|
A Classic City anchor
since '54
By Todd DeFeo
Since Jan. 15, 1954, Athens has provided the U.S. Navy Supply Corps
School its most consistent home.
But a Pentagon announcement Friday that it wants to close the
installation may mean the Navy school's mission is setting sail for
another place.
The nation's first Navy Supply Corps School opened in Washington,
D.C., in 1921, but the school closed three years later.
In 1934, the Naval Finance and Supply School opened in
Philadelphia, where it remained for seven years. In 1941, the school
merged into the Harvard University Graduate School of Business
Administration, and four years later, the school relocated to Bayonne,
N.J.
In 1954, the school relocated to Athens - where it stayed. And even
though it's a Navy installation, the lack of waterfront property
doesn't matter to the school's mission.
"It's a business kind of thing. It's a school environment kind of
thing," said retired Capt. George Huban, who commanded the Navy school
from 1994-96.
Each year, about 4,000 students pass through the Navy school, which
provides supply, transportation and maintenance logistical training to
sailors and Marines. The facility employs about 130 military personnel
and more than 190 civilians and has an annual payroll of $8.7 million,
according to the Georgia Military Affairs Coordinating Committee, a
statewide panel that is lobbying on behalf of military bases in
Georgia.
Having the school at Harvard "worked, and we won World War II,"
Huban said. "So, under the same concept, they looked for a place that
had that kind of environment that would fit. (Athens) fit. And have we
been successful for the last 50-plus years? Absolutely."
Purchased from Charles M. Reese on Feb. 4, 1860, the original tract
of land contained 93 acres and cost $2,500. Some lots later were sold
to help pay the cost of erecting new buildings, though only one -
named University High School - was built.
Originally intended as a University of Georgia adjunct for freshmen
and sophomores, the site was never used for that purpose. Instead, it
served as a military institute for sons of Confederate families during
the Civil War.
After the war, Federal troops occupied the school and used it as a
garrison. In March 1866, it became a school for crippled Confederate
veterans under 30 years old, and the state of Georgia appropriated
$300 each year to cover the school's expenses.
Except for a short period when Gen. John Pope, then military
governor of Georgia, suspended the school for disloyalty after
crippled veterans "threw up their hats and gave the old Rebel yell
when the band played 'Dixie.'"
Winnie Davis Hall on the Navy school campus was constructed with
funds raised by the Georgia Division United Daughters of the
Confederacy. The building was planned as a memorial to the daughter of
Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, following her death on
Sept. 18, 1898.
The building today houses the administrative offices of the Navy
school.
When teacher certification requirements were raised in 1928, the
Georgia State Teachers College started to operate on the site. The
University of Georgia took over the school four years later, and the
university's department of education assumed teacher training
responsibilities.
Known in the community as the Coordinate College, the school's
buildings were used for dormitories for freshman and sophomore women.
During World War II, women were moved back to UGA's main campus,
and from 1942-44 the site was leased to the U.S. government to house
an Army Specialized Training Program.
By late 1944, the women were back at Coordinate College. They
remained at the Prince Avenue location until the Navy purchased the
property on June 4, 1953, opening the Navy school the following
January.
With a Pentagon announcement Friday that it wants to close the
installation may mean the land will one day have a new use. The site
could be redeveloped for a new use ranging from commercial to
residential to educational.
Published May 14, 2005,
in the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald.
Back to History @ HarpBlaster
|