Surely, the first academic year of Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College was one of the most bizarre on record for any institution in the State of Texas. Until late in the summer, the President did not know the location for the opening of classes. The temporary solution which he threw together to get the doors open turned out to be an eight month sojourn.

Yet, as this week's Heritage Series explores, the ad hoc nature of the opening did not deter students from all over East Texas coming to or raving about the treatment they received at the new college. Dr. Birdwell said in a letter dated October 30, "our traditions are all to be made, and our history is to be written." History can now clearly show how successful Birdwell, his faculty, and the students were during these early months of their new adventure. They were latter day East Texas pioneers; pioneers in an educational quest that would change the face of East Texas. They changed the face of Nacogdoches as well. The quiet, historic village was entering a watershed of events that would transform every aspect of the town's existence.

In the spring of 1923, when Birdwell set a day for the opening of the fall semester, he chose a date easy for him to remember. September 18 was to be his fifty-third birthday. The date must have seemed like reckless bravado to him later; by early summer even an optimist could see that the Austin Building would not be ready for occupancy until sometime in the fall. Unwilling to fathom the depth of the trouble if they canceled the fall semester, Birdwell, the faculty who were present, and the people of Nacogdoches put together a salvage operation: the barbecue discussed last week. To publicize the academic side of the equation, the Birdwells put together SFA Bulletin Number One, a makeshift administration building know as "the Shack," and a temporary home, Washington Square. These events of the first semester of the SFA history are discussed in this week's Heritage Series.

The winter of 1922-23 was wet; 1924 was possibly going to be worse. With floods literally taking place in Nacogdoches, Birdwell became obsessed with finding enough roofs to cover the heads of his students and faculty. This was a big issue. While Birdwell certainly appreciated the 4th of July Barbecue which the citizens gave to advertise the school, and while he gratefully accepted the "Shack" which the Chamber of Commerce agreed to build for an administration building, Birdwell needed classrooms. For this he looked to R. L. Davis, his old college roommate. As reported last week, Birdwell reserved his highest praise for Superintendent Davis. Both men knew that the Nacogdoches schools were overcrowded. In sharing the Washington Square Campus, Birdwell said, Davis "furnished the college its first home, and with sympathetic cooperation, made it possible to do good work from the very first day. . . .We, therefore, owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be paid."

Of the buildings occupied by SFA during its first year of existence, there is only one left: the graceful Old University Building. This makes for a nice historical continuity. There is one more small continuity. The stones from the "Memorial Building," which was the title used for the remnants of the Old Stone House while it was on Washington Square, were later moved to the SFA campus in 1936. Of the other buildings, all we have left from the rest are some interesting photographs and some interesting "tales from the Shack."

A special edition

The weeks before the opening were full of activity. Birdwell turned over many of the logistics to the townspeople. Another citizens committee, this time headed by Robert Lindsey, planned the registration and the housing for the new faculty.

The Sentinel editor planned a magnificent welcome for the new faculty and students in the form of a special edition, the first of many which the paper would sponsor on SFA. The official welcome to the teachers came on September 10; the Special Edition appeared on September 11. In this edition, as summarized this week, The Sentinel profiled the new faculty. While that was important, in an extraordinary move for the time, the editor put every student who had pre-registered as of September 11. Even with a word processor and a database this would be time consuming today; the student's full name, the town, and county were all placed in the paper. Of course, this was also done to emphasize what a regional phenomenon the whole SFA opening was becoming. Someone needs to do a thorough, scientific analysis of the impact of the new teacher's college on the entire of the East Texas area. Pending a more detailed, broader analysis for the entire twenties and thirties, here are some preliminary conclusions based on the pre-registration lists.

Fourteen counties were represented; not all of the students actually appeared on the first day. The majority of the students in the newspaper list came from the immediately surrounding counties. One fourth of the students pre registered came from Nacogdoches county, with Shelby county contributing 20%. Panola (16%) and Angelina (15%) were about even, with 10% coming from Sabine County. It is interesting that neighboring San Augustine County sent only 6% of the students, the same percentage as Trinity County. One person for out of state was listed; there were a few from central Texas. What is surprising is that there were no students from neighboring Cherokee or Rusk counties or from more distant Gregg or Smith Counties to the North, or Polk or Tyler Counties to the south. Harrison County was represented as well as Newton and Titus. Certainly, a more complete analysis of the "auditor's records" [there was no Registrar's Office at the time] will clarify these impressions.

Enrollment numbers are a difficult science even today, considering late registrations and withdrawals. Evidently, the enrollment process was not just a set period in 1923; they continued to admit students throughout the fall of 1923. The head count was important even then, or maybe, especially during that first semester to justify the existence of the college. The enrollment at the end of the first day was about 270, by November the paper reported 400, and President Birdwell reported an enrollment of 420 students to the Board of Regents in December, exclusive of the training school. Birdwell combined the regular college and the sub-college students in his first semester report. The official enrollment statistics, or totals, entered by J. H. Wisely, Professor of Business and College Auditor, are as follows. For the full 1923-1924 year there were 263 in the regular session and 419 in the summer session, for a total of 545. In the sub-college, there were 346 in the regular and 222 in the summer session, for a total of 458. A separate summer normal enrolled 43, and 24 were enrolled in the Demonstration School. The grand total of all categories was 1070. In the first year there were no extension sections or Saturday enrollments as there would be starting in 1925.

Lucile Fain, in an article in The Sentinel in 1986, published an interesting letter from President M. V. Wynne of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, Nacogdoches, to Miss Helen Rader of Melrose, dated September 25, 1923. The bank wrote: "We are pleased to know you are enrolled as one of its charter students. . . . We are sure that this epic in your life's history is of much interest to you and one that in after years, when the school has been established as one of the leading education institutions of our State, you will reflect upon with much pride and satisfaction in the fact you were one of its original students." Mrs. Fain's article then showed some local Nacogdoches people who were featured in the Stone Fort. Continuing in Mrs. Fain's line of interest, the researchers on this project decided that it would be interesting to put together a database of the people who registered that first year at SFA. There exist several lists in the archives. There are many discrepancies in these lists that emerged from close inspection, however. The 1924 annual is not a complete source, nor is the newspaper account. As an example, Miss Helen Rader's name mentioned above does not appear on The Sentinel list for the preregistered students, nor the list entitled, "College Enrollment, Fall Term, 1923," in the archive, but she does have the letter quoted above and does appear in the 1924 annual. Quite probably, she registered late or just attended in the spring of 1924. The records from the registrar's office are now in the process of being checked and will no doubt clear up these problems and produce a more complete list of names.

The opening day of SFA as recounted this week relies heavily on eyewitness accounts. The climax of the day was a surprise birthday party for President Birdwell in which the new faculty and townspeople all conspired. Birdwell had kept the fact that it was his birthday a secret until about the time the opening assembly took place. The faculty would not be put off; they enjoyed creative parties.

The story of the opening days of the Demonstration School are retold by Dr. Patsy Hallman in this week's edition. The Demonstration School opened with 24 students one room in the southwest corner of Central Grammar School.

A host of energetic people have preserved SFA history. One of the most energetic who have collected the history of SFA is Dr. Bobby H. Johnson, a Regent's Professor of History. In his debut article in the series, Dr. Johnson this week uses oral history interviews with first year students taken years ago and interviews taken last month. While the Heritage Series is attempting to present unknown or little known material, readers should be aware that a very competent history of the early years of SFA was published in 1973 by Bettye Herrington Craddock, entitled The Golden Years: The First Half Century of Stephen F. Austin State University. Craddock's work is the only source of SFA history readily available to the public. Craddock has faithfully mirrored much of the information in many of the Stone Fort yearbooks and the Pine Log newspapers (she was once the editor). She excels in discussing student interests, their clubs, and early sports activities. A selection from Craddock was used last week. Of course, microfilm and archival records are also available, but primary material is not always easy to pull through or to draw conclusions from. [I have two very competent research assistants, Tom McKinney and Jeff Roth, both SFA alumni, who are very good at turning up lost or forgotten documents.]

The Heritage Series this week owes its sponsorship to Mr. Ron Adkinson, a Regent and former Chairman of the Board of Regents. Mr. Adkinson, a strong supporter of making SFA into one of "the best in the country," wanted the experiences and the pictures of the first students to attend the college to have a prominent place in the pages. Dr. Birdwell's words, summarizing the first semester, close the selections this week.

"We have had the privilege of being a part of the life of the college from its very beginning. To us it has been given to lay the foundation deep and strong. . . .And these have been happy months. We have planned together; we have striven together; we have forged into spiritual brotherhood. Our traditions have begun to take definite shape, and our policies have been launched. The future is before us. . . . It is my highest ambition to be helpful to every member of the college family, and to be an humble workman in the great task of building here in Nacogdoches a College that will equal the best in the country.