The History of the University
A Historic University: Hidden in Plain Sight
Overview
According to Mrs. Joan Francis, Museum and Heritage Officer at the University of Technology, It was the award-winning work of the University of the West Indies Professor and historian Veront Satchell, titled Hope, transformed: A Historical Sketch of the Hope Landscape, St. Andrew, Jamaica, 1660-1960 that motivated the declaration of the first two national monuments on the University of Technology Campus. Following that, the seven new monuments designated in 2019 were the result of an initiative that began with Mrs. Francis's thesis for her master's degree in Heritage Studies. It occurred to her that the then-structures have a similar architectural style to that of Lillian's Restaurant, which was declared a National Monument in 2010.
There is a disconnect between heritage education and the University's student population, according to a vox pop conducted on campus (https://soundcloud.com/daniella-dias-788127589/vox-pop-on-the-national-monuments). The vox-pop emphasizes the significance of heritage education, particularly at the university, because the majority of students are uninformed of the university's history and heritage. A Historic University: Hidden in Plain Sight is a multimedia project that strives to raise awareness, educate, and teach people about the heritage and history of the University that is hidden in plain sight.
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N.B: Mrs. Joan Francis, the Museum and Heritage Officer at the University of Technology, did not grant the researcher an interview because of the discipline the university needs to address. However, she assisted with the conceptualization of the project and provided her knowledge when needed .
Early History
The Campus's history is inextricably significant to the 1770s Hope Plantation, one of the largest and most advanced estates in St. Andrew, Jamaica, purchased by Major Richard Hope in 1665. Major Richard Hope owned 2600 acres of land stretching across the Liguanea Plain. The vast tract of land, which ran from the Liguanea Mountains to the Hope River and then to the Dallas Mountains, bordered Matildas Corner (Francis, 2015).
The 1363 acres of land had multiple purposes, including cane farming, raising livestock, creating pastures, and maintaining woodlands. In the 1770s, the land had 37 cane pieces; moreover, it produced other crops for people and animals, notably ackee, cashew, pear, and mangoes. With the remainder producing firewood for the sugar-making process. The slave village, bookkeeper house, and artisan shops were all part of the Factory Complex, which was the plantation's beating heart. The slave village, was located towards the western edges of lands, now occuping the students' living quarters at the University of Technology. The Hope Aqueduct provided the plantation with water for its crops and livestock. The Aqueduct, which surrounds the University of Technology, is currently operational (Francis, 2015).
Thomas Hope- Elleston, a family of Richard Hope, is credited the technical mastery considerations that improved operation on the Hope Plantation. After Thomas's death in the 1770s, his widow remarried the Marquis of Chando, and the estate deteriorated. A fire destroyed the settlement of free slaves in 1838 and restored in 1848. Later, the estate was leased; and sold to the Kingston and Liguanea Water Works Company and then to the Government. Besides the water company, the Government operated the waterworks, the 1874 Hope Botanical Gardens, a high school in 1885, and a college four years later. Also, they established in 1891 Boys Industrial School at Hope, said to be the first education facility, now the Drawing Room on the Utech campus (Francis, 2015).
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The Legacy of the Farm School
The National Monuments on University Campus is a reflection of the Farm School . ‘The Farm School for agricultural training, established in 1910, and the Mico College for teachers established in 1836, were the only post-secondary (tertiary) educational opportunities open in those early days of the twentieth century’, (Sangster, 2011, p. 8). Dr. T. P. Lecky, a renowned scientist, commenced his agricultural training at Hope Farm School. Subsequently, he pursued further education abroad and eventually returned to Jamaica, where he devised cattle breeds that exhibited immunity to tick fever, harsh climatic conditions such as drought and extreme temperatures, and also had a diverse diet. The Jamaica Hope, Jamaica Black, Jamaica Red, and Jamaica Brahmin are proof of successful cross-bred cattle that he created (Sangster, 2011, p. 10) . In the 1930’s the Farm School changed its name to the Jamaica School of Agriculture in the 1930s. In 1957 the institution relocated to Twickenham Park, Spanish Town. In 1958 the Jamaica Institute of Technology was established which after a year was changed to the College of Arts, Science, and Technology (CAST). On September 1, 1995, thirty-seven years later, CAST was awarded university status and is currently known as the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja) (Sangster, 2011, p. 9-10).
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Lillian’s Restaurant, which has been operating for over one hundred years since 1912 and the Ruins of Three Concrete Silos built between 1920-1930 a part of the original 1910 Farm School at Hope. Both the Ruins of the Three Silos and Lillian's Restaurant were declared national monuments in 2010 ("Lillian’s Restaurant and the Ruins of Three Concrete Silos", n.d.; Sangster, 2011, p.9). The Drawing Room with Georgian features like that of Lillian’s is the first ever institution to be located on the campus and has been around since the 1891 Boys Industrial School at Hope (Jamaica National Heritage Trust, 2019). The Chapel, the UTech Students' Union building, the Centre for the Arts and the Victoria Mutual Building Society are all buildings are all original Farm School Buildings and had multiple uses during the operation of CAST (Sangster, 2011, p. 281-282). Cynthia Shako Early Childhood and Daycare was home to the Farm Manager at Hope. While the Students’ Activity Centre known as the Barn where livestock was reared is linked to the scientific heritage of the Farm School.
The structures on the campus are national monuments because of their historic, scientific, and architectural identification with Jamaican history and were declared as National Monuments by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (Jamaica National Heritage Trust,2019).
