University of Tennessee at Martin - History

History

University of Tennessee at Martin began operations in 1927 when the University of Tennessee began operations on campus of the former Hall-Moody Institute. Hall-Moody Institute was a private Baptist school that had been built on a site donated by Ada Gardner Brooks at what was then the outskirts of Martin. The Hall-Moody Institute was named for two locally prominent Baptist ministers. The institute changed its name to the Hall-Moody Normal School in 1917, as teacher training became its primary focus. Five years later, Hall-Moody changed its name again to Hall-Moody Junior College. Due to declining enrollment and financial difficulties in the mid-1920s, Hall-Moody Junior College was in danger of closing. In 1927, the Tennessee Baptist Convention made the decision to consolidate Hall-Moody with a similar institution, Union University, in nearby Jackson, Tennessee. The Hall-Moody campus was to be closed as its operations would transfer to the campus of Union University. Hall-Moody ceased operations at the Martin campus on June 1, 1927.

Upon hearing of the impending closure of the Hall-Moody campus, area civic and political leaders asked the state of Tennessee to step in and take over the former Hall-Moody facilities under the auspices of the University of Tennessee. University of Tennessee president Harcourt Morgan agreed to accept the proposition on the condition that the Martin community would acquire the property as well as space for expansion. The City of Martin and Weakley County sold bonds to purchase the campus and some surrounding land. On February 10, 1927, Senate Bill Number 301 established the University of Tennessee Junior College in Martin. On March 29, it was officially approved by Governor Austin Peay.

The University of Tennessee Junior College operated under this name until 1951, when, with the addition of four-year fields of study leading to a bachelor's degree, it was redesignated the University of Tennessee Martin Branch. In 1967 it was designated as a primary campus of the UT system and given its current name. The school grew greatly from the post-World War II era, largely under the influence of the G. I. Bill of Rights, through the 1960s under the leadership of dean (later chancellor) Paul Meek. It was noted that the school had almost as many entering freshmen in 1969 as it had overall students in 1961. Current enrollment is approximately 8,100. In 1961, it was the first campus in the University of Tennessee system to begin racial desegregation of undergraduates. (Graduate schools at other campuses had begun desegregation in 1952.)