UTM students may know Clement Hall only as “the place you get your mail” or “the place you go to take your exit exam,” but, as one of the oldest buildings on campus, Clement has a deep and rich history.
To understand Clement Hall as it is today, it’s important to understand the history of UTM, which was established in 1900 as the Hall-Moody Institute. Following financial problems, the institution was taken over by the University of Tennessee, and it became the University of Tennessee Junior College at Martin.
According to the UTM website, “On Sept. 2, a faculty of 14 began classes for 120 students at the Tennessee Junior College (shortly the University of Tennessee Junior College), most of whom were returning Hall-Moody students. Soon after, two new buildings were constructed to house the Home Economics and Science programs.”
These buildings became what students know today as the Holland-McCombs Center and the Sociology Building. A gym, a steam plant, an arts building (now Crisp Hall), and a greenhouse were later built, followed by Brehm Hall and the Communications Building.
The Great Depression and World War II caused enrollment to plummet for a time, but the 1950s and 1960s were boom years for the college, which had become known as the University of Tennessee, Martin Branch. Several dorms were built, including Clement Hall.
“For the Martin campus, 1967 was a banner year. Following prompting from the UT Board of Trustees, Gov. Buford Ellington signed into law House Bill 488 changing the school’s name to the University of Tennessee at Martin. Its status as a genuine university was at last secure,” according to the UTM website.
UTM finally became the campus as it is known today.
Construction for a new women’s dorm began in 1956. Clement Hall, as it would be called, was designed to accommodate only 236 women, but an extra wing was built in 1963 that boosted the number housed to more than 450. According to the UTM website, as enrollment continued to climb through the 1950s, the need for student housing increased, particularly dormitories for women.
Clement was completed in 1957, but not without its fair share of mishaps. According to The University of Tennessee at Martin: The First One Hundred Years by Robert Carroll, a steel strike greatly delayed the construction of the new building. Then, on the day of Clement’s open house, the dorm suffered a major plumbing problem.
Carroll writes, “On Saturday, the building was cleaned and ready for the occasion, but early Sunday morning, the day of the open house, [Earl] Knepp received a frantic call. Water was 2 inches deep in the entrance, the lounge, and some of the rooms.”
After some quick work by the building manager, and some quick cleaning on everyone’s part, the open house went as scheduled. Clement Hall was officially open for students.
One student who lived in Clement Hall was UTM’s first African-American student, Jessie Lou Arnold.
According to the UTM website, “The University’s Dean, Dr. Paul Meek, approached Ms. Arnold’s mother in the spring of 1961 to ask if her daughter would like to attend UT Martin to help begin the process of desegregation at the University. Rev. Harold Conner, her school principal who later became the first African-American administrator in 1969, also encouraged her. Ms. Arnold was 16 years old when she agreed to take on this important but soon difficult task.”
The page goes on to say that Meek asked Arnold which side of the building she wanted to live in. She chose the newer wing, and she lived there all four years she was a student.
Since ceasing to be a major dorm room for female students, Clement Hall has hosted myriad students. Robert Martin, a UTM alumnus who lives in Waverly, worked as a desk worker for the Department of Public Safety in the early 1990s. He recalls working the desk at Clement when the back of the building was used to house students involved with athletics.
“It was my favorite place to work because,
He adds that during his time at UTM, the front part of the building was used for office space and other things while other buildings were being renovated. At one point, the Department of Public Safety was in Clement while Crisp Hall was being renovated, and, according to the UTM website, parts of the library were there from 1993-1995.
This trend continued well into the mid-to-late 2000s. Holly Graves, a UTM alumna living in the Humboldt area, reminisces about trying out for the UTM Music Department while the Fine Arts Building was being renovated.
Parts of the music program were in Clement Hall at that time, and Graves says, “I remember practicing in an old dorm room for my audition. There were still beds in there!”
Currently, much of Clement Hall is being used for office space while part of the building has been sealed off for renovation work to begin. The Office of Housing, the Student Success Center, Testing Services, Skyhawk Mail Services, and Digital Printing Services all have a home in this historic hall.
WLJT, the public television station out of Jackson, also has offices in the building.
From housing students to housing university offices, Clement Hall has been serving the students of UTM since its beginnings in 1957. With repairs and renovation in its future, it will continue to do so.
Thank you for the stroll down memory lane. I grew up in Martin in the 1960s, and I remember walking down the halls of
Clement selling Girl Scout cookies–50 cents a box! Great article.
On second thought, the fields of home economics have become more individualized and renamed, Housing could also take the house over to train lazy students with room/apartment violations to clean/arrange their areas properly (especially those starting families/newlyweds).
As an alumna, I recollected the time that disability testing services downgraded to a smaller testing room with no space for any focus with an impact on my grades. I have since tested in class/arranged with professors to my expectations and hoping that funding would come through to finish the fourth floor reserved for a larger testing area. They should follow Murray State’s example of also including private testing rooms (provided with a computer not connected to internet, clock, and desk fan) within a block with two-way mirrors that a proctor would be inside the block without the student’s knowledge of cameras or proctor in-person. Here is my idea of future renovation, Student Health and Counseling services should relocate to a wing in Clement Hall where it is on one floor with ADA and HIPAA compliance. The former location should reopen by the Dept. of Family and Consumer Sciences as a Home Ec House (the building’s original intent) with modern upgrades.