This aerial photograph was used in the 1963 book "The History of Western Carolina College"by William Ernest Bird (1890-1975), whose 37-year WCU career included his role as Dean of Men and twice as acting president. Western Carolina attained university status in 1967. Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the school was a teachers college, becoming Western Carolina College in 1953. The campus saw tremendous growth during the 1930s when six buildings were constructed, some of them under the federal Works Progress Administration. The campus remained essentially unchanged until the next round of construction in the early 1950s