Jeter Hall
Jeter Hall, or the Jeter Building, was a classroom building for University of Montevallo, located at the corner of Boundary Street and Oak Street directly across from one of the main entrances onto campus. It was demolished
Built in 1915, it was designed as a public school by Murice Jeter, founder of the Jeter Mercantile Company, who also served as chair of the Montevallo Board of Education. Jeter drew up the plans for the building because the board had no funds for an architect.
The building originally housed six classrooms, an auditorium, two music rooms, a cafeteria, and a single toilet room. Montevallo High School classes met in the building until 1920. The college used the elementary school as a training laboratory for future teachers.
Alabama College obtained the building through a property swap rather than see it demolished. College labor was used to renovate it for the Social Sciences Department, which opened in the building in February 1965.
Another renovation was undertaken in 1978, replacing mechanical systems and adding carpet throughout. Judge James Sharbutt of Vincent funded the furnishing of the third floor for seminar rooms and to house memorabilia from his public career.
The building's carpeting was replaced with tile flooring in 2004. In 1990 it was listed as a contributing structure to an expansion of the University of Montevallo Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jeter Hall served as a classroom building until 2013, when the new Montevallo on Main Street facility opened. Following a feasibility study which evaluated several potential sites for a new hotel, the Montevallo Development Cooperative District solicited proposals to redevelop the Jeter Hall site, giving developers the option of preserving or demolishing the 99-year-old building.
The hotel project was not pursued at the site. Instead it was used for the new 36,750 square-foot Center for the Arts, which opened in 2020.
References
- Griffith, Lucille (1988) White Columns & Red Brick: The University of Montevallo Buildings. University of Montevallo Press, pp. 8–9
- Mahan, Mike & Melanie Betz (May 25, 1990) "University of Montevallo Historic District Expansion" National Register of Historic Places nomination form - listed October 17, 1990
- Reed, Martin J. (February 11, 2014) "Could Montevallo support a hotel? A feasibility study has an answer" The Birmingham News
- Reed, Martin J. (March 24, 2014) "Could a new hotel replace the University of Montevallo's historic Jeter Hall?" The Birmingham News
- "Request for Proposal, Hotel, Montevallo, Alabama" (May 9, 2014)
- Reed, Martin J. (August 19, 2014) "Petition: Don't destroy University of Montevallo's Jeter Hall for hotel proposal" The Birmingham News
- "UM opens new Center for the Arts" (August 27, 2020) University of Montevallo