Tag Archives: Alumni Hall

Dana Arts Center, Cutten Hall, Bryan Hall, and O’Connor Campus Center built (p. 336)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Dana Arts Center, Cutten Hall, Bryan Hall, and O’Connor Campus Center built (p. 336)

also established a scholarship program for five years with an initial grant of $130,000 with the possibility of extending it for a second five-year period.

The expansion of Colgate’s physical facilities, an important feature of the Case presidency, continued during his successor’s. Four new buildings were erected and others modified or renovated. With the destruction of the Administration Building by fire in October, 1963, the old library, then serving as a Foreign Language Center, became the new Administration Building after extensive alterations and the transfer of the language center to Lawrence Hall. The Reid Athletic Center, in use since 1959, was completed in 1966 with the dedication of the basketball court to the memory of Wesley M. Cotterell, ’19, Trustee, 1961-65; the hockey rink in 1965 had been named for J. Howard Starr, Professor of Physical Education Emeritus, and former hockey coach. Alumni Hall was completely remodeled in 1965 and occupied by the Division of the Social Sciences, except for the Education Department which was located in Lawrence Hall; Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, was the architect. The Arts Center, named for Charles A. Dana whose foundation had provided a challenge grant as the basis of the funds raised for the building, was completed in 1966. A striking example of modern architecture, it was designed by Paul Rudolph, and provided classroom, office, studio and performing space for courses and activities in the fine arts, music and drama, and also housed a theater and an art gallery. Two residence complexes, Cutten and Bryan Halls, were completed in 1966 and 1967; the architects were Perkins and Will. The first was named for Colgate’s eighth president and comprised four houses commemorating faculty members active during his term-Albert P. Brigham (geology); Frank L. Shepardson (Greek and University Treasurer); Harold O. Whitnall (Geology) and Melbourne S. Read, (Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Vice President, 1912-21, and President pro tem, 1921-22). The second building perpetuates the memory of Colgate’s seventh president and also consists of four houses named for Dean William H. Crawshaw, ’87; George W. Cobb, ’94, Trustee (1907-45) and donor of the Cobb Awards; William M. Parke, ’00, Trustee (1926-61; President, 1937-48); and Norman F. S. Russell, ’01, Trustee (1928-54; President, 1948-52). The A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Campus Center, designed by Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, and opened in 1967, provided facilities for the

Comments Off on Dana Arts Center, Cutten Hall, Bryan Hall, and O’Connor Campus Center built (p. 336)

Posted in Chapter 16, p. 336, The Barnett Period 1962-1969, timeline

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whitnall field completed (p. 246)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Whitnall field completed (p. 246)
Whitnall Field, Grandstand, Old Gymnasium 1905, A1000-72, Folder 2, p246

 

floor of Alumni Hall, had it transformed in 1899 by putting in a hard wood floor, an oak-beamed ceiling, oak stalls on the platform, oak casing around the old iron pillars and hanging portraits of Colgate worthies on the walls; the next year a fine organ was installed. The large assembly room on the third floor was converted into classrooms, the last being finishing in 1903. Whitnall Field, named for the donor Thaddeus O. Whitnall of Syracuse, was completed in 1900; it encompassed a quarter-mile running and a 220-yard straight track, a football gridiron, baseball diamond, tennis courts and a grandstand. The President’s House, a gift of James B. Colgate, was another building project of the first years of the Merrill administration which is of interest. Planned by the Merrills in conjunction with Mr. Colgate’s Yonkers architect friend, Edwin A. Quick, it was finished in 1900 and proved

Comments Off on Whitnall field completed (p. 246)

Posted in Chapter 12, p. 246, The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908, timeline

Tagged ,

p. 152 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

Posted on May 3, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 152 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

But by the late ’50’s, the long-time student interest in maintaining buildings and grounds seems to have given way to an enthusiasm for gymnastic exercises. Through their own endeavors they built a gymnasium in 1858 and equipped it with a trapeze, ropes and rings, and other apparatus. The next year the Trustees hired a janitor to keep the classrooms clean, shovel paths in winter and do other jobs students had usually done.

The need for an auditorium larger than the chapel in West Hall led to the construction of the Hall of Alumni and Friends. In 1858 Henry C. Vogell, Class of 1827, a University Trustee and pastor at Rome, New York, began soliciting subscriptions for a $20,000 building fund. The laying of the cornerstone took place the next year at commencement, with the presidents of Brown and Hamilton as honored guests. Since the Trustees had been unable to agree on a site, three having been considered, the ceremony took place on the north side of East and West Halls. Immediately afterward, however, they chose a location west of these structures. The Cottage Edifice which stood on part of the site was razed and by the following August the new three-story building, 107 feet by 75 feet, was nearly ready for the roof. Observers viewed with great interest the aerial tramway, suggested by Washington A. Roebling who later designed the Brooklyn Bridge, which conveyed the stone for the walls from the University quarry on the Hill above to the workmen below; as the staging was raised the lower end of the tramway was elevated.

One cornerstone, whether the original or not is unknown, carries the proud inscription: “Quod conamur perficimus“ (“We complete what we attempt”). These were brave words, for only the chapel, which occupied the entire third floor, was finished by August 1861. Vogell’s accounts had not balanced and the Trustees were obliged to borrow additional funds. Nonetheless, dedication exercises were held the day before commencement. The choir and congregation sang two original hymns by Samuel F. Smith, the author of “America.” The following stanza from the second was eminently fitting for the occasion:

 

Here may no Science, falsely named,
Thy sacred Word deny –
May error here be shunned and shamed,
In knowledge from on high.

 

The night prior to the exercises prankster students built a huge

Comments Off on p. 152 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

Posted in Chapter 8, p. 152, Recovery and Expansion, 1850-1869

Tagged , ,

p. 33 – Administration, setting and staff, 1820-1833

Posted on May 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 33 – Administration, setting and staff, 1820-1833

Besides the chapel, West Hall contained a lecture room, a library, and studies and sleeping rooms which could accommodate about seventy students, two to the room. Occupants were permitted to paint the walls of their rooms if they wished and furniture from the “stone building on the plain,” which groups and individuals had provided, was transferred to chambers in the new building bearing the names the donors had specified for those in the old one. Since lack of furniture made it possible at first to use less than half of the sleeping rooms, appeals went out for contributions of beds, bedding and other equipment. Outfitting quarters for students cost $50.00.

Extensive renovations have obliterated all traces of the original interior but externally the building is the same as it was in 1827. One observer then wrote that the structure was plain, well designed and constructed, and showed marks of strict economy. Today architects still comment on its simplicity and excellent proportions. In the general exterior design it resembles other college buildings of the period including Painter Hall at Middlebury, Hascall’s Alma Mater.*

Within a week after West Hall was dedicated, Hascall had completed, at a cost of $950, a “large convenient” boarding house, known as the “Cottage Edifice,” and a wood house; both were, of course, necessary complements to the new classroom and dormitory building. The boarding house, which stood between West and the present Alumni Halls, was 48 feet long and 34 feet wide and two stories high. The cellar and kitchen were in the first story, the dining room and living quarters for the steward and his family in the second.

The campus of the 1820’s and 30’s probably was bleak, bare of trees or shrubs, and without landscaping to enhance the natural beauty of the site. A new road down to the present College Street was opened and about ten acres to the north stretching to that highway were purchased. Hascall, acting as superintendent of buildings and grounds, cleared the space around the buildings and enclosed it with a fence. He also removed to the rear of the boarding house an old distillery, presumably once operated by Samuel Payne, for the students to use as a workshop. By 1829 Kendrick could report that the Education Society owned real estate worth over $12,000.

Hascall, Kendrick, and other faculty members to a lesser degree,

* The Trustees of the Hamilton Academy purchased the “building on the plain” for their boys’ department which occupied it until the academy was discontinued in the 1850’s. Hamilton Academy Record Book, Apr. 28, 1827.

Comments Off on p. 33 – Administration, setting and staff, 1820-1833

Posted in Administration Setting and Staff 1820-1833, Chapter 2, p. 33

Tagged , , , , , ,