Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 291

10A ARLINGTON Citizen-Journal Week ofAugust 27 1995 Teachers Students Log On to the World with STARTEXT! 1 el P' 9 pecmontaNCLCONNECtCHARGESMS Eli Rockwall man 96 attended Grubbs Vocational College 1-1---- 11Z- -44-- -1- -1 iLL I1 An educator's best Metroplex resource including: Grolier's Academic American Encyclopedia updated every 90 days Current news updated throughout the day Online lesson plans for using Star Text ANY brand of computer and modem can use STARTEXT When you subscribe you'll receive Star Comm our easy-to-use communications software for MS-DOS machines with pull-down menus to see intonation with a single keystroke! 1895-1995 The University of Texas at Arlington Division of Continuing Education Box19197 Arlington Texas 76019-0197 CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ENRICHMENT Art Communication Writing Dance House Garden Humanities Music Self-Development Special Interest Sports Exercise Youth Continuing Education Metro 817-273-2581 FAX 817-273-2556 Elearonic mail and messaging Publishing for students teachers organizations Interactive fomms Oldest ex put degree to good use Grolier's Academic American Electronic mail and messaging 1 Oldest ex Encyclopedia updated every 90 days Publishing for students teachers Current news updated throughout 1 a I organizations the day put degree Online lesson plans for using StarText Interactive fonuns ANY brand of computer and modem can use STAIRTEXTI When you subscribe you'll receive to good use StarComm our easy-to-use communications software for MS-DOS machines with pull-down -1: menus to see intomiaton with a single keystroke! so Al 1 0- -t 1 4 il "14444et okt kt 1t Air :77 uY tai: irtilt 4 Irt i 1 44 iv 4 "711'1441tn '54 4 0 I 1 4 i i I i I 1 Li 'ii-' i I 1 1895-1995 4 a 1 1 40' 4- I 1 i The University of Texas at Arlington 1 4 I 1 1 0 1 4 4 1 a 0 Division of Continuing Education i V't i Box19197 Arlington Texas 76019-0197 I 0' 4 4 -1 I 1 1 1 4 'T 'A CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ENRICHMENT I 14- ii 4 1 1 4 i Art I 1 i 1 i Communication Writing 1 i 1 i i rt '4-41' 1' Dance 1 kr -0 i i 11 ') 4 Garden House aren i i i -1 4 1 i I Humanities -4 ''4 'iiiti: 1 04 Music i I I 1 1 I I I 1 Self-Development 1 lt I Special Interest Sial Intt Sports Exercise Youth Continuing Education Metro 8 17-273-2581 FAX 817-273-2556 1 ii so I 1 I dat I I life i 1 Te) we per 'diz 'an( 1 te 'edt 1 pal 1hr Ii ca ll bel lor sin me im I 'the 26 fro yOi fin 'pa: sel cat 4fot an i 1 1 3 1 i I I 1 I dat i I life i re) per acll diz 'am 1 te edt 3 pal thr 'NV 1 11 Pei the lor sill ne i im I ithc :16 11 Business Computer Training Customized Training Emergency Medical Care ESL Exam Preparation FinanceAccounting CPE Financing Planning Human Services Languages Legal Assistant Program Management ManagementEngineering Real Estate Travel IndustryStudy Business Computer Training Customized Training Medical Emergency eicaare ESL Exam Preparation FinanceAccounting CPE anc Fining Planning Human Services Languages Legal Assistant Program Management ManagementEngineering Real Estate 41 -t 't 'I 1 1 I III I 0 vri i 1 i' tk 1 I A Ai J) 1 ft t4! 1St' 4 1 I II 11 't i 'I 1 11 J1 1 4 1 I I i 1 0 1 i tf Fon WonhStar-Telegram GREW HAMAN Franklin Dowell 96 graduated from Grubbs Vocational College now UT-Arlington in 1921 fling beginning with 6 am tobacco" school graduation and money ille and ending with taps at But there were occasions for a scarce to send them to college i training beginning with 6 am and ending with taps at tobacco" But there were occasions for a school graduation and money scarce to send them to college ''i'4 i I i 1 1 114 1 1: 11 44 1 i ''r It! 1: 1 1 1 i 0 i Ct-Zi 1 1 1 1 1 A J1 1--k 1 I 1 It 1 i I to Ai( I i 1 I 't I 1 I A( 44 ti I I 7 i 1 I NZ-4: i -I I i 1 I BY CHRIS PAYNE Fort Worth Star-Telegram OCKWALL In 1917 the campus now known as the University ofTexas at Arlington was an austere enclosure of six buildings in a sleepy little country town where Model T's lurched along mud-patched dirt roads Franklin Dowell 18 and fresh out of Fate High School in Rockwall County was one of the first students to register at the institution which had just opened as Grubbs Vocational College The tiny junior college and military training school with only 66 students wouldn't become UT-Arlington until 50 years later "I don't know why I chose to go there" said Dowell 96 the college's oldest known living graduate from the Class of 1921 "I guess it was because it was close to home" Talkative and sharp-witted Dowell is a little hard of hearing but he seems decades younger as he recalls his college life He lives with his wife of 70 years Ruby in their rural Rockwall County home In some ways Dowell was not unlike many of today's UT-Arlington students: He graduated from a nearby high school and worked to pay his way through college To earn money Dowell said he worked in the mess hall stockroom and as a barber for his fellow military cadets "I made my spending money cutting hair 25 cents a head" Dowell said "I could cut two heads and go to Dallas to go to the Majestic and see a good show" With World War I winding to a close in 1917 Dowell barely missed being drafted "I was registered" he said Dowell said he didn't graduate from the two-year college until three years after he enrolled there because he missed the entire 1918 school year with a bad strain ofthe flu "There weren't any degrees back then you just graduated" he said Life at Grubbs was a grueling regimen of study and military BY CHRIS PAYN FOrt Worth Star-Telegram IX campus now known as the -13 In 1917 the University ofTexas at Arlington was an austere enclosure of six buildings in a sleepy little country town where Model T's roads lurched along mud-patched dirt Franklin Dowell 18 and fresh out of Fate High School in Rockwall County was one ofthe first students to register at the institution which had just opened as Grubbs Vocational College The tiny junior college and military training school with onl 66 students wouldn't UT Arlington 50 ecome rington unti years later "I don't know why I chose to go there" said Dowell 96 the college's oldest known living graduate from the Class 01'1921 "I guess it was because it was close to home" Talkative and sharp-witted Dowell is a little hard of hearing but he seems decades younger as he recalls his college life He lives with his wife of 70 years Ruby in their rural Rockwall County FALL 1995 that Dowell decided to put his hard-earned degree from Grubbs A to the test 1 He left the farm and interviewed for an oil-field job with Continental Oil Co in Louisiana He was hired at 42 cents an hour qtr 1 tlw111 1 '111 il 1 III iA gi :41 I te4 tit fl al it' 4trit-1titciri'(t: I i't-1- igi 4a (I 4 0(1411 7 i I little mischief Dowell recalled one Saturday night when all his buddies went out for a night on the town and he stayed behind in the barracks He unscrewed all the light bulbs inserted pieces of paper in them and screwed them back in "Well they came back and all of them said there were no lights" he said "So they took a penny to open the fuse box still no lights Finally they figured it out and took all the paper out" After graduating from Grubbs Dowell went back to his father's farm in Rockwall County where he met Ruby a year later "I didn't know whether I could find anything else" Dowell said "I didn't try I thought I wanted to farm" On the farm he raised corn wheat oats and cotton for 20 years It wasn't until I 940 with three children approaching high reveille 10 pm said Dowell who played French horn in the band Historic Ransom Hall which still graces the UT-Arlington campus was under construction while he was there he said Dowell said he found time to write articles for the Grubbs Shorthorn newspaper He also joined the Literary Society and enjoyed the fiction of Henry Jack London and Zane Grey Most of the students at Grubbs were men he said Before he fell ill in 1918 Dowell was one of three cadets chosen to attend the Army Training Corp at Fort Sheridan 111 for bayonet training "We were just a bunch of old country boys down there all raised the same way with the same bunch of ideas" he said "We had a bunch ofgood kids then Not one of them drank or used drugs Not a drop Not a cigarette Not any chewing AG Edwards VEgIMENTS SINCE 1887 "He told me when Icame in that evening that if he didn't have that education he wouldn't have gotten the job" said Ruby 87 "We had too many plans for our children for him not to have a job" Dowell retired from the oil company in 1964 as a field supervisor making $238 an hour Today they have 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren "He's just a lovable person" his wife said "He's just loved and respected by everyone in the family" A Stocks A Bonds a Mutual Funds A Annuities A Educational Savings Program A Retirement and Financial Planning A Portfolio Reviews 2301 Lamar Blvd Arlington (817) 6334848 4- 6301 IM-285-0696-EAL Member SIPC 1995 A 0 Edwards Sons Inc From beginning UTA was community project EQUITABLE BANK ea -BECAUSE STENGTH AND SERVICE COUNT Editor's note: This is a digest containing less than 5 percent of the soonto-be-published book titled Transitions: A Centennial History of the University of Texas at Arlington written by Gerald Saxon assistant director for Special Collections at UT-Arlington Saxon an expert on Texas history written oral and video has written or edited several other books in the historical vein His UT-Arlington history was commissioned by the university and will be published in early fall Advance reservations for purchase of the photographically illustrated book can be made by calling Special Collections at 273-3393 Saxon invites perusal of the UT-Arlington Special Collections housed on the sixth floor of the university library Special Collections houses 6500 rare maps more than 30000 volumes and more than 6000 cubic feet of manuscript and archival collections focusing on Texas the Southwest and the Mexican War and is the official repository for the Star-Tekgram's extensive archives of photos and articles dating from around 1900 The only locally-owned independent banking organization with locations in all three major Metroplex cities 0 lilt to I I Vtk e) I it) 01 ta Qn1th 14111 (tAilti) 1 James Carlisle to move his school from Hillsboro and open a military school on the college grounds Carlisle School for Boys in the fall of I 902 It was to be the first of many name changes for the future university arlisle stressed that the academic training students received would prepare them for entrance into the finest colleges in the country while the military regimen would instill in them "order patience punctuality cheerful obedience respect for one's superiors and a sense of duty honor and manliness" Further Carlisle added such a school would remove students from exposure to "the innumerable temptations of society and goodfellowship" Military drill and tactics were daily offerings Besides the customary classic offerings of Latin Greek and mathematics "commercial" electives were offered ranging from bookkeeping to typing But clearly it was a school with a male emphasis and so its doors were closed to female students in I 905 Two former female teachers 1 at the school Mary Carlisle and i Maggie Smith responded by opening a private institution called' (Moreyn HISTORY on Page12) Gerald Saxon: Wrote Transitions a history of UT-Arlington ike many towns its size just before the turn of the 20th century Arlington desired growth and viability An important component ofgrowth was adequate schools It was this push to provide quality education for the town's schoolchildren that led to the founding of Arlington College from which today's University ofTexas at Arlington evolved It was local hardware store owner and Justice of the Peace Edward Rankin who first came up with the idea Enthusiasm soon spread Co-principals LM Hammond and WM Trimble in Niested $500 each in the new school in 1894 and raised 15 S100 pledges from local citizens Building the school quickly became a community project When Rankin and lumberyard owner Thomas Spruance offered to donate construction material the idea caught fire JW Ditto and AW Collins chipped in with a square block ofland at the site of the current Hereford Center Brickyard owner WC Weeks provided bricks The college two stories with six classrooms opened its doors in 1895 It was not a "college" in the modern conventional sense but rather served both elementary and 4 Locations: North Arlington 817-861-2981 South Arlington 817-781-8000 11)141-mart USA 817-784-8800 Dallas 211-218-7000 Ft Worth 817-926-1227 secondary students Academic subjects included Latin history algebra geometry grammar reading literature and government Indeed for a 1901-02 the college served as "the" public school as well as a private institution In any case the situation proved to be financially untenable and Arlington College decided to close its doors Not wishing that to happen town leaders reached an agreement with i 1-800-513-7066 Member 11)IC SR Preferred Lender rtmool L51' ip- I.