Baylor School will conclude a two-year-long celebration Thursday, marking the occasion when the college preparatory school moved to its current location on a hill overlooking the Tennessee River.
The “100 Years on the Hill” event will take place from 6–8:45 p.m., and will include the opening of a time capsule in Lupton Circle at 6:55 p.m.
A newly published “Baylor School, One Hundred Years on the Hill” commemorative book featuring the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Robin Hood will also be distributed at the event.
The time capsule was placed in a cornerstone of the first building erected on Baylor’s new campus during a ceremony on April 5, 1915. According to a Chattanooga Times article covering the event, the contents of the copper box included photographs of local businessmen and Baylor benefactors John T. Lupton, James F. Johnston, Scott Livingston Probasco and Jo Conn Guild, Jr., as well as professor Alex Guerry, professor John Roy Baylor, his wife, Julia, and their daughter, Eloise. It also contained school publications, newspaper clippings, U.S. coins, and a list of subscribers who contributed the funds which enabled Baylor to build north of the river.
Founded in 1893, Baylor began classes in downtown Chattanooga as the Baylor University School. As the story is told in Castle on the Cliff, by John Longwith, Prof. John Roy Baylor was riding the streetcar to Signal Mountain, when he stopped at the Williams Island Station near the Tennessee River, walked up the rise known as Locust Hill, and determined that this would be the new location for his school. According to a prospectus printed in the Chattanooga Times on Nov. 24, 1914, the property was “about 35 acres bounded by the Tennessee River, Mountain Creek, Signal Mountain Railway, and county road leading to Williams Island Ferry.”
Classes began at the new location in the fall if 2015 with 67 boys enrolled in grades 9-12. The first commencement at the new campus took place in the spring of 1916. Today, Baylor’s campus is 690 acres and enrollment is 1,025 students from around the world in grades 6-12.
Click here for more about the school’s historical move.
Baylor School “100 Years on the Hill” Event Schedule May 5, 2016
Reception in Lupton Circle
6 -7 p.m. - Reception on Lupton Circle* (valet parking for guests arriving in front of Barks Hall)
6:40 p.m - Welcome by Chris Crimmins ’80, chairman, Board of Trustees
6:45 p.m - The Baylor Concert Choir (two pieces including the Alma Mater)
6:55 p.m. – Headmaster Scott Wilson ’75 opens the time capsule
7 p.m. - Guests Adjourn to Dinner; Current and Former Trustees Photo, Barks Hall Steps
Dinner in Guerry Dining Hall
7:15-8:45 p.m. - Dinner and Program in Guerry Dining Hall
7:15 p.m. - Welcome and blessing, Headmaster Scott Wilson ’75
7:20-7:55 p.m.- Dinner
7:55 p.m. - Introduction of former Headmaster Dr. Herb Barks ’51, Scott
8 -8:20 p.m. - Keynote address, former Headmaster Dr. Herb Barks ’51
8:20-8:30 p.m. - Special “100 Years on the Hill” Video Presentation
8:30 p.m. - Toast and Dismissal, Headmaster Scott Wilson ’75, distribution of books
8:45 p.m. - Finale, Guerry Hall Patio/Hunter Parking Lot