Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass VCU University History Books VCU University Archives 1973 A History of the Richmond Professional Institute : From Its Beginning in 1917 to Its Consolidation with the Medical College of Virginia in 1968 to Form Virginia Commonwealth University Henry Horace Hibbs Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/vcu_books Part of the Higher Education Commons © VCU. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 Acknowledgement of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required. Downloaded from http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/vcu_books/5 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the VCU University Archives at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in VCU University History Books by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE HISTORY OF RICHMOND PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE -RICHMOND -VIRGINIA A History of the Richmond Professional Institute r4 \ </(/> 4 UMH^ V . I AA^My u Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 73-88735 Copyright 1973—RPI Foundation, Richmond, Virginia Distributed exclusively by VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ACTIVITIES OFFICE 828 West Franklin Street Richmond, Virginia 23284 A HISTORY OF The Richmond Professional Institute From its beginning in 1917 to its consolidation with The Medical College of Virginia in 1968 to form Virginia Commonwealth University by HENRY H. HIBBS Published for the RPI FOUNDATION by WHITTET AND SHEPPERSON RICHMOND, VIRGINIA TO MARY SUE HIBBS DOSS 1925-1964 Who grew up on the campus of the Richmond Professional Institute; attended college there; was President of the student body in her senior year; and during World War II was a student in the School of Social Work. Author's Acknowledgements This book could not have been written without the help of many persons. Appreciative acknowledgment is here made to former students, faculty, administrators, news media, the printers, the RPI FOUNDATION, and to several persons for editorial assistance in preparing the manuscript for printing. HENRY H. HIBBS Foreword Dr. Henry H. Hibbs has written this personal account of the Richmond Professional Institute's early history from its modest beginning in 1917. The fact that the school survived is a testimony to the courage, persistence, and vision of its first administrator. He has reported the facts and happenings out of a remarkable memory with the assistance of his personal notes and the recollec­ tion of former students and colleagues. Much of the work was done years ago; however, he has made recent revisions as he ap­ proached his 85th birthday in what his friends will continue to recognize as the typical Hibbsonian style. Dr. Warren W. Brandt, first President of Virginia Common­ wealth University, became interested in having these facts and recollections preserved and appointed the undersigned committee to work out the necessary details to ensure their publication. The funds to publish this history have been provided by the RPI Foundation. The many students, colleagues, and friends of Dr. Hibbs will be pleased to know that he continues to visit and take an interest in the University. MAURICE BONDS JAMES L. DUNN HENRY I. WILLETT, Chairman Contents DEDICATION AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOREWORD Chapter I. THE FIRST YEAR: 1917-1918 13 Chapter II. HOW THE NEW SCHOOL WAS FINANCED IN SPITE OF WORLD WAR I 19 Chapter III. THE POST-WAR YEARS, 1918-25 23 Search for permanent downtown location; 1228 East Broad Street and 17 N. Fifth Street; Affilia­ tion with the College of William and Mary; Rec­ reational leadership department added. Chapter IV. THE MOVE TO FRANKLIN AND SHAFER STREET; 1925 27 Founders Hall, the first unit of the campus is bought and paid for by the private citizens group, now named RPI FOUNDATION; Reminiscences of early faculty and students. Chapter V. THE INSTITUTE BEGINS TO GROW 37 Expansion of the curriculum; New schools and de­ partments added between 1927 and World War II; Name changed to RPI, 1939. Chapter VI. THE RPI FOUNDATION WORKS OUT A UNIQUE PLAN FOR EXPANDING THE CAMPUS 47 How the citizens' board (now the RPI FOUNDA­ TION) from 1930 to about World War II worked out an ingenuous plan for expanding the physical plant without state aid; Ginter Mansion, Ritter- Hickok House, Allison House, and other notable buildings bought and paid for. Chapter VII. THE LEAN YEARS 57 What a governor and a senator said; Progress made despite problems; An endorsement from a high place; Some things RPI learned about operating urban colleges in the years when the State gave it little or no support. Chapter VIII. THE GREAT DEPRESSION 63 The NYA provides student jobs; The WPA remodels buildings; Valuable real estate acquired at low cost. Chapter IX. REMODELED STABLES IN RPTS HISTORY 69 How RPI by remodeling and enlarging some old stables was able to win accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges; And also to build up its art school until it became one of the largest in the country. Chapter X. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE USE OF OLD, CONVERTED BUILDINGS BY URBAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 73 In the 1950's and 60s, and later, RPI carried on an almost continuous self-survey of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of old, converted build­ ings; And the extent to which other colleges and universities use them. Chapter XI. RPI ISSUES A PAMPHLET CALLING ITSELF AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COLLEGE 83 Chapter XII. THE GI OR POST WORLD WAR II PERIOD 89 How the veterans of World War II and the Korean War changed the Institute, made it co-educational, and started it on the road to becoming one of the largest colleges in Virginia; New professional schools added; Physical plant further enlarged. Chapter XIII. HIGH-RISE DORMITORIES, OLD AND NEW 101 In the 1940s, 50s, and 60s RPI begins to buy nearby apartment houses and convert them to dormitories —first small ones and then, in 1964, the very large Monroe Terrace; Nineteen-story Rhoads Hall built, 1968. Chapter XIV. GROWTH OF STATE SUPPORT 107 While the State was slow in offering support to urban colleges like RPI, and was hard to convince, once it "caught the idea," State appropriations became generous. Chapter XV. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLING AT RPI BECOMES THE LARGEST IN VIRGINIA 119 Unique plan worked out by Governor Harrison and President Oliver to increase space to provide for so many students; Why RPI could grow faster than other colleges—because of its mid-city location and the nearness of buildings that could be quickly con­ verted to teaching use. Chapter XVI. THE COBBLESTONE CAMPUS 123 Some questions about mid-city campuses, in Rich­ mond and in some other cities. Chapter XVII. RPI WORKS TOWARDS UNIVERSITY STATUS: 1959-1967 133 Dr. George J. Oliver is president; School of Arts and Sciences added, 1965; School of Education, 1964; Faculty greatly increased and salaries raised; Administrative staff expanded; Dr. Roland H. Nel­ son, Jr., is president, 1967-68. Chapter XVIII. RPI ATTAINS UNIVERSITY STATUS BY THE CONSOLIDATION ROUTE 139 i.e., By consolidation with the Medical College of Virginia to form Virginia Commonwealth Uni­ versity, 1968. 10 Appendix A. NOTES ON THE RPI FOUNDATION; OTHER BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS 143 B. NOTES ON THE AUTHOR 149 by Maurice Bonds C. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY 155 Index 160 11 The Starting Place: 1112 Capitol Street, from a painting by Miss Belle Worsham. 12 CHAPTER 1 The First Year N July, 1917, Miss Mary Dupuy left her home in Prince Edward County and journeyed to Richmond to learn more about a new kind of urban educational institution. According , to announcements she had read in the newspapers, there Iwere plans to open a school in Virginia's capital city for social workers and public health nurses. Such a school, it was said, would be "the first of its kind in the South." Miss Dupuy wrote some years later, in describing that trip, that she found the school on the third floor at 1112 Capitol Street. It was located in an old red brick residence across the street from the Governor's Mansion. The sign on the porch read, "Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court." Nothing in the surroundings suggested a professional school, college or university. No likely students were in sight. In fact, Miss Dupuy continued: "I encountered a noisy and somewhat ribald assembly of children. As I went in a small boy catapulted out of a door, side- swiping me in his effort to 'rid himself of the law' in the form of a pursuing probation officer. "I followed the winding stair to the third floor and found three former bedrooms, one little larger than a closet. There were no electric lights but each room was lighted by gas. The two larger rooms had wood-burning stoves for heating." In the front room Miss Dupuy was received by an auburn- haired secretary, Miss Lou Mayo Brown (now Mrs. B. F. Moomaw An invoice for of Lynchburg). some chairs bought to furnish In the small, inner room Miss Dupuy wrote that she "met the three rooms. Dr. Hibbs", the director, whom she described as a "be-spectacled Ta*l>HONt "•"A"!* S7 and mustached young man who gave me a highly cordial wel­ come. Answers fell readily from his tongue, and his sales talk ai Au was eloquent, so eloquent I enrolled as a student before I left. «*Me. cboneers ^2^K Later I learned that I was the first enrollee." m 92f°" ' //xZ "In this humble way," as Miss Catherine Harahan, one of the first college graduates to enroll, wrote in her reminiscences,1 1 Mrs.