If there is one thing former President Pat Neff knew about Baylor’s centennial celebration in 1945, it’s that he wanted it to be BIG! So big, in fact, that he began the planning process seven years before the big day.
Neff decided to celebrate Baylor’s centennial with a new Student Union Building, creating the Centennial Foundation as early as 1938 to begin raising funds for construction. To spark further interest, he also relaunched the discontinued Baylor Alumni magazine, the “Baylor Monthly,” under a new, more timely title, the “Baylor Century.”
But of course, planning the best centennial celebration possible was not a task Neff could pull off on his own. In 1940, he appointed Lily M. Russell, the dean of women, as director of the centennial celebration, and she hit the ground running.
Even after the United States entered World War II in 1941, planning continued, though it had to adapt to the circumstances.
“The university will, however, take note of this great anniversary, war or no war, adapting plans to suit conditions,” said Russell.
And the war certainly did call for adaptations. Rationing, travel restrictions, and a shortage of hotel rooms made plans for the original centennial gathering at Baylor’s first campus in Independence impossible. As the war went on, people began to wonder if it would be possible to hold the 1945 centennial celebration at all.
But as the war slowed, they were able to pull it off! Celebrations lasted from February through May in 1945 and included ceremonies, recitals, speeches, and dinners, all culminating in commencement festivities. As a contribution, the senior class dedicated the Centennial Monument — made of stones from the original Baylor campus in Independence. It was exactly the kind of spectacular spectacle that President Neff had imagined.
