[In August of 1998, the Texas Historical Commission designated the Rusk Building as an Official Texas Landmark. Link to text. The designation came as the 1998 celebrated the expansion of the college this week with the building of its second major structure, the Rusk Building.]

The story of the Rusk Building, as in previous Heritage Series sections, is told mainly from primary sources. The Daily Sentinel's reports document the public awareness; President Birdwell's comments document the need for the building and the uses; the Pine Log narrates the opening; the reports document the building's transformations over the years. In other parts of the series this week, oral histories document the reactions of people to the expansion. The Rusk Building was completed in November of 1926, inspected by the Board of Regents, and dedicated in a simple ceremony.

The Rusk marker project started as a class assignment back in the summer of 1996. Tanya Whitescarver, a graduate assistant, wrote the initial paper. Later, Tom McKinney tracked the various photographs of the building over the years; Jeff Roth researched more detailed information about Birdwell. There will also be an historical marker on Thomas Jefferson Rusk in front of the Rusk Building; Dan Rankin, Adjunct Professor in the History Department, supplied the information from his dissertation research on the man Thomas J. Rusk. (JLJ)

The Daily Sentinel, May 30, 1925

BOARD OF REGENTS PAY ANNUAL VISIT

Very much impressed with the city and the general feeling toward the college. ... In the official statement ... [the Regents said] the Presidents of all the State schools and the Architects would meet in Dallas June 11-12 to discuss matters relative TO the erection of buildings. It was ascertained that Nacogdoches is one of the two places in the state that is to get a new building from this year's building appropriations. ... For just what purpose the new building will be used, is not yet announced, but it likely will be the home of the library and some class rooms. ... The attitude of the city toward the college and of the college faculty toward the city in which they are located is very gratifying, and that great spirit of cooperation is shown.

Board of Regents Minutes, Report from President A. W. Birdwell, June 11-12, 1925

[After presenting enrollment figures, Birdwell commented.] "Attention to items 1 and 2 reveals the most pressing problems of the college. We are literally crowded 'out of house and home.' Classrooms and laboratories are in constant use. Sufficient study room for students, when they are not reciting, is out of the question."

[The Board of Regents selected W. E. Ketchum, architect for the Austin Building, to be the architect for the new Rusk Building.]

The Daily Sentinel, August 24, 1925

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN COMMENCEMENT HERE

CONTRACTS LET FOR TEACHERS COLLEGE

Contract ...was awarded Saturday afternoon to F. A. Mote of Dallas for $189,700 by the Board of Regents.

Board of Regents Minutes, May 10-11, 1926

[Dr. Birdwell] The large enrollment will indicate to youth that we have been very crowded. Every inch of space is being used practically every hour of every day. We have not had enough teachers. ... Our crowded condition will be somewhat relieved by the completion of our new building. I think it will be ready for occupancy by the beginning of the Fall term. The walls are practically up now, leaving only the inside to finish. This does not mean that the building is approaching completion, but it does mean that with fair progress we shall have it by September.

The Pine Log, August 7, 1926

THE NEW THOMAS J. RUSK BUILDING

The Thomas J. Rusk Building is nearing completion with rapid progress being made on the plaster and inside work.

The Daily Sentinel, Nov. 9, 1926

REGENTS ACCEPT NEW LIBRARY BUILDING

CONTRACTOR IS TO CORRECT A MINOR FLAW

Regent Margie Neal is Elated Over the Building

Training School, Library, and Some Laboratories will Have Home in Structure

The second building adorning the campus of the Stephen F. Austin College, the Thos. J. Rusk Library building, was officially accepted today by the building committee of the board of regents. Miss Margie Neal and Mrs. J. S. Mayhew were the only two members present, but according to Mr. Mayhew, we have a majority of the [building] committee here. ... With one exception the building received the official O.K. of the regents, that exception being a minor flaw in plumbing sub contractors work. ... The building was erected at a cost of $225,000. ... The 1925-26 college year saw Stephen F. Austin College enroll 1200 students and 1926-27 will find close to 2000, a remarkable growth in three years. ... It is hoped by officials of the school that another building costing around $200,000 will be erected on the campus with a period of 18 month.

The Pine Log, November 13, 1926 [Reporting on events on November 6, 1926.]

LUNCHEON FOR REGENTS

The Home Economics Department of the college entertained the building committee of the Board of Regents and a few members of the faculty at luncheon Tuesday, November 6 [sic], in the college dining room. ... A five course luncheon, prepared by the food classes ... was served by Misses Lela Wilson and Thelma Freazell. ...

Board of Regents Minutes, June 24, 1927

[Birdwell reporting to the Regents] As a result of the appropriations made by the Thirty-ninth Legislature we have finished and occupied the Thomas J. Rusk building. The building itself is beautiful in architecture and design, and complete so far as construction goes.

The college library occupies the entire third floor. We have ample store rooms for books and ample seating capacity for students. The necessary rest rooms and offices have been supplied. It would be hard to find better library facilities. We have seating in the reading room for two hundred fifty to three hundred students at one time. ... The second floor of the new building furnishes offices for many of the college faculty, delightful apartment for art, and class rooms for the Demonstration School.

The first floor provides class rooms for the Demonstration School, a small gymnasium, with showers, for the students of the Demonstration School, a corrective room which is used by the Physical Education department of the college, a splendid laboratory for Home Economics, and the necessary rest rooms and mechanical rooms. The new building is equipped with a freight elevator and circulating cold water.

We are very proud of the building, and it is serving a wonderful purpose. Our college plant now furnishes rather good facilities for the instruction of a thousand students. During the year we have done much work to beautify the premises around the college.

Excerpt: Texas Historical Marker Application, May 1, 1998

The Rusk Building has served many SFA programs. As the University expanded again in the 1950s, many departments and classes moved out of Rusk to other buildings. The Library remained in the Rusk Building until 1957 when it move to the Boynton Library. The Rusk Building served as the headquarters for the School of Business and also the Department of Communications. Until 1987, the Rusk building housed the academic programs of the School of Applied Arts and Sciences, Continuing Education, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. It has served the The Pine Log and Stone Fort publications.

Time and use eventually took their toll on what had at one time been the most modern building on the SFA campus. In the spring of 1986, SFA got approval to renovate the Rusk Building. The project was completed in June of 1988 at a cost of $2,504,000; Morey and Magill Inc., of Dallas, was the architectural firm. The 1987 renovation was the only extensive renovation of the building. The exterior of the building was restored to its original character, and oak doors reminiscent of the building's original doors replaced double metal doors. The original wooden windows, damaged by termites and rot, were replaced with replicas of the original double-pane windows. All three floors received renovation, although, only the second and third floors had been scheduled for renovation.

Once again, as in 1926, the Rusk Building is one of the most beautiful buildings on the SFA campus, and continues to play an important role in the life and function of the university. It is the college's front door to the public. The Offices of Admissions and the Registrar occupy the second floor; Counseling and Career Placement Services now occupy the third floor. The photography laboratories, the University Printing Office, and the Texas Folklore Society still operate on the ground floor.

The Rusk Building remains a monument to Thomas J. Rusk, its namesake hero of the Texas Revolution on whose original homestead it sits, a constant reminder of the vision and determination of the founders of higher education in East Texas who worked for its construction, and a tribute to the Regents and administrators who had the good sense to preserve it.