The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Pope Cottage

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Pope Cottage (early view), Tougaloo College

Pope Cottage (ca. 2003), Tougaloo College

Institution Name: Tougaloo College
Original/Historic Place Name: Pope Cottage
Location on Campus: historic core of campus
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1885	original construction Unknown

Type of Place: Individual building
Style(s): (Glossary)
Materials:

Foundation: brick

Walls: wood (frame); clapboard (siding)

Roof: metal

Function:

ca. 1885	private residence
ca. 2004-present (2007)	faculty offices
ca. 2004-present (2007)	classrooms (for journalism)

Significance: architecture, culture, education, history, religion
Landmark designation:

National Register

Tougaloo College (1998)

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
The second-oldest existing building on the campus is more significant for its role as a home for Tougaloo College president Stanley Pope and his family than for its architectural style. Pope Cottage is a two-story wood frame building with clapboard siding and a metal roof. The entrance is a single-leaf, double-arched light and panel door. Simple box columns support the porch roof of this venerable vernacular building. A small two-story addition was added many years ago to the east side of the home. Recently this building received a moderate interior cosmetic upgrade as it was converted from an office building to an academic one. However, both the interior and exterior are still in need of aesthetic, structural, and functional improvements.

In 1877, Stanley Pope became the first president of the college fully endowed with the power of that position. He began the work of developing a strong staff of competent teachers. He even made the decision to restructure the curriculum. From the beginning, Tougaloo was co-educational. However, the coursework for the two genders was completely different. Girls were taught housekeeping, millinery, and nursing. Boys were taught farming, woodwork, and industrial work. There was also the work of the normal school, which produced the black teachers so desperately needed in the state. President Pope made the decision to divide the normal school training at two levels. A certificate was granted for the completion of the normal course, but a diploma would be given for the completion of higher normal course consisting of 11th and 12th years. He hoped this would keep many students in school longer to receive more training.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Campbell, Clarice T., and Oscar Allan Rogers, Jr. Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 1979 and 2002.

Campus Planning and Development Assessment [Tougaloo College]. National Park Service report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1989.

Dixon, John Morris. "How to Grow a Campus: 1. Tougaloo College." Architectural Forum 124 (April 1966): 56-60.

Historical Sketch of Tougaloo University: Tougaloo, Mississippi. [s.l.:] American Missionary Association, 1909.

Mayo, Amory Dwight. Industrial Education in the South. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888.

Mississippi State Building Commission. "Physical Facilities, Institutions of Higher Learning, State of Mississippi, Public and Private Institutions." Report. 1967-1968.

"Negro." WPA Records, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS.

"Tougaloo College." WPA Records, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS.

U.S. Congress. House Committee on Natural Resources. Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Building Restoration and Preservation Act: Report Together with Dissenting Views (To Accompany H.R. 2921) (Including Cost Estimate of the Congressional Budget Office.) [Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993.]

Wise, Deborah G. Tougaloo College Historic District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1998.

II. Location of other data:

University: Library, Special Collections, Facilities Management Office

SHPO

Government Offices