Standing on a hill two blocks north of the
courthouse square, the forty-acre, tree-lined
campus of Tennessee Wesleyan College provides a
serene, tranquil setting for scholars. Athens,
the county seat of McMinn County and a community
of 15,000, is located near I-75 midway between
Chattanooga and Knoxville in the heart of the
Sweetwater Valley. Less than an hour’s drive
east of Athens loom the Great Smoky Mountains
and the Cherokee National Forest, and to the
west lies the Cumberland Plateau.
At the center of the campus, surrounded by
buildings that frame the quadrangle, stands
historic Old College Hall, built in the early
1850’s. This original building, which is listed
on the National Register of Historic Places,
served as a hospital during the Civil War and
today houses the Office of the President and the
Academic Dean. Lawrence Hall, adjacent to Old
College and a one-time women’s residence
facility, is a beautifully-appointed building
used presently for administrative and faculty
offices. Across the quadrangle from Lawrence is
Townsend Memorial Hall, a newly-renovated
600-seat auditorium and student services
complex. At the south end of the quadrangle is
Sherman Fine Arts Building. Completing the
quadrangle are Fisher Science Building, Banfield-Durham
Hall, and the Merner Pfeiffer Library. Fisher
houses faculty offices, biology, chemistry,
physics, and computer laboratories, and lecture
and seminar rooms. Banfield-Durham was
constructed in 1901, completely renovated in
2001, and features classrooms, faculty offices,
and a computer laboratory. The Library, a
charming neoclassical structure, holds over
100,000 volumes. Other campus buildings include
Centennial Hall, a classroom building; Robb
Gymnasium, which also contains faculty and
coaching staff offices; Fowler Hall, a men’s
dorm that also houses the Thornton Fitness
Center; Keith Hall, a women’s dorm; and the
Nocatula Apartments, which house upper-class
students.
Though a small college, Tennessee Wesleyan has
significantly influenced the region it serves,
as well as thousands of alumni. From its halls
have ventured forth future leaders in church,
education, music, science, law, medicine,
government, and civic affairs. |
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