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Abby Wells

Mr. Griffin

AP U.S. History

May 16, 2017

The University of Tennessee Takes a Stand in Knoxville

Founded as Blount College, named after Governor William Blount, on September 10,

1794 (Van West), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has a dramatic and influential history of

development, both physical and cultural development. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

was nothing more than a single building in a frontier village of 40 houses and 200 residents when

it was first chartered (Van West). Only one student graduated the first year the college was

opened, and the college relied entirely on tuitions for their income. The fact that this small,

shanty institution of learning, with the goal of only further educating men in Republican values,

became the incredibly large and influential complex it is today is nothing less than astounding.

From its modest founding in 1794 to the powerful standing it takes today, the development of the

University of Tennessee, Knoxville has had remarkable cultural, political, and economic impacts

on all of Knoxville.

It was not until shortly before the turn of the 20th century that the physical development

of UTK really began to have a significant impact on the college, as well as the areas surrounding.

This structural development fell into direct proportion with the number of university students, as,

from 20 in 1866, the enrollment at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville climbed to 147 in

1871 (OSteen). A flurry of building construction between 1887, when President Dabney arrived

at the University, and 1900 included a Y.M.C.A., a gymnasium, and a swimming pool, and cost
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about $87,000, more than half of the $150,000 spent on buildings constructed between 1794 and

1900 (OSteen). This was the true beginning of the lasting legacy of the University of Tennessee.

These developments enticed women to seek admission at the University in the late 1800s. Two

women were permitted to attend teacher training courses in 1892 (OSteen), and the following

year, full academic admission of women became university policy.

Instrumental in prying money out of the 1917 legislature was Brown Ayres, Dannys

successor as university president. Ayres laboriously planned the construction of a central

academic building, part of a million dollar construction project, even preparing a model half as
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large as his desk to show existing and proposed buildings. However, Ayres died before the final

plans took shape, so his successor, Harcourt A. Morgan, had the central academic building be

named Ayres Hall (OSteen). Known as a symbol of the entire college today, and even laid as the

backdrop of most diplomas from the college, Ayres Hall stood for the cultural and political

developments that arrived alongside the structural ones.

In the year 1807, Blount College became a state institution and was renamed East

Tennessee University. Although transitioning to a state institution typically results in state

funding for the school, and therefore better facilities and a larger student body, this was not the

case for the University of Tennessee. In 1879, East Tennessee University became the University

of Tennessee, but the state did not give the school any money until 1903 (Joiner). Finally, with

this additional funding, the university was able to construct new buildings and pioneer new

programs, some of which, such as agriculture and forensic science, the University of Tennessee,

Knoxville is still specifically known for today. UTKs esteemed greenhouse, body farm, and

Clarence Brown Theatre (Joiner) would simply not exist today if it were not for the construction

and cultural developments led by Presidents Dabney and Ayres.

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If not for the extreme renovations the college underwent at the turn of the 20th century,

the fervent anti-war protests of the 1960s and 70s might not have ever found their way to the

UTK campus. These protests completely changed the political and social atmosphere of the

college, and therefore of surrounding Knoxville, as students wrote editorials and organized

protests against the Vietnam War and violence used against other peace protesters (Leadbetter).

The best known event of campus unrest, which directly followed the unrest at Kent State

University, occurred on January 16, 1970 and hit not just the University, but all of Knoxville,

with a striking blow. At the first of the month, on January 1st, 1970, a rare UT student strike

occurred in protest of both the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War and the shooting

deaths of four students during anti-war protests at Kent State University in Ohio. Then, days

later, world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham came to Neyland Stadium for a 10-day crusade

that drew tens of thousands daily (Leadbetter). These protests and conflicting ideals played out

right on the campus stage, marking a great step in the cultural and political climate of the

University.
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From its modest beginnings as Blount College and East Tennessee University rose the

great and influential University of Tennessee. Currently owning about 20,000 acres of land and

$500 million in facility value (Joiner), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville graduates students

every year that go on to significantly impact their Knoxville community, churning even more

greatness out of an already great city. The structural development of the University paralleled the

development of downtown Knoxville, which brought strong economic development to the

Knoxville stage. Similarly, the culture and politics of UTK are mirrored in the society of the

beautiful city it inhabits.

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Works Cited

Primary and Secondary non-image Resources:

DeWitt, Christopher; Esposito, Madeline; Lewis, Dave; Pahn Michael. Finding Aids to

Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture. Library of Congress Research Centers,

January 2011. Accessed May 21, 2017. Web.

Joiner, Harry M. Ph.D. Tennessee Then and Now. Athens, Alabama: Southern Textbook

Publishers, Inc., 1983. Print.

Leadbetter, Ron. Big Orange, Black Storm Clouds and More: A History of the University of

Tennessee. Knoxville, Tennessee: The University of Tennessees office of general

counsel, 2015. Print.

O'Steen, Neal. The University of Tennessee: Evolution of A Campus. Tennessee Historical

Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, 1980, pp. 257281. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42626095.

Van West, Carroll; Lester, Connie L.; Binnicker, Margaret Duncan; Owens, Anne-Leslie;

Gordon, Susan L. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture. Nashville,

Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press; Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data,

1998. Print.
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Photos:

Benjamin Croisdale at Clarence Brown Theatres 2005 production of All The Way Home.

Photo property of Gregory Croisdale. Used with permission. Accessed May 21, 2017.

UTK Students Gather at Vietnam War Protest. Photo property of https://www.utk.edu/. Photo

taken 1970. Accessed May 21, 2017.

University of Tennessee. Photo from The University of Tennessee: Evolution of A Campus.

Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, 1980, pp. 257281. Accessed May 21,

2017.