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