Denny Memorial Hall (1896-1904)

The Denny family property directly to the east of campus on the northeast corner of High and West Streets had been secured for the college for only $1 through the influence of Charles Francis Himes, a Dickinson alumnus, faculty member, and administrator who had connections to the Dennys through marriage. The only stipulation of the transfer of property was that any structure that might occupy that site should bear the Denny name as a memorial.

On June 8, 1896, following one year of construction, this agreement was honored with the opening of Denny Memorial Hall. Built at a cost of $40,000, Denny was designed by Thomas P. Lonsdale as a classroom and office building “devoted solely to recitation purposes.” The Denny family donated $12,000 to the project, and Eliza E. Smith gave $10,000 in order to provide meeting halls for the College’s two literary societies, the Union Philosophical Society and the Belles Lettres Society. These two halls honored the memory of her brother, Abraham Herr Smith, Class of 1840.

Denny Memorial Hall was destroyed by fire on March 3, 1904, but was replaced the following year by a new building bearing the same name.