October 11 marks 50th anniversary of campus
By Elizabeth Bland and Elizabeth Turnbull
News Editors

Today, Oct. 11, marks the 50th anniversary of the university’s groundbreaking – an occasion that the Old Gold and Black then called, “something worth telling the grandchildren about.”

Current students are truly the “grandchildren” of a vision that was outlined 50 years ago by the University President Harold Tribble. His dedication to the relocation and expansion of what was then Wake Forest College, a small southern Baptist institution, led to the construction of a new campus in Winston-Salem.

According to news reports of the time, over 25,000 people attended the event including the keynote speaker, President Harry Truman.

Other high profile attendees included Mr. and Mrs. Charles Babcock, who donated 300 acres of the Reynolda estate to be used as the campus, and the president of the University of North Carolina, Gordan Gray.

In his ceremonial address Truman outlined his idea of what a college should be. “A college is an institution that is dedicated to the future,” he said. “It is based on faith and hope – faith in the basic decency of our fellow men, and hope that the increase of knowledge will promote the general welfare.”

Bruce Babcock, Charles Babcock’s nephew, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
Although he was only 10 years old, he remembers understanding the event was significant. “I can’t say at 10 that I really understood the importance (of the ceremony) but I remember I was impressed that President Truman was there,” he said, “Years later I understand how incredible it was.”

At the time of the ground breaking, Truman’s visit to campus was only the sixth presidential visit to the state in 104 years.

Ed Wilson, the senior vice president of the university, was also present at the ceremony. In 1951 Wilson had recently joined the faculty as a professor of English. He remembers the event as a bittersweet time for the university.

“I think there was a mixed feeling about leaving a place that so many people called home, while it was exciting to come to a new campus in a big city,” he said, “We were all still getting used to the idea of Wake Forest moving – it was a very nostalgic time.”
Hearn says a lot of changes have taken place since the original plans and the first model made.

“I think they (the planners) would be amazed by the changes that have taken place,” he said.

The Reynolda campus was estimated to require a building fund of 15.5 million dollars Today, the university endowment is valued at $968 million.

The original plans were designed to “include entire college needs,” according to an Oct. 15 article from the OGB in 1951. The new campus was to include twenty main buildings, including a chapel, administration-student center (now Reynolda Hall), gymnasium, classroom buildings and separate dormitories for both men and women. Originally, dining halls and housing facilities were designed for 2,000 students. Today, the university boasts an undergraduate enrollment of 3,950.

The Oct. 15 article from the OGB included the following description of the Quad.
“Opposite the chapel, at the other end of a long quadrangle, or “green,” will be located the massive Administration-Student Center Building. In this structure will be housed the administrative and student offices of the College, dining rooms and kitchens to accommodate the entire Student Body and numerous facilities to provide a superior program of social life.” The Wake Forest College board of trustees voted unanimously to approve the move. Had they not, Hearn says the university would have developed in a significantly different manner.

“The old campus was in bad shape following WWII and a low enrollment,” Hearn said. “There is a question of whether or not they would have been able to upgrade the university to meet technological and scientific advances.”

Today, the university is rated as one of the most-wired schools in the nation.

“Those who made the decision to move to Winston-Salem knew they were not just changing places,” Hearn said. “They were changing the destiny of the university. They understood the full opportunity of what was ahead.”