Valdosta State University was established in 1906 in Valdosta, Georgia. South Georgia State Normal College began as a two-year teaching college in 1913 and was an all-female school until 1950 when the name was changed to Valdosta State College. VSC experienced rapid growth in the 1960s and 70s in student population and in construction on campus. In 1993 Valdosta State achieved university status and became the second regional university in the state of Georgia. Since its founding VSU has grown into a co-educational regional university with over 12,000 students.
Foundation and development
The idea of establishing a state college in the Valdosta area originated with local citizens. In 1906 State Representative C.R. Ashley and State Senator William Stanley West presented bills proposing the establishment of a college in Valdosta to the Georgia House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively. By an act of the Georgia State Legislature that year the establishment of an agricultural, industrial, or normal college in South Georgia, as a branch of the University of Georgia (UGA), was approved. Similar to the Georgia Normal and Industrial College for Girls established in Milledgeville in 1889, now Georgia College & State University, the Valdosta branch school was intended to serve females who were not permitted admission to UGA.
Location
Despite the legislation, no funding was granted until the summer of 1911 when the State appropriated $30,000 for construction. In October of that year, the Trustees of the college met with UGA Chancellor David C. Barrow Jr. and began the physical planning of the school. According to the terms of the 1906 legislation, the city of Valdosta agreed to furnish the land for the college. George Varn offered two tracts on the east side of Ashley Street, T.M Ray offered forty-five acres along the Dixie Highway at the western edge of town, Col. West Offered between Patterson and Oak Streets, and J. A. dasher offered on the Burrows place adjacent to the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. The West site's combination of acreage and proximity to downtown was determined the most suitable for campus development.
Construction
After securing the finances and the land the trustees hired Richard Holmes Powell as the school president. Powell's background included work as a principal, college English professor, department head, and State Superintendent of Rural Schools in Georgia. A building Committee was established to contract for design of the school buildings. The architect chosen for the initial building was William Augustus Edwards of the firm Edwards and Sayward. Edwards was one of the primary architects of educational buildings in the Southeastern United States in the early 20th century. During their work in Valdosta, the firm was also designing academic buildings for the University of Florida, Gainesville, the Florida State College for Women and Florida A& M College in Tallahassee, and the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Florida.
The first building on the campus, constructed between 1912 and 1913, was named in honor of William Lorraine Converse, Sr. who, as a State Representative, helped expedite the establishment of the college in Valdosta. On December 19, 1912, Dr. Powell moved into office his in the new building and the first pieces of furniture were installed in preparation if the school's opening. Converse Hall served a variety of purposes for the new institution. The structure provided classrooms, administration offices, double-occupancy dormitory rooms, a dining hall, an infirmary, and a chapel. The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture of college in Valdosta was based on the popular style of the era, as well as Powell's personal experiences in the American Southwest. The school opened in January 1913, but the surrounding landscape was primarily undeveloped There were no driveways or sidewalks, and the predominant wetlands at the south were only crossable at Patterson Street.
South Georgia State Normal College
South Georgia State Normal College (SGSNC) opened as a 2-year college with three college freshmen and 15 sub-freshmen. The sub-freshmen were enrolled in a training school, which also provided instruction to Valdosta elementary school-age students. The elementary school classes soon filled to capacity and was the most successful part in the first few years of the college's existence. Early students were required to wear a school uniform, and each paid $10 per year for tuition and $12 per month for food and board. Most came to be teachers and studied subjects from literature to physics to agriculture.