"It was early October. And you know these lovely hazes that sort of get caught in the pine trees? So I had walked up [and] came to what was the Vista, all beautiful trees. And as I was walking through that [forest] up to the main building--I wrote to mother later that it was like walking through a George Innis painting. It was the most marvelous introduction....It was so exciting growing up with a college that was so very young...Most exciting." [Mildred Wyatt remembers her first day at SFA in 1930, Interview with Dr. Joy Reeves, October 10, 1974]

Leave nothing to chance

From the beginning, both the town and the gown were determined to leave nothing to chance when it came to the social life of the students at SFA. Nacogdoches had worked hard to secure the college. Now it was determined to work equally hard to keep the college. Student had to feel both comfortable in the town and have something to do. At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on September 26, 1923, the Sentinel reported: “After going over the situation very carefully and thoroughly, it was the sense of those present that it is the duty of our citizenship to leave nothing undone to make the 345 college students now in our midst feel that in choosing Nacogdoches as the place to secure college education they have chosen a city whose people not only welcome a student body, but who can and will translate the welcome into social activities of the right sort.”

From that day forward, community-wide parties, were the order of the day for SFA. Some were held on campus, but many were held in Aqua Vitae Park, at local lakes, and at private homes. The “Junior-Senior Picnic,” for instance, was held at Fern Lake in 1927, hosted by the town, but chaperoned by the faculty and townspeople. Every one met at the Austin Building at 5:30, took cars to lake, and enjoyed standard picnic food. “A better place for the outing could not have been chosen. A lovelier sight than Fern Lake at sunset could hardly be imagined.,” the reporter in The Pine Log commented. “The picnickers declined to state at what time they returned home.” One of the most popular activities, which fit in with the athletic department’s role was the “Interscholastic Field and Literary Meets,” where hundreds of students came to the campus. One must remember that one of the largest groups on campus were in the sub-college, the same age as the contestants who visited the campus.

Faculty Parties

The early faculty were very social. Faculty parties were quite frequent. Sometimes they were held at public sites like the Lockey Tea Room. More often, they were held in private homes. At one party at the home of W. F. Garner, The Pine Log reported the following: “Prominent among the entertainment features of the evening was the poetry written by the guests.” Accompanying the entertainment was chicken salad, sandwiches, hot chocolate, home-made candy, and bouquets of chrysanthemums as favors. Week-end parties at Fern Lake or Cooper’s Lake included the standard fare of card games, dancing, hiking and boating. If the excursion included overnight stays, for instance if the party was give by the Women’s League, the young men would come for supper and leave by 10 o’clock. Among the guests listed at the 1926 League retreat, Henry Pochmann and Ruth Fouts, later to be married, were both listed. These parties were a mixture of town and gown, faculty and students.

“Chapel”

Officially, SFA did not have “chapel” like denominational colleges like Baylor. On Wednesday from 10 to 11, the schedule of activities included “General Assembly;” at these time on Monday and Friday, literary societies, dramatic clubs, choral, and glee clubs met. Assembly was required. The administration used the occasions to keep students informed of events on the calendar, to make announcements, to introduce students to cultural or cross-disciplinary material, or to lecture on important national subjects or events. The content delivered was a mixture; these ranged from historical/patriotic assemblies like the “Meaning of Armistice Day” to cultural programs like previews of the Lyceum Series. Scenes from the “Marriage of Figaro” were even performed. Sometimes guest dignitaries would speak.

Campus Performances

Miss Ida Pritchett of the Music Department performed and directed performances regularly. At the Methodist Church, she gave a lecture on the history of the development and construction of pipe organs and illustrated this will selections from classical, folk, and popular songs. In the auditorium at the college she regularly presented material for the students. At commencement in 1926, she sponsored several of her students, Misses Louise Baker and Mamie Middlebrook, in a program of Rachmanoff; Moussorgsky, and Grieg. The Music Department did regular Christmas programs in Aikman Gym which included carols, dramatization, bells, brass quartet, piano, and organ. The Easter Cantata was billed in The Pine Log as “the biggest musical event ever undertaken in Nacogdoches.” It differed from most treatments in that it dealt “with both the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.” This event in 1927 started the traditions which evolved into the Easter services on the Vista.

The SFA band, under the direction of J.T. Cox, had no band hall at this time, and practiced just about anywhere they could. On fair days, the trees provided a back­drop for the music. "I used to say the birds roosted on us while we practiced." said Mr. Cox. The original band, called the Band Boys, was so named because no women could join the group until 1928. It was not a marching band, and its performances were limited to playing in assemblies on campus and in night dances in Aikman.

The Art Department did exhibits on a regular basis and the Karle Wilson Baker Dramatic Club did a shortened version of “As you Like It” by Shakespeare before the Commencement in 1926. The faculty also staged and acted in productions. The play “Her Husband’s Wife” by A. E. Thomas was the talk-about performance in 1927. It was directed by Mary J. White, D. R. Hodgin and starred Dean T. E. Ferguson, D.R. Hodgins, W.R. Davis, Virginia Broadfoot and Ann Marshall. The “Second Time Follies,” a faculty-student production involving over fifty people, was the big production in 1928. It was held in the High School Gym on Washington Square with more-or-less the same individuals in charge of arrangement. A film series produced by Yale University, entitled “Chronicles of America,” was purchased and shown by the college as parts of its education and entertainment mission.

The Lyceum Series

The Lyceum Series was most important to the campus and to Nacogdoches. It was the forerunner to our Fine Arts Series. It started in the fall of 1923. At first, there were mainly speakers, but entertainment became more dominant as the years passed. While they continued to have speakers on world affairs as a part of the series, concert pianists, famous movies, Metropolitan Opera artists, and operas were common. In the 1925 series, the hit of the season was a New York touring company’s performance of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.” According to The Pine Log , the town was surprised at what could be done at Aikman Gym. “The beauty of the individual voices and the pleasing harmony of the ensemble numbers will make the opera a remembered event. The beauty of the setting came as a surprise to the local audience, as they understand some the difficulty of make the state in the gym a beautiful one. ... It is primarily a gym and not exactly suited to the staging of operas. The company did excellently in overcoming its obstacles.” Students got admission to these performances by showing the “blanket-tax receipt” (identification cards.); townspeople could purchase tickets at Swift Brothers downtown. The “Barber of Seville” was the first performance on the 1930 bill.

Student Hangouts

The original SFA students in 1923 frequented places downtown, like the drug stores and candy places on Main street. The year on Washington Square created a taste for the downtown establishments which outlasted the move to the campus. The Sugar Bowl, the Austin and Palace Theaters, the City Bakery and Cafe, and Stripling Haselwood Drug Stores on Main Street were to remain popular for decades. It seems like most of the events that required served dinners were held at The Lockey Tea Room. The barber shops and the beauty parlors downtown were also popular. The advertisement for the “Bobbitorium Beauty Shoppe” said you could get permanent waving, marcelling, manicuring and hair bobbing, with “all work guaranteed.”

Mrs. Thelma Bridges, the mother of Councilwoman Linda McKinney, remembered that they loved to walk downtown to get chocolates. While she said it would not seem very thrilling today, back then a walk of a mile to the downtown was a real treat. Guys would pass us in cars and honk. “We were not allowed to get in the car and ride with anyone - that was a no-no,” she said.

Hangouts near the campus.

The first location near the new campus, in fact the only establishment for a long time, was the Campus Shop located just north of the campus on College Street. It was the most frequented and about the only place where students could get a cold drink this side of town. Their advertisements in the Stone Fort Yearbook and in the Pine Log said they had a “complete line of school supplies, fruits, candies, and eats.”

Sort of a half boarding house for athletes and half hangout for students, the Campus Shop by 1929 had acquired a reputation for being dirty and somewhat rowdy. After being “cleaned and fumigated,” according to The Pine Log, it reopened as “The Green Lantern.” Everyone was excited. It was a popular place for “all night bull session.” Pete McKenzie, former popular student and athlete at SFA who had worked downtown at the Main Street Pharmacy, became the manager. Less than five months later, the Green Lantern was destroyed by fire. The Pine Log called it “perhaps the most famous institution on the Stephen F. Austin campus.” The fire pointed up another problems which the city would have to cope with; fire houses near the campus. Boarding house fires were also common.

The College Coffee Shop

In an interview done recently with Dr. Bobby Johnson, Jimmy Partin, Senior, talked about the College Coffee Shop, an establishment on the corner of North and College, which he and his wife opened in 1929. The Coffee Shop replaced the College Grocery Store which also burned in 1929. The Coffee Shop immediately became the new college handout. It was close to many of the boarding houses on Wettermark, and near enough to Aikman Gym that the students and townspeople to come over for a coke during intermissions at the dances. The Partins served special daily meals, family style, for 25 cents, with a choice of 2-3 meats, vegetables, and a drink. He opened at 6 am and closed at midnight. The body and their dates would walk into the Coffee Shop; there were few automobiles. Partin had a piano in the back, and the gang would return after they took the girls home, to enjoy music and steaks. Among his regular customers Partin listed Steve Tucker, Jesse Summers, Gillette Tilford, and Henry Tucker. Even with crowds all day long, you were lucky to have $40 at the end of the day, Partin reflected. Eli Lyles, who cooked later for the Country Club and for The Fredonia, worked for Partin thirty-two years; he made eight dollars plus meals a week.

Nacogdoches growth continued

As the college grew and changed, Nacogdoches grew. The Pine Log reported that seventy-five families have moved into town within the beginning weeks of school in 1927. The paper called it “perhaps the largest immigration over a like period of perspective permanent home makes ever recorded here.” They attributed the swell to the fact that the college was attracting people to the town. Twenty-eight were under construction and retail trade was up an estimated $150,000.00.