History

1925 - 1949

1925 March

Woman's Athletic Association formed

1925 March

Eta Sigma Chi honorary scholastic fraternity formed for juniors and seniors. Becomes Alpha Chi in January 1935.

1925 May

Earliest-known mention of amphitheater on campus.

1925 October

Law Class organized and hosted at Centenary under the auspices of the Shreveport Junior Chamber of Commerce.

1925 December

Wooden gymnasium constructed with funding from the Kiwanis Club of Shreveport. Building destroyed by tornado in March 1940.

1925 December

Centenary accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities

1926 January

Centenary joins the American Association of Colleges

1927 March

Louisiana Academy of Sciences professional association formed at Centenary

1927 April

Men's track and field team has first intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport

1927 May

Zeta Tau Alpha (Beta Iota chapter) women's fraternity established

1927 circa June

Centenary Academy closes

1928 February

Chi Omega (Iota Gamma chapter) women's fraternity established

1928 February

Centenary Mothers' Club organized. Renamed Centenary Women’s Club circa 1935.

1929 July

Students prohibited from dancing on or off campus at events sponsored by fraternities, sororities, and student organizations.

1930 September

Rotary Dormitory opens. Construction funded by Rotary Club of Shreveport.

1931 June

Bachelor of Music degrees first awarded

1931 September

Farm produce taken as payment for tuition during the Great Depression.

1931 October

Razzers formed as men's student pep squad

1931 October

Maroon Jackets formed

1931 October

International Relations Club organized

1932 March

Alpha Sigma Pi honorary scholastic fraternity formed for freshmen and sophomores.

1932 August

William Angie Smith elected president pro tem by trustees

1932 October

Centenary Stadium constructed

1933 March

Centenary Scrip Plan to pay portion of faculty salaries.

1933 April

Student Senate first meets.

1933 April

Pierce Cline elected president by trustees

1933 December

Earliest-known mention of Christmas candlelight service in chapel. Organized by Centenary Mothers' Club.

1934 February

Kollege Kapers touring student variety show begins

1935 January

Boxing team forms

1935 October

Centre Building cornerstone and columns transferred from the former campus in Jackson, Louisiana.

1936 circa March

Centenary Amphitheater renovated with funds from Works Progress Administration.

1936 April

Baptist Student Union forms

1936 circa September

Herbie Hiroshi Mashino, earliest-known Japanese American to enroll at Centenary. Recruited as a member of the boxing team.

1937 March

Physical Education Building dedicated. Renamed Haynes Memorial Gymnasium in 1951. Renamed Centenary Fitness Center in 2000.

1938

Archives and Special Collections department begins

1939 June

Student Union Building opens

1939 May

Founders' Day first celebrated. Started by the Student Senate, it included a picnic and campaign speeches from Student Senate candidates.

1939 May

Ban prohibiting dances off campus repealed by trustees. On campus dances remain prohibited.

1939 October

Aviation class offered through Civil Aeronautics Authority

1939 November 11

Record-setting home football game between Centenary and Texas Tech (Lubbock, Tex.). Rainy conditions led to the most NCAA single-game records in history, all 13 of which remain unbroken.

1939 December

Aufait women's non-Greek student organization forms

1940 March

Jackson Hall re-dedicated after demolition and reconstruction of floors above the basement level.

1940 October

Gentry men's non-Greek student organization forms

1941 May

Ban prohibiting dances on campus repealed by trustees.

1941 May

Centenary hosts and plays in the annual Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference golf tournament. This appears to be when the golf team plays its first intercollegiate game as a varsity sport

1941 September

Centenary College Choir established by Alvin Clyde “Cheesy” Voran

1941 December

Inter-collegiate athletic activities discontinued for the duration of World War II

1942 September

Honor System adopted. Includes honor code and honor court.

1942 December

Haynes campus on Ockley Drive donated to Centenary. Formerly served as Dodd College.

1943 March

Army Air Force Preflight Training School opens at Haynes campus.

1943 June

War Training Division classes begin

1943 September

Emma Handley Peavy is first woman to join board of trustees

1943 November

Following death of President Cline in October 1943, board of trustees authorize college to be run by three-person committee - Paul M. Brown Jr (chairman of board of trustees), Dr. John A. Hardin (dean), W. G. Banks (bursar).

1944 September

Nurse training program begins

1945 April

Joe J. Mickle elected president by trustees

1946 August

Veterans’ Villa student housing opens

1947 January

First appearance of "bagles," mythical creatures named responsible for splashing people on brick walkways. Concrete sidewalk fundraising campaign rids bagles from campus by February 1952.

1947 January

Dining hall destroyed by fire (building also housed Commerce Department; students temporarily have meals in student union)

1947 March

Varsity golf team reorganized

1947 July

New playhouse created by renovating former chapel constructed in 1920. Demolished in 1958.

1947 August

Snack Bar installed where temporary cafeteria was located in Student Union Building. Later known as cafe circa 1968, Jukebox Cafe in 1987, and Randle’s Place in 2000.

1947 September

Intercollegiate football returns for one season

1947 October

Newman Club organized. Catholic student organization.

1947 October

Canterbury Club organized. Episcopalian student organization.

1947 November

Westminster Fellowship organized. Presbyterian student organization.

1947 November

Methodist Student Movement organized

1948 February

Great Issues of Today senior seminar course begins

1948 October

Sigma Tau Delta organized. English honor society.

1949 circa

Jerome Bushyhead, member of the Cheyenne tribe, becomes the earliest-known indigenous person to enroll at Centenary. On basketball and baseball teams.

1949 February

Omicron Delta Kappa (Beta Pi chapter) honor society organized

1949 circa July

John Baxter Atkins Sr. Memorial Gateway completed

1949 September

Science Building opens. Renamed as Mickle Hall of Science in May 1964.

1950 - 1974

1950 January

Centenary Nursery School opens

1950 March

First annual statewide Piano Concerto Contest sponsored by the Shreveport Symphony Society held at Centenary. Retitled the Nena Plant Wideman International Piano Competition in 1981.

1950 November

“Rhapsody in View” becomes the name of the choir annual concert

1952 circa January

Rotary Hall enlarged by adding additional wing. Construction funded by Rotary Club of Shreveport.

1952 May

Edwin A. Frost Memorial Fountain dedicated

1952 September

Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program begins

1952 October

Men's rifle team has first intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport.

1954 January

Three trustees die in a plane crash at Wallace Lake. Memorial Row oak trees planted on Centenary Boulevard in March 1954.

1954 February

Women's rifle team has first intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport.

1954 October

T. L. James Memorial Dormitory dedicated

1955 March

David Howard Crumley Memorial Terrace dedicated

1955 March

Brown Memorial Chapel dedicated

1956 February

New cafeteria building opens. Renamed the Bynum Memorial Commons in 1974.

1956 May

Annual meeting of the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Church, South Central Jurisdiction, held at Centenary. Begins tradition of Centenary hosting annual meeting for over 60 years.

1957 spring

Marjorie Lyons Playhouse opens. First performance, “The King and I,” occurs in August 1957.

1957 April

Symphony House moved to campus. Originally constructed in 1860.

1957 May

S. D. Morehead Memorial Concourse dedicated

1957 October

John A. Hardin Memorial Residence Hall dedicated

1958 March

Randle T. Moore Student Center dedicated

1958 October

Sundial time capsule dedicated in front of chapel marking 50 years of Centenary College in Shreveport

1960 February

Earliest-known mention of the men's gymnastics team competing in an intercollegiate meet.

1960 October

Jongleurs student drama organization forms

1960 November

George S. Sexton Memorial Residence Hall dedicated

1961 July

Centenary Choir begins daily performances at Radio City Music Hall (New York). Engagement lasts nine weeks.

1961 October

Dean R. E. Smith Building dedicated

1962 June

Centenary-Shreveport Summer Band first annual concert series held at outdoor amphitheater

1962 December

Insights student literary magazine first published

1963 February

Centenary Library dedicated. Renamed the Magale Memorial Library in September 1976.

1963 March

Tau Kappa Epsilon (Iota Theta chapter) fraternity chartered

1963 June

The Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Church designated Centenary’s archives as the depository for its historic records.

1963 September

Men’s Residence Hall opens. Renamed Pierce Cline Memorial Dormitory in January 1964.

1964 March

Jack Stauffer Wilkes elected president by trustees

1964 March

Hargrove Memorial Band Shell dedicated. Dedication happens in conjunction with annual community Easter Sunday sunrise service sponsored by YMCA.

1964 April

Ed. E. Hurley Memorial Music Building dedicated

1964 August

Theater productions of “Book of Job” and “Reynard the Fox” go on 4-month tour to New York World’s Fair, Canada, England, Ireland, and South Africa. Touring actors include Centenary students and alumni, as well as professors Orlin and Irene Corey.

1964 September

Women's gymnastics program begins. Intercollegiate competition starts in spring 1966.

1965 January

Arch Haynes House (254 Rutherford Street) becomes Centenary President’s House

1965 November

Alumni Hall of Fame created. Hall of Fame gallery has included multiple locations on campus. General John Spencer Hardy Alumni Hall of Fame Room in Bynum Commons dedicated in November 2013.

1966 January

The first Black students enroll as full-time undergraduates

1966 March

Women's gymnastics team has first intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport.

1966 October

First woman joins the Centenary golf team and participates in intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport.

1967 November

Stephen Pitters becomes the first Black student athlete at Centenary when he joins freshman basketball team.

1968 summer

First computer installed on campus and computation laboratory established in Mickle Hall of Science

1968 September

Theta Chi (Eta Rho chapter) fraternity established

1969 February

T. L. James Memorial Dormitory enlarged by adding James Annex

1969 May

Paintings by Jean Despujols (1886-1965) purchased and donated to Centenary by Algur H. Meadows

1969 July

John Horton Allen elected president by trustees

1971 January

Interim Studies program begins

1971 February

Open Ear crisis intervention and referral telephone service begins

1971 May

Hamilton Hall dedicated

1971 May

Gold Dome open house. First intercollegiate athletic game held in December 1971.

1971 June

Merger service for Louisiana’s two racially segregated conferences of the United Methodist Church held in Gold Dome

1973 November

Centenary selected for Woodrow Wilson Senior Fellows Program distinguished lecture program

1974 fall

Centenary School of Church Careers begins. Renamed the Church Careers Institute in 2002. Renamed the Christian Leadership Center in 2006.

1974 September

Men's cross country team has first intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport