Happy 70th birthday, Tidwell Bible Building!

For 70 years now, virtually every Baylor undergraduate student has taken religion and history courses in Tidwell Bible Building. So many students and alumni have fond memories of the building — but how much do you know about its history?

Tidwell Bible Building was named for Dr. Josiah Blake Tidwell, who served as head of Baylor’s Bible department (and later the Baylor religion department) from 1910-46. Tidwell’s students were so strongly influenced by his work that in 1936, 125 of them met at the Baptist General Convention of Texas to discuss plans to erect a building on the Baylor campus bearing his name.

Enrollment had been increasing, and the university realized the practical need for more classroom space and for the religion department to have a home of its own. Fundraising began immediately, but would go on for nearly 18 years due to World War II and design difficulties. (In fact, Tidwell passed before the building became a reality. His final words reportedly were, “Oh, if God would only let me live five more years so I could see the Tidwell Bible Building on Baylor’s campus.”)

The first vision for the building was created by architect Guy A. Carlander, Tidwell’s son-in-law. Carlander drew up plans for what would have been the tallest, most striking building on Baylor’s campus — a 10-story building featuring “the largest tracery window in the world” — a glass wall of light 110 feet tall. Electrified images of a cross and a crown would have appeared inside this illuminated window with the push of a button. At the top, the design called for a cathedral-like “crown” that housed a meditation room, a library, a nursery, and a chapel capable of seating 800 worshippers. It was a breathtaking vision — but a far too expensive one. A new architect, Birch D. Easterwood, was hired to design a more modest building.

The final design (below) for the building resembled a combination of the two visions above. It had six floors and a basement (but no record-breaking window), and bore enough symbolism to indicate its use for academic religious purposes without looking like a church. Part of the building’s exterior design featured 68 limestone panels showing scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Construction on the building finally got underway in April 1953, and it was formally dedicated at Homecoming on Oct. 22, 1954.

When Tidwell opened, it was home to the departments of religion, history, sociology, philosophy, sacred music and German, and also had some offices used by the School of Nursing. Today, it houses Baylor’s religion, history and sociology departments, buoyed by a 15-month renovation in 2020-21 that updated the building to bring it into the 21st century. Statues of Baylor’s first Black graduates, Rev. Robert Gilbert and Barbara Walker (a history and sociology major, respectively), were added just outside in 2023.

As Tidwell enters its eighth decade serving Baylor students, it continues to tower over campus as a physical reminder of the university’s commitment to Christian ideals and education.

Sic ’em, Tidwell Bible Building!