diff --git a/webapp/lib/sdb.jar b/webapp/lib/sdb.jar
index 6a11cfaec..35f0ab4a2 100644
Binary files a/webapp/lib/sdb.jar and b/webapp/lib/sdb.jar differ
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/JenaModelUtils.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/JenaModelUtils.java
index b07b00940..7f666fd3d 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/JenaModelUtils.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/JenaModelUtils.java
@@ -130,10 +130,6 @@ public class JenaModelUtils {
         	    }
     		} catch (Exception e) {
     			log.error("Unable to create class groups automatically based on class hierarchy");
-    			Individual thingsClassGroup = tempModel.createIndividual(wadf.getDefaultNamespace()+"vitroClassGroupThings",classGroupClass);
-    			thingsClassGroup.addLabel("Things",null);
-    			thingsClassGroup.addProperty(tempModel.getProperty(VitroVocabulary.DISPLAY_RANK_ANNOT),"50",XSDDatatype.XSDint);
-    			tempModel.add(OWL.Thing, inClassGroupProperty, thingsClassGroup);
     		}
     		vitroInternalsSubmodel.enterCriticalSection(Lock.WRITE);
     		try {
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassDaoJena.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassDaoJena.java
index 290b8e386..dd308cf59 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassDaoJena.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/dao/jena/VClassDaoJena.java
@@ -800,22 +800,13 @@ public class VClassDaoJena extends JenaBaseDao implements VClassDao {
         public void addVClassesToGroups(List <VClassGroup> groups) {
             getOntModel().enterCriticalSection(Lock.READ);
             try {
-                if ((groups != null) && (groups.size()>0)) {
+                if (groups != null) {
                     Iterator groupIt = groups.iterator();
                     while (groupIt.hasNext()) {
                         VClassGroup g = (VClassGroup) groupIt.next();
                         addVClassesToGroup(g);
                     }
-                } else {
-                    VClassGroup vcg = new VClassGroup();
-                    vcg.setURI("null://null#0");
-                    vcg.setNamespace("null://null#");
-                    vcg.setLocalName("0");
-                    vcg.setPublicName("Browse Categories");
-                    vcg.addAll(getAllVclasses());
-                    java.util.Collections.sort(vcg.getVitroClassList());
-                    groups.add(vcg);
-                }
+                } 
             } finally {
                 getOntModel().leaveCriticalSection();
             }
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JenaDataSourceSetup.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JenaDataSourceSetup.java
index c068a4a24..ac652e23c 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JenaDataSourceSetup.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JenaDataSourceSetup.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import javax.servlet.ServletContextEvent;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.datatypes.xsd.XSDDatatype;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.ontology.Individual;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.ontology.OntModel;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.Literal;
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.ModelFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.ResourceFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.shared.Lock;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.util.iterator.ClosableIterator;
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.vocabulary.OWL;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.ApplicationBean;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.VitroVocabulary;
@@ -79,6 +81,7 @@ public class JenaDataSourceSetup extends JenaDataSourceSetupBase implements java
             if (isEmpty(memModel)) {
             	loadDataFromFilesystem(memModel, sce.getServletContext());
             }
+            
             if (userAccountsModel.size() == 0) {
             	readOntologyFilesInPathSet(AUTHPATH, sce.getServletContext(), userAccountsModel);
 	            if (userAccountsModel.size() == 0) {
@@ -145,11 +148,9 @@ public class JenaDataSourceSetup extends JenaDataSourceSetupBase implements java
 	        	essentialInterfaceData = InitialJenaModelUtils.loadInitialModel(sce.getServletContext(), defaultNamespace);
 	        	if (essentialInterfaceData.size() == 0) {
 	        		essentialInterfaceData = InitialJenaModelUtils.basicPortalAndRootTab(defaultNamespace);
+	        		essentialInterfaceData.add(InitialJenaModelUtils.basicClassgroup(wadf.getDefaultNamespace()));
 	        	}
 	            //JenaModelUtils.makeClassGroupsFromRootClasses(wadf,memModel,essentialInterfaceData);       
-	            if (!essentialInterfaceData.isEmpty()) {
-	            	memModel.addSubModel(essentialInterfaceData);
-	            }
 	            memModel.add(essentialInterfaceData);
         	} else {
         		//Set the default namespace to the namespace of the first portal object we find.
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/jena/InitialJenaModelUtils.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/jena/InitialJenaModelUtils.java
index df5160894..fe02ccac2 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/jena/InitialJenaModelUtils.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/jena/InitialJenaModelUtils.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.datatypes.xsd.XSDDatatype;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.ontology.Individual;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.ontology.OntModel;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.ontology.OntModelSpec;
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.Resource;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.ResourceFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.util.ResourceUtils;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.util.iterator.ClosableIterator;
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.vocabulary.OWL;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.vocabulary.RDF;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.VitroVocabulary;
@@ -86,7 +88,6 @@ public class InitialJenaModelUtils {
 	}
 	
 	public static Model basicPortalAndRootTab(String defaultNamespace) {
-
 		OntModel essentialInterfaceData = ModelFactory.createOntologyModel(OntModelSpec.OWL_MEM);
         Resource portalClass = essentialInterfaceData.getResource(VitroVocabulary.PORTAL);
         Property themeDirProperty = essentialInterfaceData.getProperty(VitroVocabulary.PORTAL_THEMEDIR);
@@ -110,8 +111,22 @@ public class InitialJenaModelUtils {
 		rootTab.addProperty(tabInPortalProperty, portal1);
 		portal1.addProperty(rootTabProperty, rootTab);
 		
-		return essentialInterfaceData;
-		
+		return essentialInterfaceData;		
 	}
 	
+	public static Model basicClassgroup(String defaultNamespace) {
+		OntModel m = ModelFactory.createOntologyModel(OntModelSpec.OWL_MEM);
+		Individual thingsClassGroup = m.createIndividual(
+				defaultNamespace+"vitroClassGroupThings", 
+				m.createResource(VitroVocabulary.CLASSGROUP));
+		thingsClassGroup.addLabel("Things", null);
+		thingsClassGroup.addProperty(
+				m.getProperty(VitroVocabulary.DISPLAY_RANK_ANNOT),
+				"50", XSDDatatype.XSDint);
+		m.add(OWL.Thing, 
+				m.getProperty(VitroVocabulary.IN_CLASSGROUP), thingsClassGroup);
+		return m;
+	}
+	
+	
 }