University of Southern Mississippi

Opened in fall of 1912 as Mississippi Normal College with 230 students and 18 faculty. In 1924 it became State Teachers College, in 1940 it became Mississippi Southern College. In 1962 it became the University of Southern Mississippi.

"In 1910 the Mississippi State Legislature and the State Teachers Association established the Miss. Normal College. Several southern counties were authorized to issue bonds as a bonus for the location of the college. Three counties made offers and Forrest County was awarded the location due to it and the city of Hattiesburg's offer of $260,000 in cash, 840 acres of land and $50,000 in private donations." (source: History of Forrest County, p 95)

List of Original Buildings

• College Hall -- Academic Building
• Forrest County Hall -- Men's Dorm
• Hattiesburg Hall -- Women's Dorm
• President's Home -- Now the Alumni House
• Industrial College -- Not sure if this is still standing or not.

Older But Not Original Buildings

• Southern Hall
• Mississippi Hall
• Bennett Auditorium

Other Buildings

• USM Administration Building
• Old School House
• McLemore Hall
• Walker Science
• USM Library
• Science Tower
• Power House

Dorms

• Hillcrest

Other

• Sunken Garden
• Lake Byron
• Nugget

Pictures

This is a picture from the 1980 Southerner:

There's a bigger version here: [1]. You can see the lack of the Pane Center and the tech building. The library is only two stories, and there's a parking lot where the tower part is now. There's also a little bit clearer version from the 79 Southerner here: [2]

This one is a post card. I'm not sure when it was from, but it also has a nice shot of Highway 49 and Hillcrest. There's a big version here: [3]

1960 Southerner:

• p 29 -- Pic of George Hersh School building
• p 31 -- McLemore Hall maybe? It was the Fine Arts building at the time
• p 39 -- Student Services building (now Kennard Washington Hall)

1965 Southerner:

• Big picture of the USM Administration building
• p 13 -- Students in front of one of the old halls, Southern Hall maybe?
• p 14 -- USM Commons with a field next to it.

1972 Southerner:

• Picture of the commons and surrounding area [4]
• Picture of the Science Tower looking across a field [5]

News

• 8/5/2005 -- http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050805/NEWS01/508050302/1002/NEWS17

---

Here's some small nuggets of knowlege: Southern Hall used to be called Science Hall. The Sunken Garden used to be where McLemore Hall is now. (source: Hattiesburg, a pictorial history) -- Brad