diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/ContentModelSetup.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/ContentModelSetup.java
index 3919aa069..c22fbbc48 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/ContentModelSetup.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/ContentModelSetup.java
@@ -53,24 +53,22 @@ public class ContentModelSetup extends JenaDataSourceSetupBase
     	
     	Model applicationMetadataModel = models.getOntModel(APPLICATION_METADATA);
 		if (applicationMetadataModel.size()== 0) {
-			thisIsFirstStartup();
+        	initializeApplicationMetadata(ctx, applicationMetadataModel);
+		} else {
+        	checkForNamespaceMismatch( applicationMetadataModel, ctx );
 		}
 
-
         OntModel baseABoxModel = models.getOntModel(ABOX_ASSERTIONS);
-        OntModel baseTBoxModel = models.getOntModel(TBOX_ASSERTIONS);
-        
-        if (isFirstStartup()) {
-        	initializeApplicationMetadata(ctx, applicationMetadataModel);
+        if (baseABoxModel.size() == 0) {
         	RDFFilesLoader.loadFirstTimeFiles("abox", baseABoxModel, true);
-        	RDFFilesLoader.loadFirstTimeFiles("tbox", baseTBoxModel, true);
-        } else {
-        	checkForNamespaceMismatch( applicationMetadataModel, ctx );
         }
-    	RDFFilesLoader.loadEveryTimeFiles("abox", baseABoxModel);
+        RDFFilesLoader.loadEveryTimeFiles("abox", baseABoxModel);
+        
+        OntModel baseTBoxModel = models.getOntModel(TBOX_ASSERTIONS);
+        if (baseTBoxModel.size() == 0) {
+        	RDFFilesLoader.loadFirstTimeFiles("tbox", baseTBoxModel, true);
+        }
     	RDFFilesLoader.loadEveryTimeFiles("tbox", baseTBoxModel);
-    	
-		log.info("Setting up DAO factories");
     }
 
 	private long secondsSince(long startTime) {
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
index d1d24f7f8..653bfccde 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
@@ -67,9 +67,10 @@ public class RDFFilesLoader {
 	public static void loadFirstTimeFiles(String modelPath, Model model,
 			boolean firstTime) {
 		if (firstTime) {
-			Set<Path> paths = getPaths(locateHomeDirectory(), RDF, modelPath,
-					FIRST_TIME);
+			String home = locateHomeDirectory();
+			Set<Path> paths = getPaths(home, RDF, modelPath, FIRST_TIME);
 			for (Path p : paths) {
+				log.info("Loading " + relativePath(p, home));
 				readOntologyFileIntoModel(p, model);
 			}
 		} else {
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/triplesource/impl/tdb/ContentTripleSourceTDB.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/triplesource/impl/tdb/ContentTripleSourceTDB.java
index 78b8af9da..e601192bb 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/triplesource/impl/tdb/ContentTripleSourceTDB.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/triplesource/impl/tdb/ContentTripleSourceTDB.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import com.hp.hpl.jena.tdb.TDB;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.RDFServiceDataset;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.RDFServiceModelMaker;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.modelaccess.ModelNames;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.modelaccess.adapters.ListCachingModelMaker;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.modelaccess.adapters.MemoryMappingModelMaker;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.modelaccess.ontmodels.OntModelCache;
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.RDFServiceFactory;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.impl.RDFServiceFactorySingle;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.impl.jena.tdb.RDFServiceTDB;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.impl.logging.LoggingRDFServiceFactory;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.servlet.setup.JenaDataSourceSetupBase;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.configuration.Property;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.configuration.Validation;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.logging.ToString;
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ public class ContentTripleSourceTDB extends ContentTripleSource {
 			this.unclosableRdfService = this.rdfServiceFactory.getRDFService();
 			this.dataset = new RDFServiceDataset(this.unclosableRdfService);
 			this.modelMaker = createModelMaker();
+			checkForFirstTimeStartup();
 			ss.info("Initialized the RDF source for TDB");
 		} catch (IOException e) {
 			throw new RuntimeException(
@@ -102,6 +105,12 @@ public class ContentTripleSourceTDB extends ContentTripleSource {
 						this.unclosableRdfService), SMALL_CONTENT_MODELS)));
 	}
 
+	private void checkForFirstTimeStartup() {
+		if (this.dataset.getNamedModel(ModelNames.TBOX_ASSERTIONS).size() == 0) {
+			JenaDataSourceSetupBase.thisIsFirstStartup();
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public RDFServiceFactory getRDFServiceFactory() {
 		return this.rdfServiceFactory;