| Page I: LMC Mural Introduction | Page 2: Campus Panoramas | Page 3: Central Panels | Page 4: Portraits | Page 5: Lower Panels, etc. |
The division of the mural into two parts is as much a function of this
school's history as it is a requirement of the space in which it was painted.
If one includes the informal existence of the institution prior to 1854
in the calculation the 1924 name change which made it into Lon Morris occurred
exactly halfway through the life of the school to this date. The remainder
of the mural's format is designed to tell aspects of Lon Morris's story
in a way which will give those who know something about that story a framework
on which to hang what they know. Along the top of the mural one can see
views of the various campuses through the years. With the exception of
the campus as it appeared in 1924 (presented on the far left), all of these
views are presented in chronological order from left to right. At the bottom
of the mural symbols designate major events in Lon Morris history. The
central panels on each side show the progression of the presidents of the
school, aspects of the life of the school, and give special recognition
to a select few whose burden for, and contribution to, Lon Morris was the
greatest. The frame which surrounds this central panel on each side was
suggested by a design found in the golden anniversary (counted from it's
establishment as a Methodist institution in 1873) yearbook of 1924, the
year the school's name was changed.
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Along the top of the mural on both sides one can see aerial views of the campuses. Starting on the left and proceeding to the right these are:
Lt1- Alexander College, Jacksonville, present day location, 1924. Here is the campus as it appeared when Alexander College became Lon Morris College. The most important difference between this image and that of the 1912 campus is the new women's dormitory which was built in 1915 to replace the "Sunset Dorm" after it had burned on March 6th 1914. This building is notable as the first to be designed for the school by S. W. Ray. For the next 50 years every major new campus building would be designed by Ray.
Lt2- New Danville Masonic Female Academy, New Danville, ca. 1858. The original log building, built about 1850, burned on December 31, 1857. We could only speculate as to the log structure's appearance.
Lt3- Alexander Collegiate Institute, Kilgore, ca. 1884. In 1873 the New Danville school was moved to the town of Kilgore to be nearer the new I.&G.N. Railroad. There it became the property of the Methodist Church. Shown here is the second "main building" on the Kilgore campus.
Lt4- Alexander Collegiate Institute, first Jacksonville campus, ca. 1906. Jacksonville was, in the 1890's, the seat of the East Texas Conference of the Methodist Church and a major hub for railroads in East Texas. In 1894 the city offered Alexander Institute the nearly new brick building of the ailing Sunset Institute, shown here in the center foreground, and added music and classroom facilities, shown on the right. A women's dormitory, shown on the far upper left, was built that year, possibly on the site of the present-day Moody building. We have chosen to show it in that location because the evidence for other possible locations is, at present, too thin. The reason this location no longer houses the school is represented in the railroad locomotive in the foreground. The T. & N.O. Railroad, which came to Jacksonville in 1906, established a freight yard just a hundred yards from the school. The noise from this yard made it difficult to hold classes, so it was decided to move the campus two blocks to the southwest.
Lt#- The "ACI" athletic logo worn on the baseball uniforms of Alexander Institute during the teens.
Lt5- Alexander Collegiate Institute, second (present) Jacksonville
campus, 1912. Dominating the image is the romantic Twin Towers building
so many people carry in their hearts as the image of Lon Morris College.
Built to be the largest building in Jacksonville the Twin Towers would
be the center of campus life for fifty years. Behind the Twin Towers is
the women's dormitory which was the school's original twin towered building
and here stands as the oldest building on campus. On the left is the new
men's dormitory, built by the school's trustees at their own expense. Between
the men's dorm and the Twin Towers one can find the football field where
the Bearcats first fielded a team in 1912 and first won a championship
in 1913.
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Rt1- Lon Morris College, ca. 1935. From the 1930's to 1950 the appearance of the campus changed very little. The greatest changes from the 1924 image were the addition of Lula Morris Hall in 1925 and Kiwanis Gymnasium in 1930. These buildings can be seen across College street from Smith Hall. Across from the Twin Towers one can see "Pop's Shack", which served as the college bookstore through the thirties and forties.
Rt#- The Logo for Lon Morris which has been in use since the 1970's
Rt2- Lon Morris College, ca. 1963. The school is in the middle of a massive building campaign which, from 1953 to 1968, created a completely new plant on the existing campus. Of the old buildings only Smith Hall, the now renamed and painted London Hall (the old women's building),Kiwanis Gym, and Lula Morris Hall remain. New to the campus are the A Frank Smith Fine Arts building (1954), the new library and administration complex (1961), the science building (1961), the Scurlock Center (1959), and Fair Hall (1956). Soon to come are a new Gym (1964), two new men's dorms (Clark Hall, 1965, and Brown Hall, 1968), and a new classroom building (Moody, 1968). For many the razing of the Twin Towers to make room for the new administration building is a tragic loss. The blandness of this efficient new plant does little to help them through their grief, but it does assure the survival of the school through the remainder of the century.
Rt3- Lon Morris College, January, 2000. This is how Lon Morris's
campus appears at the time this is written. The only remaining building
from the first plant on this site is the old Smith-Turner Hall, now being
used to house the Art department. The most prominent new building is the
chapel built in 1986. Behind that is the Craven Wilson Dormitory built
in 1974. The campus today is several times the size of the campus first
occupied in 1909 and much of the land visible in this image, but not part
of the campus, is owned by the school.
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Lb2- The school is moved to Kilgore in 1873. There it becomes the property of the Methodist church and is named for Isaac Alexander who has, for several years, been an instructor at the institution. Alexander remains as president until 1890 and is a strong supporter until his death in 1919.
Lb3- Building of the Twin Towers and the move to the present campus in 1909.
Lb4- Sports, 1912. Under President M. L. Lefler Alexander College organized an athletic association, the Bearcats. Lefler also served as coach. Under his leadership the football team won an East Texas Championship in the 1913 season.
Lb5- Cadet Corps, 1918, New President R. G. Boger assured the survival of the college by arranging for the government to run high school and college level cadet corps using the Twin Towers as a dormitory. The 1919 year book contains pages of photos honoring corps members who died in the war. With the advent of the great flu pandemic of 1918 (which killed several times as many people as the war did) the Twin Towers became a hospital.
Lb6- First Student Theatre Productions, 1920. From 1929 to 1973
Lon Morris theater students would win 25 state championships in drama competitions.
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Lb7- The first State championship to go to Alexander College, 1922, in Football.
Rb1- Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 1927. Under President George Winfield Lon Morris became the first Texas junior college to be so honored.
Rb2- First Texas junior college accepted into Phi Teta Kappa, 1929.
Rb3- Establishment of the college farm, 1937. Under new President Cecil Peeples this farm became a means of providing food for the school cafeteria and paying the school expenses of many students (including at least one future Lon Morris president, Faulk Landrum).
Rb4- Naval Aviation School, 1942. The brainchild of Lon Morris coach W. A. "Windmill" Phillips, who procured a contract to run the school for the Navy. He arranged to use Lon Morris facilities and faculty for the classes taught by the school and split the profits with the college, again allowing Lon Morris to survive a war and even to repair long- neglected facilities.
Rb5- First school-sponsored dance, 1951. Lon Morris was, after all, a church sponsored school in the Deep South so this was a big step.
Rb6- Razing of the Twin Towers, 1960. Slowly crumbling on the outside and filled with well oiled heart pine on the inside, the Twin Towers had been labeled a fire trap and it was only marginally functional for the many roles it had to fill. Most of those who had gone to school were heartbroken at it's demise, whereas most of those who had struggled to maintain it and teach in it could not wait to see it go.
Rb7- "Debt Free in '73" This motto was Cecil Peeples swan song,
as the celebration both of Lon Morris's centennial as a Methodist institution
and the retirement of the school's once crushing debts also served as the
retirement celebration for the outgoing president.
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The most prominent feature of the central panels is the parade of the presidents. Starting with Isaac Alexander every president of Alexander/Lon Morris through Dr. Clifford Lee is represented. These are:
Lc1- Isaac Alexander- Alexander was named the first president of the school which bore his name in 1873 at it's chartering as a Methodist school in Kilgore. He had taught at the institution in New Danville since the 1850's. Alexander remained president of the institution until 1890. When Alexander Institute was moved to Jacksonville in 1894 Alexander accepted an appointment as the pastor at the First Methodist Church in Jacksonville. He also served as the chaplain for the college. He remained an actve supporter of the school until his death in 1919. Alexander's association with this school, while not as exclusive as that of Cecil Peeples, was, at over 60 years, the longest of any president.
Lc2- G. J. Nunn, 1890- 1896- Nunn kept Alexander Institute afloat in Kilgore and secured the first Jacksonville campus in 1894. His task, following a widely known and respected educator as the president of the school named after him, was a difficult one. He did it well.
Lc3- E. R. Williams, 1896-1904- Williams set a tone of high academic standards for the school now named Alexander Collegiate Institute. This made for difficulty in getting and keeping students even as it made for a glowing academic reputation.
Lc4- W. K. Strother, 1904-1909 / 1915-1918- Strother established the second Jacksonville campus and was the person most responsible for the building of the Twin Towers. He would also be the only president to serve two terms.
Lc5- F. E. Butler, 1909-1911, A stern disciplinarian, Butler established a drill corps for extra-curricular activities. In retirement he became popular with the students and was named the school's poet laureate.
Lc6J. M. Barcus, 1911-1912, Barcus's effect on A.C.I. belies the brevity of his tenure. He began to move the school from academy status to junior college status. Over the course of the next decade Alexander would be transformed from a school teaching primarily high school aged students to one teaching primarily college aged students. Barcus left Alexander to become president of Southwestern University in Georgetown, where he remained for many years.
Lc7- M. L. Lefler, 1912-1914, Continuing the transformation to junior college status, Lefler established extracurricular team sports and began the publishing of school yearbooks. He coached the sports teams as well as carrying a heavy teaching load.
Lc8- J. B. Turrentine, 1914-1915, Turrentine is shown immediately to the right of Lefler and does not carry a lamp. He served less than a calendar year and did that primarily for one purpose; to build a dormitory to replace the women's dorm which had burned in 1914.
Lc9- R. G. Boger, 1918-1923, Boger is shown accepting the lamp from Lefler because it seemed redundant to show W. K. Strother twice. Boger is the youngest person to have served as President of the school, having become president at 26 year of age. He had originally served as coach for the athletic teams. Boger did a remarkably good job. He secured federal aid in the form of cadet corps during W.W.I.(see Lc9a, note the uniformed cadets standing with Boger in the Mural) Boger also established the school's first student theater group, the Curtain Club. The home now used as the alumni center for Lon Morris was given to the school by Boger upon his resignation.
Lc10- G. F. Winfield, 1923-1928, Had the Great Depression not
happened we might think of this man in the same terms we now associate
with Cecil Peeples. George Winfield was brought to Alexander by M. L. Lefler,
who by 1923 was serving the school as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
He was regarded at that time as the nation's leading authority on the junior
college and could well be said to be one of the inventors of that type
of school. He secured two major bequests which would have a lasting impact
on the college. The first was the gift by Reuben Alonzo "Lon" Morris of
his entire estate while he was still alive. The second was a bequest placed
in the will of Jennie Tapp of New Boston which would eventually result
in the school receiving some $50,000. In addition to these accomplishments
Winfield utilized the School's golden anniversary as a Methodist institution
to gather more than 7000 former students for celebrations and establish
the school's first alumni association. He also traveled widely within the
Texas Conference of the Methodist church familiarizing the people of the
conference with the school they owned and that had supplied those churches
with more than half of their preachers for over thirty years. Winfield
is shown with Lon Morris passing the torch out of the Alexander side of
the Mural and into the Lon Morris side.
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Rc1- E. M. Stanton, 1928-1932. Stanton had been with the school, most recently as Dean of the college, since 1922. During his tenure Lon Morris was accepted into Phi Theta Kappa, the first Texas school to be accepted into this national junior college honor society. Enrollment peaked at 400 in 1931, a level it would not see again until 1965. Despite the strength of his leadership, however, Stanton could not overcome the crushing burden of the Great Depression. Frustrated, he resigned in 1932.
Rc2- H. T. Morgan, 1932-1935, Morgan made no bold new moves and was no more able to solve the problems presented by the Depression than his predecessor, but he maintained the high standards of the school and managed to keep his faculty fed.
Rc3- C. E. Peeples, 1935-1973, Faulk Landrum would, in later years, josh that "...Cecil Peeples was possibly the worst college closer in history!" There really is no evidence Peeples was sent to Lon Morris charged with the task of closing the school, but it would be difficult to argue anyone expected better. They received better, and in amounts more than anyone could have hoped for.
Cecil Peeples saved Lon Morris from extinction by continuing Winfield's policy of stumping through the Texas Conference of the Methodist Church, by befriending the Jacksonville community, especially those in the community who were the school's creditors, by carefully husbanding every resource the school had, and by paying something, even if it was only a pittance on every bill. He had a keen sense of what business people respected and he set out to "...put the school on a sound business basis, so that it would command the respect of businessmen." In so doing he built a solid core of business leaders within the Board of Trustees who began to provide leadership in the practical matters of running a facility and keeping it in efficient working order. When general prosperity allowed these trustees were able to rebuild the college plant virtually out of their own pockets. (Rc3a "The Builders" represents four of these men, Farnsworth, Paul Pewitt, T. E. Acker, and Eddie Scurlock) Peeples was also able to get extraordinary contributions from members of the faculty, as can be attested to by the Naval Aviation School opened by coach W. L. "Windmill" Phillips. This school was the salvation of the college during W.W.II (see Rc3b)
Peeples tenure as president was the longest in the school's history. After his retirement he remained active as President Emeritus, raising endowment funds to ensure the health of the school he had brought back from the brink of death.
Rc4- J. E. Fellers, 1973-1976. John Fellers had been the well respected, successful pastor of several large Texas Conference churches, none of which prepared him for the reality of being the president of a tiny church-affiliated junior college. What looked easy in the hands of Dr. Peeples for 38 years stubbornly remained as difficult as it had been for Morgan, Lefler, and Butler early in the century.
Rc5- W. Faulk Landrum, 1976-1992, The first Lon Morris graduate to serve as president of the institution and the pastor of Jacksonville's First Methodist Church in Feller's final year at Lon Morris, Landrum had a head start in building a relationship with the local community. Like Peeples before him, Landrum made it clear that he was committed to the community. He continued the school's contact with Texas Conference Churches, utilizing a men's quartet (see Rc5a) to make traveling easier. Landrum had worked on the school farm during his years as a student at Lon Morris. This seems to have given him a clearer sense of what this kind of school was about than others raised in normal college culture could muster. An excellent fund-raiser, he left Lon Morris to head the Methodist Foundation of the Texas Conference. His tenure had been the third longest in Lon Morris's history.
Rc6- Chappell Temple, 1992-1994, A man who, like John Fellers, had been a successful pastor and who held a degree from Rice University, Chappell Temple improved the technology base of Lon Morris. and faced issues raised by federal laws concerning equality of athletic programming for men and women.
Rc7- Clifford Lee, 1994- Present, The second Lon Morris president
to have graduated from the school, Lee has faced issues which look very
much like the issues of the 1910's and 20's; relationships with the Conference
which owns Lon Morris, husbanding the school's precious resources, and
dealing with a larger culture which does not fully understand what is special
about a little, church-sponsored junior college.
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Left panel Large Portrait: Isaac Alexander. Founder of school as a Methodist institution. Second longest formal association with the school of which we are aware.
Upper left: E. R. Williams. Third president. Solidly established Alexander in Jacksonville.
Middle left: G. J. Nunn. Second president. Weathered the transition from Isaac Alexander and managed the move to Jacksonville.
Upper center: Lc6- An old-style golden altar cross symbolizing Alexander College's ownership by, and relationship to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Middle right: W. K. Strother. Fourth president and only president to serve two terms. Strother established the second Jacksonville campus and built the Twin Towers.
Upper right: M. L. Lefler. Seventh president, established team sports and the yearbook.
Lower left: G. F. Winfield. Savior of the school in the 1920's, acquired the school's first endowments.
Lower right: Reuben Alonzo "Lon" Morris. Gave Alexander College
his fortune on the condition that the school be renamed for him.
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Right Hand Panel Large Portrait: C.E. Peeples. Saved the school during the depths of the Depression. Had longest tenure of any president. Completely rebuilt the campus and provided endowments to secure Lon Morris's future.
Upper left: Eddie Scurlock. Dr. Peeples called him "Lon Morris's Man of the Century". Served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1972 until his death in 1985
Middle left: Judge Morris Hassell. Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1985 until his death in 1996.
Center: Cross and flame Since 1968 this has served as the symbol of the United Methodist Church
Middle right: John Robinson. Longtime friend and legal adviser to the school.
Upper right: Arthur and Evie Jo Wilson. Longtime friends of the school, donors for the Craven-Wilson Dormitory, for the Chapel, and for a new administration building to be built in the near future.
Lower left: T. E. Acker. Board member from 1919, Board Chairman from 1937 to 1972. Acker has the longest association with Lon Morris of which we are aware, having first attended school there in 1907.
Lower right: W. Faulk Landrum. President from 1976-1992, third
longest tenure of any Lon Morris president.
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Left center Dominating the left hand panel is the image of the Twin Towers Building. The coloring of the left panel is in the subdued classical colors of the 19th century. The lamp being passed from president to president symbolizes both the spirit of Education, generally and the special spirit of Lon Morris.
Center right Cecil Peeples' new administration and library complex is the dominant image in this brightly colored panel. Behind the parade of presidents one sees a sea of people. These are not intended to represent individuals. Rather they stand together, reminding us of the Apostle Paul's admonition about "so great a cloud of witnesses" To the right on the edge of the hill I have placed one recognizable image, that of Isaac Alexander. The brilliance of the light in this panel is that of the setting sun, but not because I believe Lon Morris's time is past. This is allegory. By pursuing the light of enlightenment, as educated people have for ages (It is darker on the left hand panel, remember.) we can continue to make the day brighter. Stop that pursuit for a generation and the sun sets on our children.
Far right On the mural Dr. Lee holds the lamp of Lon Morris college out to the future, where no hands are yet ready to take it. We can, with some assurance look back on the past and feel a sense of comfort in it. That would be a false view of the work this line of men has done. When something falls as far outside the nominal culture as Lon Morris does it is always in peril. Those of us who have seen what is different about Lon Morris work changes in our lives all bear a share of responsibility to the youth represented on the mural's far right that those differences will still be there to change their lives, too.
School songsAt the base of the center panels the first lines
of the Alexander and Lon Morris school songs are shown. Alexander's in
particular is of interest. This is because it is this song which is the
origin of the University of Oklahoma fight song!
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| Page I: LMC Mural Introduction | Page 2: Campus Panoramas | Page 3: Central Panels | Page 4: Portraits | Page 5: Lower Panels, etc. |