessee River is like seeing a familiar old friend that has always been there.
 
But when the school opened on Sept. 8, 1915 -- 100 years ago this week -- the campus was brand new and students and alumni alike were trying to acquaint themselves with it.
 
The new location – the school’s third site since its founding in 1893 -- came about through the generosity of wealthy Chattanooga Coca-Cola bottler and multi-faceted businessman J.T. Lupton. He had a son, Cartter, attending Baylor, so he helped headmaster John Roy Baylor find a nice site on some hilly farmland with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and river gorge.
 
But this was not a case of Baylor going from good to better, as the school had actually struggled somewhat attracting students to its somewhat cramped Palmetto Street facility on the current east end of the UT-Chattanooga campus. It also had to compete against the flourishing McCallie School with its nice layout on what had been the McCallie farm on the side of Missionary Ridge.
 
Professor Baylor was reportedly quite excited that he now had a nice new facility that would likely help Baylor be able to survive and thrive as an independent school. According to the late former Baylor English teacher Jim Hitt’s 1971 book, “It Never Rains After Three O’clock,” Professor Baylor visited the school often during the summer of 1915 to examine the construction.
 
It was a time to not only admire what was taking shape physically with pride, but also to ponder his state emotionally with a little more melancholy, as he was then 63 years old and no doubt heading into the twilight of his career guiding the school.
 
Leading up to the fall opening, the school had plenty of excitement, including a special May 8 picnic and series of baseball games for a number of the young boys from the area elementary schools.
 
Baylor opened the 1915-16 school year with 76 male students. That was more than the previous year, but still not as many as the 135 boys enrolling at McCallie. 
 
Girls Preparatory School, meanwhile, was excited as well, as it was beginning in its new facility, which happened to be the former Baylor campus near Fort Wood. The school was having an open house on Thursday, Sept. 9.
 
The article about all the school openings was found in the Sept. 7, 1915, Chattanooga Times. It said that no formal exercises were to mark Baylor’s opening, other than the 9 a.m. raising of a silk American flag that had been donated.
 
“The dedication of the new buildings has been postponed two weeks until all of the students have arrived,” said the article, in reference to the dorm students who had not yet moved in. “At that time a formal program will be given and addresses will be made by two prominent speakers, to be announced later.”
 
The actual dedication would not take place until Dec. 14, 1915, with well-known professor C.W. Kent from the University of Virginia – Professor Baylor’s alma mater -- among the dignitaries speaking.
 
But the September newspaper story did say that the school was now open for inspection and that the general public and Baylor alumni were welcome to come out and take a look.
 
For the day students, a special Signal Mountain trolley car would start leaving downtown Chattanooga at 8:15 a.m. the next week for classes. Each school day would begin with a chapel program at 9 a.m.
 
According to some information in Mr. Hitt’s book, the collegiate Gothic buildings that existed at the top of the hill of Baylor in the fall of 1915 were the square brick water tower, the Tudor-style home of President John Roy Baylor and his family, the one-level dining hall with a kitchen, the entrance hall area, and Lupton Hall.
 
Down the hill was the gymnasium (which is currently part of the school’s music building).  Just across the entrance road were the tennis courts, while on the north side – and closer to the hill than the Rike Field built later – was the athletic field.
 
It was on this field that Baylor held its first home varsity football game under coach Alex Guerry that fall. On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 2, 1915, Baylor hosted Knoxville High.
 
As the Chattanooga Times said in an article in that day’s paper, “(The) Baylor School team will dedicate Baylor’s new athletic field in a game against Knoxville City High. The contest will start shortly after 3 o’clock. Spectators should take the 2:30 Signal Mountain car from the city, or, if they should chance to miss that one, probably will see the kickoff by taking a car at 3.”
 
What was described as a good crowd to make the journey across the river saw a memorable dedication game. Baylor enjoyed a 35-0 victory over the regularly competitive team from Knoxville High.
 
The star of the game was Baylor junior captain J.B. Carter. Other starters included sophomore Theodore Hill at left end, senior Thomas Wert at left tackle, senior William Gardenhire at left guard, sophomore center Cartter Lupton (whose father, J.T. Lupton reportedly enjoyed coming to watch practice regularly), senior Virgil Rader at right guard, senior Hal Saunders at right tackle, senior Robert Pitner at right end, sophomore Bob Hill at quarterback, junior John G. Hall at right halfback and junior Kenneth Whitaker at fullback.
 
It is not known if the Baylor field had any stands at the time. The team actually played a number of games at the University of Chattanooga’s Chamberlain Field that year, probably to accommodate more fans.
 
The centerpiece of the Baylor campus at that time was Lupton Hall, named, of course, for Mr. Lupton. Although later generations of students would know the building as a dormitory, in 1915 it was very much a multi-purpose facility. According to Mr. Hitt’s book, the first floor of Lupton featured a teacher’s apartment in the front southwest corner near the river. It originally was the residence of Alex Guerry Sr. and later headmaster Herb Barks Sr. and his family.
 
The rest of the first floor included a student lounge with a fireplace in the corner along the river behind the apartment, with the school office adjoining it. On the north end of the first floor of Lupton Hall, or what is now the side closest to the chapel, were four classrooms in the back in the northeast corner and an assembly/study hall in the front in the northwest corner.
 
The second floor was dedicated to dorm rooms, while the third floor then consisted of an attic. In later years, it would become sought-after dorm space.
 
Mr. Hitt said that the tower actually held a water tank for the campus’ water system at the time, with the water coming from deep wells and filtered on site. The dining room, which from the outside almost looks like a small chapel, was considered about the most attractive building on site.
 
Of the small Lupton Circle layout that in subsequent years would become only a small part of the overall campus, Mr. Hitt wrote that it drew rave reviews for its beauty.
 
“The picturesque arrangement of Lupton Circle, with its open court between buildings and river, reminded early visitors of an old monastery or castle above some river in the Old World,” he said.
 
Mr. Hitt wrote that the effect achieved by Atlanta architect W.T. Downing drew so much attention locally that he was quickly employed to develop a new plan for the University of Chattanooga buildings. These would include Race, Hooper and Founders halls and the Patten Chapel.
 
The Baylor campus and school would soon change somewhat from its original look and feel, as in 1917 construction began on Academic Hall (later enlarged and renamed Hunter Hall). It was situated so that it would not obstruct most of the views from the other buildings.
 
Also in 1917, Baylor adopted a military curriculum in light of World War I, and it would be an important part of the then all-male school life until 1971.
 
Baylor’s faculty in the fall of 1915 consisted of, at the top, Professor Baylor and Alex Guerry Sr., who was taking on more of the school administrative responsibility in addition to serving as football coach. He would go on to head the University of Chattanooga and the University of the South at Sewanee.
 
Teachers Philip B. Whitaker and Raymond Sloan came over from the old school, while faculty newcomers in 1915-16 were Wilbur Young, James Counts, and Robert Strauss. A check of the 1915 and 1916 city directories reveals the locations in town where some of these faculty members lived. Mr. Whitaker lived at 400 Bailey Ave., Mr. Counts apparently lived at 222 Houston St. at one point, while Mr. Sloan lived at 464 Vine St.
 
Alvin “Chigger” Browne would later be hired as a Bible teacher and athletics director, but more for the following year.
 
Courses such as writing, elocution and dramatic arts were taught in addition to basic English, math and science.
 
Of the 76 students who were enrolled, some of them have familiar names – like Cartter Lupton and Summerfield K. Johnston, who both went on to expand their fathers’ Coca-Cola bottling companies. Future Chattanooga businessman/politician Cartter Patten was also a student, as was Felix G. Miller, apparently of Miller Bros. department store. Future longtime Baylor basketball coach Bob Hill was among the standout athletes, as was pioneering local golfer Ewing Watkins.
 
Besides in a yearbook, the students who attended Baylor when it first opened at its new location can be found in the back of Mr. Hitt’s book. However, it takes a little digging to go through all of them because every alumnus/alumna through the late 1960s is listed alphabetically.
 
As with students at any independent school past and present, many in 1915 likely got much out of the Baylor curriculum that helped them later in life, while a small number might not have stayed long and preferred a public school environment.
 
But they all likely agreed that Baylor had a nice new campus that 100 years later continues to serve as an unofficial and unpaid admissions recruiter.
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net