The Writing On The Walls
By: Jennifer Herseim, Photos by: Rob Felt | Categories: Tech History
The D.M. Smith Building is set to re-open later this year after a two-year, $26 million renovation. During the renovations, construction crews made a discovery: Underneath a water fountain on the second floor were the neatly penned signatures of three students, etched more than 100 years ago.
Did the students leave their mark hoping to be discovered in the future or were they simply mischievous students scribbling on a wall? Either way, the writing offers a glimpse into the lives of three students who attended Tech a century ago.
When A. Brian Merry signed his name on the wall, he noted his hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Proud of his roots, Merry graduated from Georgia Tech with his degree in Architecture and returned to Augusta, where he cofounded his firm, Merry & Parsons. In 1937, the firm designed the Warrenton Gymnasium-Auditorium, a federal works project that was later listed in the National Register of Historical Places. Merry’s legacy went beyond architecture. He served as the inaugural president of the Richmond County Historical Society, which was founded in 1946 and later became the Augusta Historical Society. In 1967, an elementary school in Augusta was named in his honor. He died in 1953, at age 49. A year earlier, his son had graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in physics.
Next to Merry’s senior photo in the 1925 Blue Print is an inscription that offers a snapshot of what Merry might have been like as a student. “‘B Merry’ never was [a] name more appropriate or better lived up to than here,” it reads. “He led an architectural trio over the radio, presiding over the society meetings, to say nothing of his endeavors to mislead all into believing that his home town is a prominent village. Glee Club president, Architectural Society, Blue Print Art staff, vice president of the Charrette Club, Cotillion Club.”
Beside Merry’s signature is that of Thomas White Cothran Jr., the eldest of seven children, from Greenwood, South Carolina. Like his father, Cothran pursued architecture. At Tech, he was a first lieutenant in the ROTC and a member of the architectural society and Matheson Literary Society. He graduated in 1925. A quote beside his name in the yearbook reads, “Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently.”
The third signature on the wall belongs to out-of-state student Phil Fred Rosenblath from Shreveport, Louisiana. Rosenblatt was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma and the Architectural Society. Nicknamed “Rosy,” the bespeckled senior’s yearbook photo includes a message that Rosenblath might have left for future Yellow Jackets: “Never let your lessons interfere with your college education.”
The three students signed the wall in 1924, one year after the building was finished and during a period of growth for Tech. Since opening, the D.M. Smith building has seen countless Yellow Jackets walk its halls, including Merry, Cothran, and Rosenblath, who left their marks both figuratively and literally.
