By Frank Chamberlain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founder\u2019s Day was the first organized tradition to be held at Tarleton. This observance took place on Thanksgiving Day of 1902. Officials decided on this date because it was believed that John Tarleton was born on this approximate date. (The actual day and year of his birth are uncertain.)
The ceremony consisted of a program in the second floor auditorium of the Campus Hall and a processional to Tarleton\u2019s grave that was located in the yard of the building. The grave was covered in flowers and the participants sang the \u201cFounder\u2019s Song\u201d which was specially written for the occasion. This melody was written by faculty member Lillie Pearl Chamberlin and was sung to the tune of \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d The lyrics of the song gave thanks to John Tarleton and paid tribute to the name and everlasting legacy of the benefactor and his school.
Another notable Founder\u2019s Day was held on April 30th and May 1st of 1949 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Tarleton\u2019s establishment. Many alumni and surviving acquaintances of John Tarleton converged on the campus for this semi-centennial reunion. The founder\u2019s day program consisted of tribute speeches and introductions of the distinguished guests. The attendees then paraded to the founder\u2019s gravesite where they laid a wreath and held a moment of silent prayer. The pageant was an especially elaborate program that reenacted the history of the school up until that point with actors portraying John Tarleton, J.C. George, Mary Corn Wilkerson, and many other luminous figures from the past.
Earlier in the year, the name \u201cJohn Tarleton Agricultural College\u201d was changed to \u201cTarleton State College.\u201d On the second day of events, Governor Beuford Jester traveled to the campus in order to give a speech and sign the bill that made the name change official.
Guthrie, Christopher. John Tarleton and his Legacy: The History of Tarleton State University, 1899-1999. Acton, MA: Tapestry Press, 1999.
Tarleton State University Archives, official programs and itineraries of the event, 1949.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Founder’s Day By Frank Chamberlain Founder\u2019s Day was the first organized tradition to be held at Tarleton. This observance took place on Thanksgiving Day of 1902. Officials decided on this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":580,"parent":1453,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1498","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/author\/kyle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/","display_name":"kyle"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 10, 2022","modified":"Updated on August 10, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 10, 2022 1:33 pm","modified":"Updated on August 10, 2022 1:33 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","featured_img":false,"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1498\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}