My father-in-law sent me this postcard of the Monteagle Hotel in Monteagle, Tennessee [which is near his childhood home of Tracy City (see map)]. Notice the eagle in front? "That", points out my father-in-law, "is the eagle which sits on top of Derryberry Hall."
The Monteagle Hotel is long gone; it burned in a fire many years ago. So, of course, I'm curious. How did that eagle end up in Cookeville at TTU? My resourceful father-in-law provided the first clue. Here is a section from his 1966 "Golden Anniversary" TTU Yearbook.
Note that what the yearbook referred to as "the library" is now known as Derryberry Hall.
This verifies that the eagle did indeed come from the Monteagle Hotel, but what is this about it being "notoriously acquired"? That bit of the story can actually be answered on TTU's website itself. This page about the history of the mascot states,
Several Tech students braved a driving night rainstorm to pilfer a huge block-tin eagle statue from the charred ruins of a resort hotel in Monteagle. They painted the creature - with a wingspan of over six feet - a glistening gold, and suspended it from the rafter for public inspection at the following day's basketball game in Memorial Gym.
Then-Governor Frank G. Clement, a lifelong friend of the hotel owner, was in Cookeville to speak. He worked out a compromise between his friend and the school students, who wanted to retain the eagle as their mascot.
So now you know...
To go back to Andrew's TTU Site...
