Education, Health and Welfare in 20th Century Rutherford County

In 1907, the Tennessee College for Women opened at 701 East Main Street. The school served white women and girls of all ages, offering classes in subjects such as music, drama, health, and physical education. In 1910, the school began hosting its annual May Day celebration, held each first of May. Students also participated in sports like soccer and hockey.

Middle Tennessee State Normal School, which is now MTSU, opened in 1911. The school was originally a teachers’ college for white students and began with only five buildings. Four of these buildings--the President’s house, Kirksey Old Main, Rutledge Hall, and the Alumni Center--are still standing on the campus today. In 1925, the school became Middle Tennessee State Teachers College, and in 1928 the school received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Opened in 1929, Holloway High School became the only secondary school for African Americans in Rutherford County. The school was named after E.C. Holloway, a local attorney, and was constructed on a plot of land donated by the Colored Fair Association. Holloway was the last Rosenwald School constructed in Rutherford County. The Rosenwald program, run by Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, provided school buildings for African American students across the south.

In 1933, Mary Ellen Vaughn founded Vaughn’s Training School, which provided a variety of classes for African American adults and was created, in part, to enable them to pass the literacy tests that were required for them to vote. The training school offered lessons in typing, sewing, and cosmetology. Vaughn had also founded Murfreesboro’s first African American newspaper, the Murfreesboro Union, in the 1920s.

In the 1920s, Rutherford County was selected by the Commonwealth Fund of New York to begin a path-breaking rural healthcare program to improve maternal and child health. The program lasted five years and included demonstrations at schools and in homes on topics such as hygiene and sanitation. The program also provided vaccinations, birthing lessons, and dental care. These healthcare programs were segregated by race, and Mary Ellen Vaughn, who was also a nurse, led the health programs established for African Americans. In 1926, the Commonwealth Fund built the Rutherford Hospital, and in 1931 it built the Rutherford Health Department.