Jeter Hall, built in 1915, served as an elementary school for the first 50 years of its existence. After it no longer served the town’s purposes, it was considered to be torn down, but instead was renovated to become part of the university in 1965.

Up until this year, Jeter housed the history and social sciences departments. This year, they are housed in the new University of Montevallo on Main Building on Main Street. Since those have moved, some students have wondered what’s going to happen to Jeter now.

“Right now, we don’t have definite plans,” said University of Montevallo President John Stewart. “It’s a very difficult building to find constructive use for because of its age and because everything was built with concrete. Because it used to be an elementary school, there are some who have a real emotional attachment to it, while others don’t share that feeling of nostalgia. The honest answer is: I’m not sure what we’re going to do with it.”

“One idea that we’ve talked about with the city and the county is a possibility (and that is with a capital P) of bringing a 60- to 70-bed hotel in the spot where Jeter is,” he continued. “This would be beneficial for prospective students and parents, visiting athletic teams, etc. And, for the purpose of continuity, bricks from Jeter could be used in part of the construction or for the portico area.”

There are also other changes coming to campus. Stewart said that they have entered into an agreement with the county to build a track and field at the area where the intramural fields are. He said, “We should be breaking ground on this next year.”

As for new changes to facilities, he also said that for the most part, they want to renovate what is already here. “Part of our comprehensive fundraising project is to work on having new classrooms and labs and also to increase technology, including bandwidth, on campus,” he said.

Another new thing coming to campus is a 3D art building where the laundry building is right now. “We should be tearing down the laundry building within the next two months, getting bids for it in the fall, and then hopefully starting the construction a little after the first of the year,” he said.