History

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The Techgram was a newsletter sent to parents of students. The caption to these photographs said:
'WHITESBURG' — Blacksburg has been “Whitesburg” ever since Feb. 13 when the first of 69 inches of snow which has fallen since then began to accumulate. According to figures compiled by the Montgomery News Messenger 79.57 inches of snow has fallen in Blacksburg since last Nov. 25, breaking every record since the recording began at Tech in 1895. Previous high for a season was a 67.3 inch snowfall in 1914. The left photo shows the drill field with the Newman Library and War Memorial in the background. In right photo, a freshman cadet walks to class between “walls” of accumulated snow. The president's house and Davidson and Williams Halls are in the background, left to right.

Here is another view of the same snow taken in March of 1960 when we were sophomores. We had lots of interesting weather in Bleaksburg. Do you remember the day when it was so foggy that you could not see across the Drill Field from Eggleston dorm? In the middle of the drill field you could see no buildings in any direction. We were guided to class by the chimes of Burruss Hall. Do you remember the winter day when it snowed in the morning, was rainy and foggy in mid-day and students were out in shirtsleeves playing ball on the Drill Field in the afternoon sun. Those were the days you hated to be the one in charge of selecting the uniform of the day. Were you ever the rat dressed in rain gear, ready to announce “Last call to growley, Sir” when the bugler then played the call for windbreakers?

This is a reproduction of a postcard sold in our era at VPI. Mostly likely it was taken before our rat year, but it depicts a typical ROTC Commissioning ceremony in Miles Stadium. The band is at the far left.

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