Marshall University
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Named after John Marshall, the great Chief Justice of the United States, Marshall Academy was established in 1837. Marshall became a university in 1961 and has since grown tremendously, particularly in the 1990's which saw the construction of the state-of-the-art Drinko Library, Jomie Jazz Center and the addition of the Graduate College.

Old Main, the administration building at Marshall University, stands on a site once known as Maple Grove. A small log building erected there in the early part of the 1800’s was called Mount Hebron Church - used by many denominations.

Marshall traces its origin to 1837 when residents of the community of Guyandotte, then part of Virginia, and the farming region nearby turned their attention to providing better educational facilities for their sons and daughters. According to tradition, they met at the home of local lawyer John Laidley, planned their school, and named it Marshall Academy in honor of a friend of Laidley’s, the late Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall. They chose Maple Grove as the site for their school. It had been the site of a three-month subscription school as well as the church. It remained a subscription school for another term.

On March 30, 1838, the Virginia General Assembly formally incorporated Marshall Academy. Its first full term was in 1838-1839. For decades the fledging school faced serious problems, most of them financial. The Civil War forced it to close for several years, but in 1867 the now West Virginia Legislature renewed the school’s vitality by creating the State Normal School of Marshall College to train teachers. This eased Marshall’s problems somewhat, but it was not until the tenure of President Lawrence J. Corbly, 1896-1915, that the college began its real growth. In 1907, enrollment surpassed 1,000.

Among the founders of Marshall Academy in 1837 where John Laidley, James Holderby and William Buffington. Laidley served as a prosecuting attorney of Cabell County and as a delegate of the Virginia Legislature. The school named for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, a close friend of Laidley.

The chief justice had died two years earlier. Buffington also was one of the founders of Guyandotte, which existed before Huntington. Holderby had owned a large tract of land, part of which he sold for $40 to the academy's trustees as the original site of Marshall.

South view of Marshall College State Normal School as it looked in 1885. Old Main, as it is known, and its additions would remain the only buildings until Northcott Hall opened in 1916. Although a school had been at the site since 1837 in one form or the other, the normal school was established in 1867 for the instruction and practice of teachers of the common schools in the art of teaching.

The administration building now known as Old Main actually is five buildings connected over the years. Above, is the architect's drawing of a proposed addition in 1896. Below is the completed section. This tower later was torn down and the front section now existing was added.

Now that the school had been established, it was time to recruit students. The administration used the same process as in more recent times that of a student catalog. These pictures appeared in catalogs at the turn of the 20th Century.

In the 1950s, the college returned to more normal conditions after World War II and the influx of veterans. Racial integration took place without much attention. It was a time of tremendous growth under leadership of President Stewart H. Smith, who served throughout this decade and most of the next.

The Science Building was dedicated in 1950 with much fanfare, including a later appearance by Huntington's own Dagmar, star of early television. That same year, the basketball team moved from Radio Center to the new county-owned Memorial Field House.

A unit of the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps was established on campus in 1951. Athletic teams began competing in the Mid-American Conference in 1954. A new dormitory for freshman women (now Prichard Hall, an administration building) opened in 1955.

The bust of John Marshall, dedicated during the college's Centennial in 1937, fell victim to vandals in 1957 and a new bust was dedicated in 1959. The first full-time alumni director was hired in 1958.

It was a time of panty raids and other frivolous pranks and also of serious efforts by staff and students to descend upon the Legislature for greater state support for Marshall. Interest in sororities and fraternities reached a new high and Mother's Day sings were big events. The Artists Series brought big-name shows to town. University status was also just around the corner.

The 1970s started as a sad, troubled period, yet ended with new hope. An airplane crash took the lives of 75 people, including members of the Thundering Herd football team, coaches, supporters and crew. Students protested the war in Vietnam and rioted in the streets over drug raids. These presidents and an acting president sat in Old Main with stability finally coming to the office in the second half of the decade.

After 22 troubled-filled months in office, President Roland H. Nelson Jr. resigned in 1970. John G. Baker in 1971 was the first and still only president to have an official inauguration. He also was the first to occupy the presidential mansion near Ritter Park.

A new student center opened and was dedicated to those who died in the airplane crash. Old Shawkey Student Union was demolished. Fairfield Stadium expansion was completed, Harris Hall and the Communications Building opened.

Dr. Robert B. Hayes, dean of the Teachers College, became president in 1974 and would serve for nine years.

The Community College was created in 1975 and the School of Medicine became a reality with the first class admitted in 1978.

The athletic program regained respectability. The 1971-1972 men's basketball team won 23 games and lost only four, rising as high as eighth in the national rankings. Marshall joined the Southern Conference in 1977 and the Herd and West Virginia University finally met on the basketball court in 1978, launching a new series of competition between the two state universities.