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From a Cigar Box to a Multi-Million Dollar Company

13 Mar

Part V

 A lot of the people who worked at Le-Al-Co described it as a family and credited  Charles Bell with creating an atmosphere of caring and closeness. This feeling was enhanced by the events that took place within the confines of the company. Employees got married and divorced; celebrated births and faced death; and experienced triumphs and tragedies. The office and factory employed many people who were related, and this included members of Bell’s family.

Born the year before the creation of Le-Al-Co, Jack Bell, Charles and Elaine’s oldest son, literally grew up with the business. As a child, he treated the factory as his playground and the employees as his playmates. In fact, when the facility burned one of Jack’s most prized possessions, a motorcycle, burned along with it. In time, he became an employee as well and spent his high school summers loading trucks.

Jack impressed everyone with his hard work, and all realized that his destiny lay in following his father’s footsteps. He graduated from college in 1981 and immediately went to work in sales. However, it did not take long to discover that his strengths were in production. Through many years of hard work and arguments with his father, Jack became vice-president of production. In 1991, Charles Bell suffered an illness, and Jack took charge of Le-Al-Co until it was sold.

Bell’s hiring of relatives did not begin with his son. In 1964, Bell realized that someone needed to run the office. He spent a great deal of time on the road selling, and Thompson was focused on manufacturing. Bell needed someone trustworthy to handle the mounting paperwork and hired his cousin, Helen Parton. Soon, she realized that the job included more than filing documents as she oversaw bookkeeping, payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, purchasing and customer service. Known as “Granny” to the people who worked by her side, Parton described Le-Al-Co by saying that it went “from a cigar box to a multi-million dollar company.”Le-Al-Co Building 001

When her Le-Al-Co career began, Bell’s goal was to raise sells to $1 million a year. As Parton watched, sales increased to over $2 million a month.

With such growth, Parton’s job became too much for one person to handle, therefore the office staff increased. Through the years, dozens of people worked in the office, and Tim Denny was one of the most important. By 1985, Le-Al-Co’s business had reached a new level with the introduction of computers and the need for more sophisticated financial techniques. Denny brought knowledge in both of these areas as the chief financial officer.

Although Denny came with a degree in accounting, he always looked up to Parton and often said that he could not have done his job effectively without her expertise and help. Her knowledge of Bell and Le-Al-Co’s history provided him with the information to be successful. Under Denny’s watch and Parton’s continued hard work, accounting tabulated a 150% growth rate of the company.

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You Are Going to Have to Buy a Better Truck

12 Mar

Part IV

Once Charles Bell sold the products and Shelah Thompson built them, the windows and doors had to be shipped. In the beginning, they used a green 1959 Ford pickup with red lettering on the side.It worked perfectly for local deliveries and other small jobs. However, after a long delivery Bell received some advice.

In 1962, Jesse McMann drove the truck to Rigg’s Supply in Missouri. After unloading the shipment, the buyer from Rigg’s called Bell and said, “You are going to have to buy a better truck.” Bell took their advice and eventually built a fleet of tractors and trailers that made long hauls across the continental United States. Interestingly, that first pickup was not forgotten. Its colors became part of the company’s official logo, and, due to sentimental value, Bell did not sell it. The truck sat behind the factory for many years and was finally restored to mint condition. Le-Al-Co Truck 002

The fleet of tractors needed drivers and many hit the roads for Le-Al-Co through the years. Raymond Jones delivered in the early days and is remembered for getting lost and driving onto the airport runway in Louisville, Kentucky. J.C. Likens made a few deliveries to his customers and, needing assistance, took Bell on a trip to Memphis. The pair hit a major snow storm, and Likens had trouble keeping control. Each time the truck slid Bell hit the dashboard with his fists. It was the last delivery Bell ever made.

In the late 1960s Thompson hired a new driver that became one of the best and most loyal employees in Le-Al-Co’s history. Floyd Farmer originally worked for Bell Door, another company owned by Bell, but transferred to Le-Al-Co when the first tractor and trailer arrived. The first shipment was loaded by Harvey Driver and delivered by Farmer. The trip was the first of many for Farmer as he would deliver a shipment; pick up materials; unload; reload; and head out again.

Almost everyone has stories about Farmer’s abilities, and many of the tales are amazing. Once, he was moving boxes in preparation for a journey when his head hit a bar across the trailer. Farmer knocked out two of his teeth but made the delivery on time. After decades of driving, Farmer left the road and moved to the maintenance department. However, the rigors of the road left a toll on his body, and Farmer passed away before Le-Al-Co closed.

There came a point when Le-Al-Co’s fleet gave way to the more efficient method of leasing, and Dick Lang oversaw the leasing agreements of shipping in these later years. Despite the change, Bell never wavered from his belief that service was the key to success and, shipping was a key component. Products arriving on time and in good condition kept customers satisfied, and, many times, drivers were the only representatives of the company that customers saw in person. For these reasons, Farmer and the other drivers played a major role in the Le-Al-Co universe. In addition to being skilled representatives, the numerous drivers never had a major accident in over thirty years of service.

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He Could Have Built a Battleship – Under Cost

8 Mar

Part III

Through hard work and perseverance Charles Bell became a master salesman who performed at the top of his field. The same can be said about Shelah Thompson in the area of manufacturing. Thompson joined the fledgling operation with George Redding and remained when Redding left the business. Through the years he built the manufacturing portion of Le-Al-Co from a one man operation to a factory employing over 400.LeAlCo

The building of windows and doors began in an old bus station east of the Lebanon square as Thompson assembled parts delivered by Winterseal. When the parent company closed, he followed Bell’s expansionist ideas and designed new manufacturing methods. Le-Al-Co moved to a larger building at West End Heights before relocating to a 20,000 square foot facility on Hartmann Drive, and within each structure Thompson created an efficiently operating factory. After hiring 29 laborers, he became the plant manager instead of a hands-on craftsman. In this new role Thompson designed the manufacturing process; hired employees; and purchased materials.

Thompson thrived in each aspect of his job but had a knack for purchasing both equipment and materials. As mentioned earlier, he traveled extensively to buy machinery from people caught in the closing of Winterseal. Never one to pass on a deal, he once bought equipment while driving through Kansas on vacation. However, his ingenuity shone brightly while buying materials. When a stack of metal extrusions got below his knee, Thompson knew more needed to be ordered.

He used another simple method to lay out the factory floor. Wooden blocks formed miniature production lines, and Thompson moved them around until he was satisfied with the arrangement. Then, workers placed machines in the proper places. Everything was moved by hand because Thompson did not want to spend money for a forklift. When materials arrived, production stopped while everyone unloaded it.

Machines and materials are needed for a factory to function, but Thompson knew that his most important job was hiring employees. Thousands of people worked the lines of Le-Al-Co through the years, and he was the first to admit that many of them were not very good. However, he hired many hard-working and loyal people. In 1964, Thompson hired Johnny Miller to work in the door department with three other people. Soon, Miller supervised the department that contained twenty people. Miller made a few sales calls on the side and remained at Le-Al-Co throughout its existence.

In 1968, Thompson hired Harvey Driver, an 18 year-old kid looking for a summer job. Driver began by operating a press before moving to a saw. Eventually, he supervised the loading dock. The summer job turned into a career as Thompson’s assistant and eventual successor. According to Driver, Thompson taught him everything about the business, and, most importantly, became a second father.

Thompson continued working at Le-Al-Co after giving up his responsibilities as plant manager. He became the wise sage who loved to tell stories about the people who had worked there through the years. Eldon Bates was one of Thompson’s favorites and was described as “strong as an ox.” Then there was Willie Rollins, a clean freak, who took a sick day. Thompson decided to play a prank and gave Rollins a call. He informed Rollins that the phone company was blowing out the telephone lines, and he needed to put a sack over the phone to prevent dust from going everywhere. Obviously, Thompson liked to have fun and work hard, a combination that led to success.

Because of his work ethic and abilities, Thompson held the respect of most that knew him. As Mike Dinwiddie stated, “He could have built a battleship – under cost!” However, his best work came from a disaster in 1968. Fire consumed the factory, and, as Bell used temporary offices to ensure customers that it would be business as usual, Thompson worked around the clock to make that happen. Le-Al-Co’s future was in jeopardy, but Thompson had production running in five days.

Bell and Thompson worked well together and stayed out of each other’s way – most of the time. An instance when they did not became legendary. Memorial Day weekend approached, but production was behind. As a result, there would be no day off. Angered, the storm window department marched into Bell’s office and demanded the holiday. Tears filled Bell’s eyes as he became enraged. He fired the entire factory and turned off the lights in the production area. Miller’s storm door department was working when the lights went out. When Miller asked what was happening, Bell told his department to go home and come back the next day. However, the window department never made it back.

Despite such instances, production under Thompson grew tremendously through the years. At the start, the shop built thirty windows and five doors a week. At the end, the factory produced thousands of products in the same period of time. In addition to storm windows and storm doors, Le-Al-Co made patio doors, prime windows and vinyl windows. At the end, production had increased by 15,000%.

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It Was Like a Country Boy in the Big City

7 Mar

Part II

Charles Bell considered selling to be the most important aspect of his business. In fact, most people associated with the business considered it his passion. Bell’s love for selling grew as he went door-to-door offering his wares, but, as his skills developed, he came to believe that this mode of operation had its limitations. If Le-Al-Co was going to grow he needed to move away from households and toward stores and suppliers.

Bell’s chance to break into the world of wholesale and retail came from a friend who mentioned Tennessee Storm Window, owned by Lefty and Margaret Hardcastle. After discovering that it was Nashville’s largest supplier of storm products, Bell borrowed Thompson’s car for the drive to the Nolensville Road location. Shelah Thompson’s car was nicer than his own, and he wanted to make a good impression.

The Hardcastle’s did not buy anything on that first visit, but Bell visited them once a week for the next three months. Finally, his persistence paid off when they placed an order for 120 windows. The size of the order almost panicked Thompson, and he said the task was impossible. However, as he would do time and again when faced with such tasks, he completed the order. As a result, the Le-Al-Co and Tennessee Storm Window relationship lasted for many years, and Hardcastle always considered himself Bell’s benefactor. Regrettably, the Hardcastle’s felt resentment instead of pride when Le-Al-Co became too large to sell to them.

The growth of Le-Al-Co in the 1960s resulted from the hard work of Bell and a staff of dedicated salesmen. Sam McReynolds worked for Sears before making the transition to Le-Al-Co. Jack Robertson sold windows and doors for six years and has been credited with making great contributions to the company’s sales philosophy. Henry Harris managed the account of Hendersonville’s Jones Homes, Le-Al-Co’s second largest customer. Tragically, Harris suffered critical injuries in an automobile accident. He recovered and returned to the company years later to oversee the parts department.

Tennessee Storm Window and Jones Homes, the two largest accounts, provided a strong foundation for a growing group of customers that included Missouri-based Riggs Cash and Carry. Indiana was the home of Lensing Wholesale and Lumberman’s Wholesale. The sales territory stretched into Georgia with Atlanta’s Addison Millwork. Tennessee customers included Dealers Warehouse in Knoxville; Cole Manufacturing of Memphis; and Madison Millwork in Jackson. However, Louisville’s Jacob Levy and Sons was the most valued customer of this era.

In 1966, Bell met with their buyer, Harold Skaggs, and began a special relationship. Skaggs respected Bell as a salesman and a person and went to great lengths to help the young entrepreneur. He provided Bell with the quotes of competitors and covered any delivery problems with his superiors. This began a business arrangement that remained throughout the existence of Le-Al-Co.

The 1970s brought changes to the industry and to Le-Al-Co. “Do-It-Yourself” stores began to appear on the scene and looked to be the future of the market. Historically, locally owned stores sold products to builders, but DIY’s were chains that catered to homeowners wanting to improve their residences. With an eye on an altering future, Bell decided to change the ideology of his company.

In 1972, he raided a major supplier, Alumax Extrusions, for a young salesman, Mike Dinwiddie. After a series of negotiations, Dinwiddie became the vice-president of Le-Al-Co and changed its direction immediately. Instead of hiring salespeople directly, Le-Al-Co used sales representation firms throughout the nation. Among these firms was SJS Sales in Brooklyn, New York. Jeff Saul, owner of the business, fascinated Bell and Dinwiddie. He impressed them with limousine tours around Chicago and with stories of his days as a champion swimmer. Unfortunately, Saul’s body was found floating by his boat. Apparently, he had dealings with organized crime that ended badly.

Despite the detailed sales strategy and the interesting characters that it introduced, the sales representative idea never took flight. With representatives throughout the nation, Bell realized that he and Dinwiddie were making all of the sales. Eventually, contracts with all of the firms ended. A sales force that once consisted of over twenty people and grew to a force of representatives around the nation shrank to a total of two.

Soon, Bell discovered that selling to large chain stores did not differ from selling to the “Mom and Pop” stores of the 1960s. Simply, the salesman sold himself, and the products would eventually be bought. Everyone associated with Le-Al-Co agreed that Bell could employ his skill and personality better than anyone, as most in the industry respected and liked him.

A perfect example of his abilities took place while making a sales call to Atlanta-based Williams Lumber in 1978. As Bell waited to meet with their buyer, he began a conversation with another salesman who mentioned a new store in the area. After the meeting, Bell had some spare time before catching his flight.

Sensing an opportunity, he visited the offices of the new business and found a card table and a telephone. No chairs could be found. He soon learned that they wanted to open a store, but no one would sell to them because of bad credit. Bell gambled and sold them an order before leaving. However, the deal had one stipulation. Le-Al-Co would deliver half a shipment and send the rest after payment. With the agreement in place, the first Home Depot opened and, through the years, would purchase over $50 million worth of products.Home Depot

More chain stores followed as Bell sold products to Angels in California; Cashway in Texas; Marvin’s in Alabama; and Scotty’s in Florida. There was also Handy City, Handy Dan, K-Mart and J.C. Penney. Through these stores and others Le-Al-Co products could be found in 49 states and in Great Britain.

In 1984, Dinwiddie left Le-Al-Co and was replaced by Tom Ruban as vice-president of sales. Over the next ten years annual sales increased from $12 million to $25 million. This can be attributed to Bell’s abilities as a salesman and Ruban’s abilities as an organizer.

He hired Tim Burroughs to oversee customer service, the department that took daily orders and worked closely with store employees. Ironically, Burroughs had grown up close to the Bell household as a friend of their oldest son, Jack. He had never experienced the business side of the family but soon realized that it was not too different from the personal side. Burroughs remembered traveling to his first convention with Bell. As he stated, “We rode around Chicago looking at the buildings. It was like a country boy in the big city.” Burroughs had to learn the window and door business quickly and was mostly helped by the women who worked for him. Two of the most helpful were Pam Helm and Shirley Dematteo, Elaine Bell’s aunt.

Bell and Ruban could not be the only salesmen of a rapidly growing business; therefore more people were brought in. Alabamian Nick Compton was considered by many to be the best of these. However, Walt Costello was undoubtedly the most colorful. He received word that some windows had been installed but were not working correctly. As the salesman, he had to visit the site to determine a solution to the problem. Upon arrival, Costello discovered that he was at a nudist colony. Shockingly, it took all day to replace the windows. Later, he learned that his aunt was one of the residents.

Obviously, many changes in the sales department of Le-Al-Co took place over 35 years. Sales philosophies, salesmen and customers came and went. However, Charles Bell was always there. Sales were his passion, and he believed that they were the driving force of success. In the early days, he drove through the night and sold during the day. Eventually, he flew to the customers. However, through the decades and the changes Bell always remembered one thing – it does not matter how many windows and doors can be made if they can not be sold.

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Give Me My Money Back, and I Don’t Care What You Do

6 Mar

Part I

The story of America often consists of two lines of narrative – reality and myth. At times the two are clearly defined, and at others they can barely be discerned. The idea of the American Dream fits into the latter. Is it reality or myth? Is America a place where someone can rise through societal and economic barriers through hard work and opportunity? Through the decades many people have believed in the American Dream, and a few have been lucky enough to achieve it. Is the American Dream real? In 1960 it was real and was the genesis of a success story in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The year 1960 was one of transition in the United States as the perceived innocence of the 1950s gave away to the turbulence of a new decade. It was also a year of transition for a young family in Lebanon, Tennessee. Charles Bell and his wife, Elaine, struggled as he held a series of jobs and was finally laid off by Avco, a manufacturer of airplane parts. Bell realized that he needed a new direction, and he found it with the help of his father-in-law, J.W. Vanhook.

As the leading constructor of homes in Lebanon, Vanhook knew most of the building suppliers in the area. This included George Redding, who wanted to invest in a franchise for Winterseal, a company that made parts for storm doors and storm windows. The parts would be shipped to franchisees around the country that assembled the finished products and sold them. Redding, needing investment capital, approached Vanhook about becoming a partner. Vanhook, in turn, saw an opportunity for his young son-in-law.

The enterprise began with Redding operating the business side and Bell, along with Shelah Thompson, handling the manufacturing. Thompson was shown how to assemble a window by a Winterseal representative and eventually became, along with Bell, a driving force in the success of the company. However, Bell began to show his business instincts when he suspected that Redding was keeping certain aspects of the partnership to himself.

Vanhook became upset when he was told and bought Redding’s share. According to family lore, Vanhook told Bell that the business was his to do as he wanted and followed that by saying, “Give me my money back, and I don’t care what you do.” Bell gradually paid Vanhook back by giving him products for his construction business.

Now, it was up to a green kid to sell products while a handyman built them. For a month, Bell hit the streets alone but soon discovered that he needed help. The hiring of Jim Lyles brought the salesmanship and experience that the business required. He sold products but, most importantly, taught Bell how to sell products. Lyles shared all of the tricks of the trade, including how to find customers and organize the workday. He took Bell to the bank to find out who could afford to buy windows and doors and who could not. After all, there was no reason to waste time knocking on the doors of people who had no money.

With Bell and Lyles selling and Thompson building, the business grew to unimaginable heights. The sales force expanded to include twenty people, including Gene Hallums, Richard Holman, J.C. Likens and Fred Vanhook, who worked for incentives such as a free suit for reaching a certain goal. Shortly, windows and doors were being installed from southern Kentucky to northern Alabama. At age 21, Bell attended the Winterseal convention and made a speech about the success of his business.

The future looked bright for Bell and his foundling business, but the situation took a turn for the worst. Lyles, suffering with alcoholism, left the business, and Bell found himself without his sales mentor. Then, Winterseal, the parent company, went out of business in 1964. This would prove disastrous for franchises across the nation; however Bell found opportunity among the carnage.

He had been warned of the impending closure and immediately took action. First, Bell called a Detroit bank to inquire about $100,000 that he owed Winterseal. Luckily, the bank settled for $9,500. Second, he knew that other franchises were going out of business, and Thompson traveled the country to purchase their equipment at basement prices. Third, they found George Levy, who was selling extrusion for 60% of the cost that Winterseal had been charging through the years. As Thompson stated, “Save your nickels and dimes, and the dollars will save themselves.” With that philosophy, Lebanon Aluminum Company, commonly known as Le-Al-Co, emerged.LeAlCo

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Me and My Dad

5 Mar

Tonight, my dad and I finished watching The Men Who Built America, the History Channel miniseries about the major industrialists of America’s Industrial Revolution.The Men Who Built America

My dad has always been interested in the history of business and economics because he was industrialist, as well.

We had a great time watching it together, and I liked when he asked questions of me. I paused the DVD, and I told him what I knew about the time period. He also told some stories that I have never heard before.

In one episode, J.P. Morgan and George Westinghouse were fighting over whose electricity was going to be used by the country. That led my dad to tell a story from his childhood. When he was born, electric lines did not reach to the house of his parents. However, his aunt and uncle who lived down the road had electricity. Because his aunt and uncle could keep milk refrigerated, my dad spent most of his time with them.

While I was growing up, I knew that my dad was as close to his aunt and uncle as he was his parents. In fact, he referred to his aunt as Mama. I never understood why this was. It was like he had two sets of parents, and, as a result, I had an extra set of grandparents. It turns out that it was all caused by some electric lines.

That’s really something to think about. The decision by the electric company to stop the lines at a certain point affected family relations for a couple of generations. I’m certain that the person who made that decision never realized the effects that decision would have. My dad’s aunt and uncle were childless, and my dad became the son they never had.

It’s funny what watching a history documentary will do. I learned about Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan, but I learned about my dad, too.

It also helped me with a blogging decision. A few years ago, I wrote a history of my dad’s business as a Christmas gift to him, and, over the next several posts, I am going to reproduce it on this blog. Along the way, I am going to break some self-imposed rules. I am going to use the names of the people who I write about. I do it because I am proud of my dad’s accomplishments and want others to know about them.

Those readers who live in my town may recognize some of the names and be able to put faces to names. Those who live in other parts of the world will have no clue who or what I am writing about. No matter who you are or where you live, I hope you enjoy reading the next few posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.

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Digging Up Bones

26 Feb

Most days in a history department are what you would expect. We teach classes. We talk to students about issues that they may have. We grade. Boy, do we ever grade. We also find time to serve on committees, do research and perform other activities. However, there are a few days when something different happens, and we have a historical mystery drop into our laps. That’s when our historian/detective curiosity kicks into gear.

It happened several months ago when I was looking at the website for The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper. They had put together a slide show of historical sites in our area. It included the usual suspects: the Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson; the Jack Daniels Distillery. You know, things that people around the country may have heard of.

As I scanned the photos, it was surprising to see the Mitchell House, a historic home in my town.

This is not where Gone With the Wind was written.

This is not where Gone With the Wind was written.

It was more surprising to read that Margaret Mitchell had written Gone With the Wind in the same house. This couldn’t have been true because Margaret Mitchell was from Atlanta, and she was writing about Atlanta. Besides, no one had ever heard of this before.

I told all of this to my cohort, who has a great blog about Jacksonian America, and he went into action. He contacted experts and discovered, not surprisingly, that she did not write the book in my town. After that, he contacted The Tennessean to tell them how wrong they were. As far as I know, the mistake was never changed.

I wonder how many Gone With the Wind fans have found themselves at the wrong house.

Frankly, my dear. I don't know where we are.

Frankly, my dear. I don’t know where we are.

Today, another mystery appeared when we received an email from a man who graduated from our university in the early 1970s. According to the story, he and several students were interested in archaeology, but the school did not offer classes in this subject. With the help of a faculty member, they formed an archaeology club and organized a dig a few counties over.

To their surprise, they found the skeletal remains of a Native American women who died over 300 years earlier. They exhumed the remains and sent them to the University of Tennessee to be further examined. After that examination, the remains were returned to our university and placed on display in the administration building.

(I interrupt this story to make an observation. It is hard to believe that there was a time when displaying the remains of a human in a lobby was considered acceptable. Happily, things have changed through the years.)

The man who emailed wanted to know what happened to the remains, and that is where the mystery begins. Both of us, myself and my history cohort, graduated from the university that we now work, and neither of us has ever heard of the skeleton in the lobby. Because of that, we are going to contact some “old timers” to see if they know anything.

Hopefully, we can locate the remains and return them to a proper burial, but I suspect that they are lost. When we bury our loved ones, it is hard to imagine someone digging them up and putting them on display. But, it can happen. Just ask any Native American.

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The Lessons of Richard III

5 Feb

One of my students told me that the remains of King Richard III were discovered under a parking lot. Then, I read a couple of articles about the discovery and the DNA testing that followed. Now, there are articles about re-examining the life and rule of the king. All of that is interesting and important to history, but that’s not what I thought about while reading the articles.

I thought about Richard III and what he would think about all of this. As king, he probably thought that his grave would never be lost. It would have a monument standing forever, and people would visit it for generations to come. He was a king with all of the power and fame that goes with the position. There is no way that he would fade from history enough to have his grave lost and covered by some form of construction. As he knew, it’s good to be the king.

At least, that what Mel Brooks says.

At least, that what Mel Brooks says.

However, it didn’t turn out that way, and there was Richard under cars leaking oil. I think that’s the mistake that people make. Famous people assume that their deeds will always be chiseled in stone. Regular people think that their way of life is the way that it’s always going to be. Nations think that they will last forever. But, none of that really happens. No matter how many monuments are built or markers are erected, they will ultimately fall into ruin and be covered by future people making their place in the world.

Does anyone remember the greatest leader of the Hittites? I bet he thought they would. For a long time, no one remembered any of the Hittites.

How many people can remember all of the presidents? Only 43 people have ever held the position, but not many people can name them all. I’m sure this guy thought he would be remembered by school children for years to come.

Who am I?

Who am I?

Sure, there are people who are known by most everyone. George Washington and Julius Caesar come to mind. But, will they always be remembered? I don’t know. There’s a Washington Monument, but it doesn’t seem too sturdy these days. If it stands for a thousand years will future people know who it honors and what he did? The Great Pyramid is still standing, but how many people know who had it built? Surely, he didn’t know that one day his monument would be endangered by urban sprawl.

Not the postcard view.

Not the postcard view.

I see the same thing in my town. Every morning, I pass a vacant lot that used to be a park named in honor of a former mayor. There is also a football field named for a man who coached at a local military academy for many years. The academy closed in the 1980s, and the field fell into disrepair. It has been resurrected as a park where walk, jog and play. When those men were honored, they probably thought that children would swing and touchdowns would be scored on their fields forever more.

Even worse, a drive down a country road will likely take you past family cemeteries that are covered with weeds and crumbling under the pressure of tree roots. As cities grow and land becomes limited, many cemeteries become lost and covered by that growth.

What are the lessons of King Richard III and the other people who I mentioned? That nothing last forever. We, both famous and not so famous, have markers, monuments and grave stones to prove that we were here and be remembered. But, it is a futile attempt. If King Richard III can be covered by a parking lot, then we all can.

As I titled another post, only the rocks live forever, and they are usually the ones without inscriptions. We can put up all the monuments in the world, but we have to realize that they will not always stand. We can only live our lives and make our marks on our little part of the world. For kings, presidents and anyone else in the world that should be enough.

Before I stop writing, there is one more thing I should do. I present to you a likeness of King Richard III.King Richard III

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Free at Last

22 Jan

We have been celebrating Martin Luther King Day. Obviously, he made it his mission to help the oppressed in this country, and, to understand his struggle and the struggle of others, everyone should visit the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. When I think about Martin Luther King, many things come to mind, but his speeches stand out. His voice. His style. His cadence. Like all great speakers, he could mesmerize his audience and draw them into his message. It was this ability that made the rest of his works possible.

He made many speeches, but two stand out among the rest. King’s last speech shows the weariness of a long struggle and seems to offer a prophecy about his death. Interestingly, he wasn’t going to speak that night but went at the last minute.Martin Luther King

The speech that left an impression in the minds of most Americans and in the pages of history took place during the March on Washington. Thousands of people waited through a long program to hear him speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.Have A Dream

This speech provides a powerful message, but the last part is remembered the most. As a great speaker, Martin Luther King probably designed it that way.

As King finishes, he says, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

I have heard those words many times in history classes and on documentaries, but, when I first heard them as a kid, I didn’t grasp the meaning. I was too busy trying to figure out what a spiritual was. Through the years, I have discovered what a spiritual is, and I make sure that my students know what it is, as well.

A spiritual is a religious song that was developed by slaves. Some historians believe that they held hidden messages of escape to freedom, and other historians believe that they were a way to express faith. Many spirituals have been collected through the years, and I had one sung to me when I was a kid.

My dad’s aunt used to rock me while singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. Here was a woman who would not admit to her Cherokee descent singing a spiritual developed by slaves to a little white kid. I was up in years when the irony of that struck me.

Anyway, people know the words – Free at Last – from a speech, but people may not know the song. If you are interested, then you can listen to it.

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Tennessee in 1923

19 Jan

When you teach history, people tend to give you old stuff. It’s cool. I like old stuff. It’s just something that I have noticed. A few months ago, a friend gifted me with the 1923 version of The University of Tennessee Record, the catalog for the 1923-1924 academic year. It was a fitting gift. It’s historic. It’s academic. It’s from the university whose teams I have supported since I was a kid.

Looking through old books is always interesting. It’s fun to see how different things used to be. Recently, I wrote about a compilation of United States history from the 1870s and the strange subjects that were found within it. This book also provides some interesting tidbits.

The calendar looks similar to the calendar that my university uses. It shows when classes begin and end. Commencement, the goal for everyone, is held in the morning. It’s on Wednesday morning, which seems like a weird day to have it. However, there is one major difference between the calendar then and the calendar now. They had the day off on George Washington’s Birthday! I don’t know why they would do that. After all, he was only the Father of the Nation.

Remember me?

Remember me?

A few pages later, it lists the different colleges and schools within the university. I found the College of Liberal Arts interesting because that is the one that I teach in. They have all of the usual suspects – College of Engineering, College of Agriculture, School of Education, School of Home Economics. Wait, what? The School of Home Economics? Yep, that really existed. Somewhere in the book, there is a paragraph talking about how the University of Tennessee welcomes female students. I guess this is where they planned on sticking them.

To get a degree in Home Economics, a student had to take some general electives and 16 Home Economics classes. It doesn’t specify what those classes are about, but I can imagine.

I don't know the year, but this is a canning class at UT.

I don’t know the year, but this is a canning class at UT.

Today, the university has an agriculture extension program that places an agricultural agent in each Tennessee county to assist the farmers in that area. The university also did that in 1923, but it also sent out a home demonstration agent. In my county, the agriculture agent was E.F. Arnold, and the home demonstration agent was Miss M.S. Henderson.

The section titled “General Information” is, as would be expected, full of information. It turns out that students were required to attend chapel and were expected to go to church. That would really go over well at a public university these days. The next paragraph, call “Christian Activities”, covers the importance of Christian groups on campus. That’s alright. There are Christian groups on campus right now. However, there are also other groups for the religious and non-religious.

As a fan of the University of Tennessee athletics programs, I wanted to know what was happening in 1923. Today, the athletic department, to the chagrin of many academic types, is the most famous part of the university. It generates publicity and millions of dollars. Back then, it generated two paragraphs in the Record.

The first paragraph begins as follows, “Athletics are encouraged in so far as they do not conflict seriously with the academic work.” That is quaint. It goes on to say that the university is a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Conference.

S-I-C!!! S-I-C!!!

The second paragraph thanks W.S. Shields and others for purchasing land for a new physical education field. It would be named Shields-Watkins field. It looked like this.Shields Watkins

Now, it looks like this.

I'm in there somewhere.

I’m in there somewhere.

As written earlier, I was interested in the College of Liberal Arts, but I was specifically interested in the History Department. Within it, I found three faculty members – James D. Hoskins, who also served as the Dean of the University; Phillip May Hamer; and, Marguerite Bartlett Hamer. I assume that they were married. Three faculty members. That’s how many we have at my small, private university.

There are other interesting aspects of The University of Tennessee Record, but it’s getting late. Like other books from the past, it provides an insight to what the world was like in 1923 and how different (and how similar) it is to our time.

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