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Who was William Pitcher?
At one time or another, you've probably wondered why the dental-school campus is called “William Pitcher Plaza.” The Dental School Clippings File, now indexed in Reference Web Poster, has a Times-Picayune article from December 1970 about William Pitcher. As chairman of the LSU System Board of Supervisors, he was the “prime mover” behind the LSU acquisition of the 22-acre site in 1965. LSU was able to acquire the property for the medical center due to Mr. Pitcher's two-year-long negotiations between the university and the federal government.

Mr. Pitcher, a Covington native, served as chairman of the LSU board from 1966 until his death in September 1967. At the time of his death, he also had been superintendent of St. Tammany Parish public schools for twenty years. In 1970, the Board of Supervisors of the LSU System designated the Florida-Avenue campus of LSUMC as William Pitcher Plaza, in memory of the person most responsible for its existence.

During World War II, this site contained over 30 temporary barracks for housing defense workers. It was later transferred to the U.S. Navy for dependent housing; LSU acquired the land after the government declared it to be surplus property. Barracks were renovated to hold a clinic, laboratories, offices, classrooms, and the library, and the first dental class began in them in 1968. Meanwhile, construction of the permanent dental school building began in late 1968 and was completed in 1971. The building was formally dedicated on February 18, 1972.

For more details on the history of the dental school, search the index to the Dental School Clippings File in Reference Web Poster. The newspaper articles are filed in the library, behind the circulation desk. For assistance using this collection, please ask a library staff member. You can also read about the history of the first 25 years of LSUSD in From the Wolfpack to the Tiger Den, by Dr. Frank L.Herbert, found in either the library or the LSUSD bookstore.

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