No Destination: Union College

Union College's Centennial Hall, Barbourville, Ky.

Barbourville's Union College is one of the state's smallest. Its campus is 100 acres; its undergraduate student body only counts 600+ and about 1000 graduate students. [*]. Despite its small size, it is a fine campus with several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Union College was founded in 1879 by the citizens of Barbourville who believed that "education was the path to leadership."

Among these is Centennial Hall (originally, the Classroom Building). The structure, pictured above, was completed in 1907. From the College's 1911-1912 catalogue:

This magnificent and spacious three-story building, constructed of brick and concrete, and trimmed with Tennessee marble. The building is steam-heated and lighted by electricity … and is scientifically ventilated to insure plenty of good fresh air. In is are the classrooms, the library, the President’s office, the chapel, and laboratories. The classrooms are fifteen in number. Each is equipped with single desks and slate blackboards of ample size. From the President’s office are speaking-tubes to each room, and also electrical connections, so that a modern program clock situated in the office rings automatically in each room the bells for the change of classes and other signals. The chapel is commodious and is seated with comfortable opera chairs. There are three laboratories – Chemical, Physical, and Biological. These are equipped throughout with modern apparatus and enable the student to do unusually through work in science.

Union College's most notable alumnus is Nobel laureate Phillip Allen Sharp who won the 1993 award in physiology/medicine for his research on gene-splicing. Born in Falmouth (Pendleton County), Sharp was also awarded the National Award for Science in 2004.