Celebrating 175 Years

Charles E. Diehl served as president of the college from 1917 to 1949.  Dr. Diehl shepherded the school through the difficult times of World War I, brought women students into the college on an equal basis with men, and moved the college from Clarksville to Memphis.  He supervised every detail in building the new campus, including selecting the location, the architects, and the design style—Collegiate Gothic.  While putting the college on a solid footing in Memphis, he hired new faculty, taught a Bible course, and even survived accusations of heresy.

Peyton Nalle Rhodes joined the college in 1926 as a physics professor, became vice president in 1944, and served as president from 1949 to 1965.  In his 16 years as president, Rhodes established a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at the college, oversaw the construction of 10 major buildings, and nearly doubled the college’s financial assets.  In 1981, the college named the physics building the Peyton Nalle Rhodes Tower and, in 1984, the Board voted to rename the college Rhodes College to honor the man who had devoted himself to the institution for nearly 60 years.

Founded in 1848 in Clarksville, Tennessee as the Masonic University of Tennessee, the college had several names over the years that reflected its changing circumstances.  Concerned about the college’s future in Clarksville, the Board decided to move the school to Memphis in 1925, and in 1984 the college adopted the name Rhodes College to honor Dr. Petyon Nalle Rhodes, who served as president from 1949 to 1965.

Formally known as the Rollow Avenue of Oaks, the trees in Oak Alley were planted south of Southwestern Hall as seedlings, brought from the Clarksville campus by alumnus and college engineer John A. Rollow, class of 1926. Today, Rhodes is certified as a Class IV Arboretum, the highest designation granted by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. 

Questions about the meaning and purpose of life are central to human existence. Every area of the Rhodes curriculum touches in some way upon such questions, whether directly as in philosophy, epic poetry, and political thought, or indirectly as in medieval Europe history, economic theory, and the structure of the universe. A wide range of Foundation One courses at Rhodes, including the SEARCH course founded in 1946, help students to think about these issues and provide the foundation for the entire curriculum at the college.

The newest addition to campus is Robertson Hall, a state-of-the-art science facility that opened  in 2017. The facility, which maintains the Collegiate Gothic style of architecture, houses a number of biology and chemistry faculty and six teaching labs, five research labs, and three classrooms. The research capabilities of the new labs enhance the existing partnerships with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, the Overton Park Conservancy, and the Memphis Zoo.