Entries drawn from the college history timeline
North College caught fire in the early hours of the morning. Horatio Collins King (Class of 1858) described the incident in his journal:
"About midnight, I was awakened by the eng of 'College on fire', 'College on fire'! I hurried to the back Campus, when I perceived the 'Capitol' i.e....
On Monday, June 8th, 1896 the Denny Memorial Building was officially opened and dedicated as a hall of science. His Excellency Governor Daniel H. Hastings gave an address at the ceremony. Two halls inside the building, the A. Herr Smith Memorial Hall for the Union Philosophical Society and the...
On Tuesday, June 6th, 1905 Conway Hall was dedicated as the new home of the Collegiate Preparatory School of Dickinson. The building contained offices, recitation rooms, society halls, waiting halls, dining halls, a chapel, and dormitories and was thoroughly lit by electricity and heated by...
On Tuesday, June 6th, 1905 the second Denny Memorial Building was dedicated. It contained eleven recitation rooms with adjoining offices and three large halls for the literary societies. The Allison tower, an addition to the original building plan, contained the college bell that had formerly...
The libraries of the Belles Lettres and Union Philosophical Literary Societies received several fine new chairs due to the efforts of President George Edward Reed. The halls were excellently furnished, as well as spacious and pleasing.
The Dickinson Law School started holding classes in Trickett Hall on this date.
On Sunday, June 5th, 1921, Memorial Hall was dedicated to the Dickinson alumni who served in the First World War. The highlight of the ceremony was the unveiling of a plaque featuring the names of all those who gave their lives in the war. The ceremony also featured several scripture readings...
Professor William Landis '91, Dean Hoffman '02, J. Freed Martin '12, and George B. Elliott '31 participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fraternity house for Phi Delta Theta. The fraternity had grown too large for its house at the corner of College and Louther streets, so it purchased...
The Phi Delta Theta fraternity inaugurated its new chapter house on Friday, November 6th, with a ceremony in which the fraternity alumni handed over the key to the new building to the active chapter.
The executive committee of the board of trustees authorized the purchase of the Mooreland Estate for $55,000. Having planned to make this purchase, they had already raised $30,000 in pledges from alumni.
On October 23, 1940, senior women students finished moving into the newly-acquired and newly-renovated Hays House, located across the street from Metzger Hall on the southwest corner of Hanover and East Penn streets. The house could accommodate twenty residents.
The recently remodeled former Parker House was 0pened as the Freshman Annex, a dormitory for freshman women across the street from Metzger Hall, at the beginning of the 1942-1943 academic year.
In this ceremony, Drayer Hall was opened as the new residence hall for women. A portrait of Mary Dickinson was presented to the women of the college.
On Tuesday, February 23rd, 1954, the Durbin Oratory was dedicated as a place of prayer in West College. Bishop W. Earl Ledden performed the dedication and blessed the gifts to the oratory, which included furniture, religious items, and an organ.
On Friday, February 25th, 1955, the cornerstone was laid for the future Morgan Hall. Former Dickinson President Fred P. Corson gave an address honoring President James Henry Morgan. The cornerstone was then filled with special objects and a litany was prayed for the stone.
On Thursday, April 24, 1958 the new Allison Memorial Methodist Church on the corner of the Benjamin Rush campus was dedicated. Inside the church was the Dickinson College Chapel, which was also dedicated. Bishop John Wesley Lord, '27, gave an address at the ceremony.
On Sat., Nov. 8, 1958, the C. Scott Althouse Science Hall was dedicated. Construction on the building, which would hold the chemistry and geology departments, began in June, 1957. The event occurred over homecoming weekend, just after the re-dedication of the Tome Scientific Building and the...
On Saturday Nov. 8, 1958, the Roscoe O. Bonisteel Planetarium was dedicated, as part of the re-dedication of the Tome Scientific Building (now the Stern Center) which had been renovated. The planetarium was designed by Henry L. Yeagley, professor of natural philosophy, and built thanks to a $50...
On Sat. November 8, 1958 the Tome Scientific Building (now the Stern Center) was re-dedicated following a complete interior renovation. The renovations included the addition of the Roscoe O. Bonisteel Planetarium, which was dedicated at the same time. The ceremony took place over homecoming...
At a student senate meeting, Financial Vice President, Dr. George Shuman, presented his personal plans for expansion of the Dickinson campus by 1973.
Constructed in 1804, Old West was finally recognized on the national level. On April 25, 1963 (now founder's day), Old West was acclaimed by the US Department of the Interior as a national historic landmark.
On Thursday, April 25th, 1963, Old West was certified as a registered national historic landmark and a memorial plaque was unveiled. Mr. Daniel Beard, Assistant Director of the National Park Service, presented the certificate. The Hon. George A. Goodling, Member of Congress, spoke at the...
On Saturday, October 5, 1963, Adams Hall was dedicated as a women's dormitory on the Benjamin Rush Campus. The building was named in honor of a $250,000 gift from Mr. and Mrs. Roland L. Adams, the former of whom was a member of the class of 1927 and trustee of the College. President Rubendall...
The anthropology lab, located on the first floor of Denny Hall, was opened, housing human skeletons, Native American artifacts, fossils, and slides of primate fossils. Professor H. Wade Seaford, Jr. was appointed as director of the lab, which was used for both research and teaching.
On Saturday, June 4th, 1966, the Holland Union Building was dedicated. Homer C. Holland, '13, performed the unveiling.
