Change and Growth: CELEBRATING 130 YEARS 1916 The school moved to a farm in the country called Thatcher Switch, nestled in an idyllic valley, which developed into Southern’s current 1,300-acre campus. At first, conditions were rustic, with male students and many faculty living in tents spread over wooden walls—conditions that visiting missionaries declared to be more primitive than in their fields of service.
1892 At the urging of Robert Kilgore, George Colcord and his wife, Ada, moved from Oregon to Tennessee to establish a Seventh-day Adventist school in Graysville. In April 1892, 23 students began school in the upper level of a small store and paid $4 per month for tuition.
1892 1892-1897
1900
Graysville Academy
1897-1901
Southern Industrial School
1910 1901-1916
Southern Training School
1895 Nine Graysville Adventists, including three Graysville Academy faculty members, were arrested for Sunday-law violations. Although the fine was dropped, the arrested Adventists chose imprisonment rather than paying court fees, believing that paying the fine would validate the unjust sentence. They were sentenced to 20-76 1960 days in prison.
1920
1924 The college built a new administration and classroom building, now known as Lynn Wood Hall, which remains the 1980 oldest inhabited building on campus.
1970
1917 A new women’s residence was built; however, campus had no running water indoors. Both students and faculty hauled water from the spring in what is now the Student Park. Women bathed on Thursdays, while the men had turns on Fridays.
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