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Texas Tech Then & Now THEN This university is an outgrowth of regional Texas politics with roots in the West Texas frontier. Interest for a school of higher education here began to take shape as early as 1896, mainly for the purpose of teaching settlers from the humid East methods of farming and agriculture that worked in the drylands of West Texas. In 1916, the West Texas A&M Campaign Association was organized to make a strong effort to obtain such a college. In 1917, Gov. Jim Ferguson ignored the wishes of the locating committee and arbitrarily chose Abilene as location for the proposed school. West Texans asked that the bill be withdrawn, and Ferguson became the first Texas governor to be impeached. In 1921, the bill to create a new college was vetoed by Gov. Pat Neff. This angered West Texans so much they threatened to secede and form their own state, taking with them the revenue generated by West Texas� valuable farm, ranch, and oil lands. On February 10, 1923, Gov. Neff signed the bill creating Texas Technological College. The occasion was so important, he used three gold pens to make his signature. (One of those pens was donated in 1985 to the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech by the family of Sen. W. H. Bledsoe, known as the father of Senate Bill 103, which established Texas Technological College.) Thirty-six towns competed for selection as the site for Texas Tech. On August 8, 1923, the locating board chose Lubbock, �a dusty community of less than 6,000 people,� to be home of the state�s newest college. On August 28, 1923, Lubbock hosted a celebration to commemorate the event as dignitaries from the state and delegations representing almost every West Texas town attended. The community fed 30,000 visitors and according to the Dallas News, �The governor was the first man into the feeding lines and he filled his plate at 12:07. The last man was fed at 12:53.� Campus planner William Ward Watkin selected Spanish architecture for the campus buildings because West Texas was similar to Central Spain geographically, and to link the campus with Texas history, since the Spanish had influenced much of Texas tradition. The cornerstone of the Administration Building was laid November 11, 1924, marking the beginning of construction. Dignitaries at the ceremony spoke from a bale of cotton instead of from a podium. A crowd that was estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 attended the event. The first buildings on campus were the Administration, Home Economics (now called Human Sciences), and Textile Engineering buildings, the Stock Judging Pavilion (landscape architecture classes held there now), the Dairy Barn, the President�s Home (now part of the Merket Alumni Center), and a cafeteria, which has since been razed. Texas Tech opened on October 1, 1925, with six main buildings and 910 students (642 men and 268 women). Students, who paid no tuition the first year, majored in agriculture, engineering, household education, or liberal arts. The first commencement ceremony for Texas Tech students was held on May 30, 1927, with 27 graduates (May and August) receiving diplomas. To celebrate Texas Tech�s first graduating class, several activities and events were held. An operetta, �The Rose Maiden,� was conducted and then was followed by a pageant titled �Light of the Lone Star,� which covered the history of the education system in Texas. On the morning of May 30, 1927, the graduation processional formed at the Textile Engineering Building and ended at the gymnasium (also known as the Double T barn). Before the processional began, President Paul Horn, realizing this was an historic occasion, wanted to give each student a chance at being the first graduate of Texas Technological College. Fourteen slips of paper, representing the 14 May graduates, were placed in a hat. On one of the slips was the word, �diploma.� Mrs. Mary Dale Buckner of Lubbock, who also was the class valedictorian, was the lucky graduate and became the first to receive a diploma. After almost four decades in existence, Texas Technological College had grown to heights greater than even its biggest proponents probably could have guessed. In the 1960s, students, faculty, and campus officials believed that "Texas Technological College" no longer represented the mission of an institution with undergraduate and graduate programs in such diverse subjects as arts and sciences, business administration, home economics, engineering, and agriculture. Most faculty and students supported a name change to "Texas State University." But many alumni and the Board of Regents wanted to ensure that the Double T emblem would be maintained and recommended that the college become "Texas Tech University." Over a period of several years, passionate efforts on both sides of the issue made the topic a heated point of contention. In January 1969, however, the Board of Regents made a surprise move. At a time when the University Daily and KTXT radio had suspended operations because of final exams, the board voted unanimously to recommend the name "Texas Tech University" to the state legislature. Although the Faculty Council of Texas Tech begged for delay and students gathered by the Double T bench hoping to save the name "Texas State," the bill changing the name Texas Technological College to Texas Tech University was signed into law by Gov. Preston Smith in early June 1969. |