Old Main Administration Building

National Teachers' Normal and Business College Administration Building

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

1. Old Main Administration Building Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Erin Adams, David Newberry and Jaime L. Destefano, 12/2012:
Completed in 1908, the National Teacher's Normal & Business College Administration Building (Old Main) is recognized as the first college in West Tennessee to introduce co-education among sexes during the early 20th century. While not owned by a religious organization,

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

2. Old Main Administration Building Marker

The marker is on the left side of the main entrance, inside the north/front portico.

the university is affiliated with the Churches of Christ through ties of religious fellowship. Daily devotional services were held in Chapel Hall from 1908 until 1975. In addition, the building hosted the Henderson Church of Christ from 1933 until 1949. Since 1937, Old Main has also hosted the Annual Bible Lectureship. Its classrooms have been used to train several generations of preachers. Devotional services are held every weekend for students of Freed-Hardeman University. As such, Old Main has contributed significantly to the local community’s educational development and history of the local Churches of Christ.
Designed by a prominent architect of Jackson, Tennessee, Hubert Thomas McGee, Old Main is a representative example of early 20th century Italian Renaissance Revival. Old Main also serves as the preeminent edifice of Freed-Hardeman University and the historic center of college education in West Tennessee. Character-defining elements of the building’s exterior include a centered, two-story portico with brick arches and Ionic columns, buff-colored brick, limestone detailing, corbelled brick water table, domed cupola with bell,

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

3. Old Main Administration Building Cornerstone

Laid by citizens of Henderson Nov. 30, 1907.
A.G. Freed and N.B. Hardeman Founders.
J.D. Johnson, J.G. Hardeman, John McDonald, Bldg Committee.
H.T. McGee, Architect.

and domed piers. Notable interior features of the building include the prominent dogleg staircase in the lobby, bead board ceilings, and interior paneled doors with transoms.
Like many of McGee’s other extant buildings, the building involves the use of a formal architectural design executed with local craftsmen, local labor, and local resources. The building bears the stamp of the community it resides in. The bricks were kilned on Mill Street, and it is believed all timbers were processed right on site. The original bell, manufactured in Ohio by the C.S. Bell Company, still hangs in the cupola and is rung daily, and for special events.
Today, the building is the principal edifice on the campus of Freed-Hardeman University. It is not only the first building constructed on campus, but also an excellent surviving example of public architecture designed by Hubert Thomas McGee. Old Main is the most prominent example of his work in Henderson, and one of few surviving in West Tennessee.

Excerpt:  Built in 1908, it was listed on

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

4. Old Main Administration Building (northwest elevation)

the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. It was a main building of the National Teachers' Normal and Business College, which was incorporated in 1907 as a successor of the West Tennessee Christian College, itself the successor of the Henderson Male and Female Institute. A. G. Freed served as president and N. B. Hardeman served as vice-president; the college was renamed for them in 1919 and eventually became the Freed-Hardeman University in 1990. The entire structure (aka, Old Main) underwent a thorough renovation which was completed in 2019.

Excerpt:  Freed-Hardeman University traces its origin to the 1869 charter of a private high school and college for Henderson. The first recorded school in Henderson was taught in the latter half of the 1860s in a frame house located on the property where Hall-Roland Hall and the Old Main Administration Building now stand. It was last headed by A. S. Sayle. The Tennessee legislature, on November 30, 1869, incorporated the Henderson Male and Female Institute

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

5. Old Main Administration Building (west elevation)

in an act which authorized the institute to offer high school and college courses of study and to confer degrees. In March of 1877, the legislature changed the name to the Henderson Masonic Male and Female Institute, the nominal term Masonic having come into use earlier. In August of 1885, the charter of the institute was amended to change the name to West Tennessee Christian College. On May 21, 1907, the National Teachers’ Normal and Business College was incorporated. Construction of the Administration Building began that fall, and the college opened in the fall of 1908.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 30, 2025

6. Old Main Administration Building (north/front elevation)