BAXTER SEMINARY
Campus
-BAXTER TENNESSEE-
Campus
Campus Halls
Layout
Grounds
Photos
Algernon
Transportation
Baxter, Tenn
|
|
Transportation
Students, faculty, staff and visitors all utilized multiple methods of transportation available at the time to attend, work, or visit Baxter Seminary. Initially many out of town students used the Tennessee Central Railway or bus lines to come to Baxter. From walking to riding buses students, faculty, and staff came daily to study, work, perform required duties, perform in scholastic activities or school athletic events, or to attend Chapel, the students came to learn the lessons that they would need in life. Vehicles, such as Algernon, were also used in the daily operations of the school and in special activities throughout the school year.
Planes  Wright First Flight, Kitty Hawk, NC - Dec.17, 1903 Photo: Public Domain The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, successfully flew the first powered flight of a heavier than air aircraft and did so only 5 years prior to the start up of Baxter Seminary. Both grew in the ensuing years, slowly at first and then faster as the years passed. Both had dedicated and visionary leaders. Leaders that had a vision of what could be and ultimately what was to come. The Wright Brothers inventions had a more wide spread and financial impact than that of Baxter Seminary but the Seminary's impact was far superior than that of the Wright Brothers in that it prepared the students to live, work, and interact with anyone, enriched the soul and made better people out of its students who then went on and impacted many other people and places in the world. While there are currently no first hand accounts of students actually using airplanes to get to school one could possibly dig up occurrences of students that did just that to return to the Seminary after a break. Baxter Seminary students went on to defend freedom in WWII both in the field and in the air and also in the factories that built military weapons and supplies and even the airplanes themselves. Had the students flown over the campus this is what they would have seen!  The Campus from up in the air. Photo: June Swallows Lewis, Baxter Depot Musemum
Trains  Baxter Depot in neglected condition years after passenger service was terminated. Photo: On display in the new Baxter Depot located on the original depot site In 1900 the rail line that became the Tennessee Central Railway was built and ran right through down town AI. Two years later the name of the town was changed to "Baxter" after Jere Baxter the President of the Tennessee Central Railway. Many students, teachers, visitors, and dignitaries' first view of Baxter was through the windows of the TCR passenger cars as the train reduced speed and rolled to a stop at the Baxter Depot. The Seminary, less than a mile from the depot on 1st Avenue South, was in walking distance and many took advantage of that regularly to go to the seminary and to return to the depot.  Photo: Putnam County Herald  TCR engine number 551 was a 4-8-0 wheel configuration steam engine. Photo: american-rails.com  TCR engine number 801 was a FA-1 diesel engine. Photo: american-rails.com The TCR stopped passenger service to and from Baxter in 1955. Freight service continued till 1968 when the TCR filed for Bankruptcy. It was sold at a bankruptcy auction to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in that same year.
Automobiles  Students arrive in buses AND cars UMC Photo  Helping friends to be able to go home Photo from Baxter Seminary Highlander*  Posing for Highlander photos in a convertible Photo from Baxter Seminary Highlander*  Getting ready to leave for school in the snow Photo from Baxter Seminary Highlander*
Trucks  Algernon Photo from: A Light on the Cumberland Plateau: The Story of Baxter Seminary by Ruth Robinson Matthews A truck was donated to the school by a donor from Milwaukee along with a piano, school supplies, and office equipment. Dr. Upperman traveled to Milwaukee to retrieve the truck and other donated items. He drove it back to Baxter Seminary and picked up additional donations along the way. Read more about the truck that became known as Algernon to the student body and the residents of Baxter and the surrounding area. The last truck of Baxter Seminary was a new or nearly new at the time mid 50's Dodge two and one half ton flat bed dump truck. It was painted jet black with gold serifed letters spelling out "Baxter Seminary" in a half circle rising in the middle to almost touch the bottom of the door's window frame. It was a very good operating truck and also looked great as it announced the school name while displaying the school colors. A picture of it is not currently on the website but it will be a great addition if one can be sourced.
Buses  The bus from Silver Point unloading in front of Pfeiffer Hall. 1930's UMC Photo  Putnam County School Buses started in 1932 UMC Photo  School Bus arrivals in the 1950's UMC Photo "Day Students" from around the area would come to school daily on Putnam County School buses and local bus lines.
Horse and Buggy  On the way home from Baxter Seminary at the end of the day. UMC Photo
Pedestrians  Walking on campus UMC Photo  Walking from class UMC Photo  Walking the bridge for the last time as students Highlander photo
Other  Taking a stroll across the farm UMC Photo *Ditital copies of Highlander photos from Baxter Seminary Yearbooks 1934-1960 compiled by Audrey and Mike Lambert, www.ajlambert.com
|
|
|
