Provided by Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University and the Lubbock County Historical Commission unveiled a Texas Historical Marker at the Human Sciences Cottage, recognizing the nearly 100-year-old building’s role in hands-on education and community impact since its construction in 1928. Originally known as the Home Management House, the Cottage helped generations of students gain practical life and family management skills and now serves as a welcoming space for the College of Health & Human Sciences.
Why This Matters:
Preserving History: The historical marker formally recognizes the Cottage’s longstanding contribution to Texas Tech and ensures its legacy carries on to future generations.
Hands-On Education: The Cottage represents Texas Tech’s tradition of practical, experience-based learning, where students developed real-world household and childcare skills that directly impacted families and communities.
Strengthening Identities: As a gathering place for alumni, visitors and university programs, the Cottage continues to serve as a welcoming symbol of connection, tradition and service on campus.
The fourth building on Texas Tech University’s campus now has signage that honors its legacy over nearly a century.
A Texas Historical Marker was unveiled at the Human Sciences Cottage during a dedication ceremony that began at 5 p.m. Thursday (June 18). The event celebrated a successful application process that was a joint effort of faculty and staff from the College of Health & Human Sciences and the Lubbock County Historical Commission.
The placement of the historical marker includes the Cottage in one of the most visible programs of the Texas Historical Commission that commemorates topics in Texas history.
“Historic spaces like the Human Sciences Cottage connect us to the generations of students and faculty whose work helped shape the future of families and communities across Texas and beyond,” said Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec. “We are proud to see this important chapter in the history of Texas Tech University and the College of Health & Human Sciences recognized with a Texas Historical Marker, and we are grateful to all those who have preserved its legacy for future generations.”
College of Health & Human Sciences Dean Tim Dodd explains that the Cottage was practice-oriented after it was constructed in 1928 and called the Home Management House. Students within the College of Home Economics used the house to gain the skills they would need to run their own household one day, such as cooking, cleaning, gardening and even childcare through around-the-clock parenting they provided through “practice babies.”
“This is a place where it was about people and how households ran,” he said. “I think to the history of Texas Tech, it really fits with that idea of people doing very practical things that made a difference in people’s lives and in the community, as well as for students who came in to learn and really gained hands-on experience.”
After four decades, the Cottage was no longer used for home management practice. It was renovated and renamed in 2014 and is now home to the Center for Adolescent Resiliencyand also used as a venue for alumni gatherings, advisory board meetings, speakers and more.
“Whenever we have people from outside the community come in, we always host them there,” Dodd said. “It’s just like a household should be: a welcoming place to bring people in that matches that feeling of a home.”
Dodd is thankful for support the Cottage has received as it became the fourth Texas Historical Marker on the Texas Tech campus.
“Everyone really bought into this because it’s a very worthy building that deserves this recognition,” he said. “There are some wonderful stories about all the education and learning that went on in the Cottage. It has a very important place in the history of our college and of the entire campus in terms of looking back at how we’ve grown and developed over nearly 100 years.”
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