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
• That old place they're turning into a sports bar

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

---

Ah ha! They've apparently got a much better copier in McCain in the back. The first version of that picture looked AWEFUL, but then the lady took the book and was like "lemme see if I can get a better one," and a minute or two later she came back with this awesome copy. I wish it was a little bit wider so you could see the old eagle cage and Highway 49. -- Brad

---

I just checked the USM website (http://www.usm.edu/profile/index.htm) and it didn't have Southern Hall or Mississippi Hall listed as an original building, so I just decided to create a new category for old buildings but not original buildings. They're obviously pretty old since they appear in those pics from the 20's. -- Brad.

---

There is a conflict between History of Forrest County and Hattiesburg, A Pictorial History. HoFC doesn't mention Southern Hall as one of the original buildings but I think HaPH does. We oughta double check that. Southern Hall does seem newer than the others on the inside, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Also, HoFC doesn't mention Mississippi Hall as one of the original buildings. -- Brad

Southern Hall was built a couple years after everything else, so it's not an original building, but still one of the oldest. -- Brad

---

The old school house:

---

Where is that old school house?!

The Old School house is basically inside OMH across from the library. The building was built around it. There is a little courtyard with the School House in it.

I checked it out and it is an open air area in the middle of the building. The building was built around it. I know it is impossible, but it would be great if you could get a camera shot up close on the school house, so that's all you can see, then pull out quickly showing the building around it, then pull out even more in a crane shot (I am really dreaming) showing more and more buildings ending finally in an aerial shot of the entire campus. O well, if we don't have dreams what do we have?

Perhaps we can get some stuff from on top of the USM Library or the Science Tower.

---

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