The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: News

Media Credit: JOSH D. WEISS Daniel Jordan, a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., looks at "The University That Could Have Been" exhibit in the Main Library lobby Monday. The Univ. Monorail, shown here, is among ideas that never made it past the planning stage. [Click to enlarge]

University students could utilize a bathhouse, monorail and a YMCA on campus - if past architects' plans had gone through.

"The Campus That Never Was" exhibit in the Main Library contains documents, blueprints and drawings of plans that "never were" for the University dating back to 1786.

The exhibit was compiled by Steven A. Brown and Gilbert Head.

Among ideas that never made it past the chopping block were plans for a monorail in 1967, resembling the monorail at Walt Disney World Resort.

"Gilbert Head did some digging [for more information on the monorail]. They didn't build that either," Brown said.

Plans for a YMCA, a non-denominational chapel and a sports complex at Herty Field were all proposed construction plans. Two major plans that never made it

past the drafting phase were the Campus Development Plan of 1953 and the Campus Master Plan of 1967, outlined in the exhibit.

Included is "The Once and Future Campus," an exhibit starting with the first buildings on campus and showing the progression to present day.

Exhibit documents show, plans were to locate the campus in Greensboro. The land in Greensboro caught fire, though, and officials then settled on a site in Athens.

"The oldest reproduced map [in the exhibit] is of Athens in 1805 where a spring bathhouse that would have been used for funding was never built," Brown said.

Jean Cleveland, communications director for the University Library and coordinator for exhibits in the library, said she is pleased with the exhibit.

"The exhibit calls attention to services provided within the collections we have [at the library]. I've seen more people stopping at this exhibit than any in a while. I definitely think it is something people are interested in," Cleveland said.

Original documents from "The University That Never Was" can be found in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

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