Places

The second building in the College history to bear the Denny family name, Denny Memorial Hall was constructed to replace the first building of that name, which was destroyed by fire in March 1904. The cornerstone of the new building was laid on June 7, 1904, just three months after its predecessor had burned down. It was completed just one year later, being dedicated on June 6, 1905 in a ceremony which also celebrated the opening of Conway Hall. Architect Miller I. Kast designed the second Denny Hall, which cost $62,964.84 and was financed by an intense subscription campaign.

The hall, like its predecessor, included large meeting rooms for the College’s two literary societies, as well as classrooms and offices. The Lenore Allison Tower, a clock and bell tower which was a departure from the earlier building, recognized a $2500 gift of William Clare Allison towards the fund-raising campaign. The college bell was moved from the cupola of West College and placed in Allison Tower upon completion of the building.

Denny Memorial Hall was completely renovated and modernized in 1983-1984, at a cost of about $2.5 million.

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.

A multi-purpose facility designed primarily as a student social space, the Depot replaced the Lumberyard, which had collapsed in January 1994. The Depot, which opened on March 4, 1995, was designed by Spillman Farmer Architects and constructed at a cost of $1.4 million.

The Depot was demolished in February 2013 as part of a project to expand the Kline Athletic Center.

Drayer Hall was the first residence hall in Dickinson’s history built by the College solely for women. It was also the first new building constructed on the Benjamin Rush campus, a twelve-acre tract which had been acquired from the Moore Estate in 1932. Construction was begun in November 1950, and the building was appropriately dedicated on what the College had designated as Women’s Day, May 1, 1952.

Drayer Hall was designed by Sydney E. Martin, and constructed at a cost of almost $785,000. The building was named in honor of Sumner M. Drayer (Class of 1902, by appointment) and his wife, Agnes, the principal donors toward the capital campaign which financed the construction. In addition, Mary Sharp Foucht contributed funds to establish the Sharp Memorial Lounge in memory of her father, Alexander Sharp, Class of 1883.

After some of the building’s recreational space was renovated in 1965, Drayer Hall housed the College’s Health Center. At various times through the years, Drayer Hall has served as a residence for men and women, sometimes for upperclassmen and other times for first year students.

Built shortly after the reopening of the College under Methodist Church auspices, East College was completed on November 5, 1836. The building was designed by Henry Myers and was constructed at a cost of $9,588. Fireproof walls effectively divided the building into four sections. Recitation rooms and student dormitories comprised three of these sections. The fourth section, located on the eastern end of the building, was occupied by the College president until 1890. The building underwent renovations in 1882 which removed the recitation area on the southern side of the third floor. When Denny Hall opened in 1896, the remaining recitation areas on the second floor were also removed and East College became a dormitory with a few student social offices.

In 1924 the trustees authorized $60,000 for an extensive renovation. The majority of the inner structure of the building was removed to bring the sanitation facilities and electric lighting up to the standards of the time. In addition, the four stairways that led to second floor entrances were removed, so that entry to each section of the building was now through colonial-style ground floor doors.

Emory Chapel, located on the northeast corner of West and Pomfret Streets, was built in 1858 as a Methodist church intended specifically for the College’s religious community. The building was designed by Thomas Balbirnie in Victorian Gothic style, and was constructed at a cost of just over $10,000. Emory Female College used the chapel from 1863 until 1866.

In 1877, Dickinson College assumed the debts of the church and converted the chapel into the Grammar School, which remained there until 1886. Four years later, Emory Chapel was leased to the Dickinson Law School, which utilized the building until the completion of Trickett Hall in 1917. The College finally sold Emory Chapel to the United Brethren Church in 1919, and it was torn down shortly thereafter.

Acquired by the College at a cost of $32,000, Filler Hall, the former residence of R. P. Masland, was purchased in March of 1959. Located along North College Street, the building was named in honor of former college president Mervin Grant Filler, class of 1893. Shortly after its purchase, Filler Hall underwent an extensive renovation which included the addition of a thirty-booth electronic language lab. Richard C. Reed designed the renovation, which was made possible by a $50,000 gift from Iréneé du Pont.

In the summer of 1963, just over four years after it was purchased, Filler Hall was razed to provide room for the construction of the Holland Union Building.

The College purchased a house at 333 West High Street for $7,000 on December 26, 1900. This house was first used as the residence for the Headmaster of Conway Hall following the completion of that building in 1905. In 1930, it was converted into a double house, one half serving as a residence for faculty and the other as the College’s Health Center. The building later became a women’s dormitory, and in 1966 the house was razed to provide room for the construction of the Boyd Lee Spahr Library.

The name “Fink Hall,” which was applied to this house, was not an official name. For decades, students used the name in fond reference to the longtime Director of Health Services, Oneta M. Fink, R.N.

Four Church Avenue was the name given a row of brick cottages situated behind the President's House, to the east of South College on the Church Avenue alley. Under the control of absentee landlords, the rents for these cottages were low and their condition poor.*

In 1948, President Edel's administration took the opportunity to purchase the buildings at a cost of $13,200 on December 27, 1948. The buildings were repaired and rented to College maintenance employees for some years. They were demolished during the 1970's and the space where they stood is now a parking area.

* C.C. Sellers (p.590) suggests rumors of "houses of ill fame" were attached to Four Church Avenue, but these are largely unsubstantiated. Such "services" were available, however, at the time in rooms on nearby South West Street, above the Briggs Cafeteria, now the area on which the Bosler Public Library extension stands.

The College authorized the construction of ten campus fraternity residences on December 10, 1960. The “Quads,” as they are known, replaced the individual houses in which the college fraternities had resided up to this time, and were first occupied in September 1964. The buildings were arranged with six halls (today known as Conway, Buchanan, Cooper, Baird, McClintock, and Longsdorff Halls) comprising the Upper Quad, and four buildings (today known as Atwater, Armstrong, Wilson, and Davidson Halls) completing the Lower Quad.

The Fraternity Quadrangle was designed by Howell Lewis Shay and Associates. The buildings were completed at a cost of $2,241,000, most of which was financed by a federal loan and bond issues.

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The College acquired the Gibbs House, the former home and carriage house of John Hays, in June 1939. The house is located on North Hanover Street, approximately five blocks from the college campus. An endowment from Rebecca McClure Gibbs enabled Dickinson College to purchase the building, and final costs, after a number of alterations to the house, totaled $23,000. Gibbs House was the first dormitory intended specifically for senior women, and its location across the street from Metzger Hall was ideal for keeping all of the female students quartered near one another. Gibbs House remained in use as a college residence hall until 1964, when it was sold to Roy E. Hoffman.

The Goodyear Building is a three story brick building standing at 595 West Louther Street. It was built in 1891 by John Lindner, owner of the Lindner Shoe Company, to house his factory. For nearly thirty years the factory produced fine women’s shoes, at its height employing 900 workers in three shifts. Financial troubles, and an inability to keep up with rapid changes in women’s shoes, caused the Lindner Shoe Company to be sold in November 1922 to the Bedford Shoe Company, also of Carlisle.

The Bedford Shoe Company was started in 1891 by Alonzo F. Bedford and Harry W. Johnson. After Johnson left the company, he was replaced by William H. Goodyear. In 1919, the Bedford Shoe Company sold its older factory to the G. R. Kinney Corporation. Three years later, Bedford and Goodyear purchased the Lindner factory, often hailed as the most modern factory in the Carlisle shoe industry. When Alonzo Bedford retired, the Bedford Shoe Company remained under Goodyear’s control.

The G. R. Kinney Corporation, another shoe manufacturer, purchased the factory on West Louther Street in 1963. They renamed the building the Goodyear Warehouse, and used it as extra storage and rental space.

This house, located on West Louther Street, was built in 1890 and served as the home of Dickinson President James Henry Morgan for nearly fifty years.

In 1983, the most recent occupants of the house, John Hartman, class of 1932, and his wife Thora, donated it to the College, and the building in turn was given their name as a sign of appreciation.

After the donation, the house became the home of the Office of Alumni and Parent Associations, the first permanent home for this office in the College’s history. The addition of the adjacent house created the Hartman Alumni Center, which is used for formal and informal college gatherings as well as for hosting important guests of the College.

The Holland Union Building, fondly called the “HUB” by members of the Dickinson College community, was dedicated on June 4, 1966, as a center for student services. It was designed by Howell Lewis Shay and Associates, and was constructed and equipped at a cost of $2,465,000. The building is named after Homer C. Holland, Class of 1913, who generously donated $200,000 to the subscription campaign that was organized to provide funds for the building’s construction. The Mathers Theater, located inside the Holland Union Building, is named in honor of James M. Mathers, Class of 1931, whose widow gave $100,000 in his memory to the College during the same campaign.

In addition to the Mathers Theater, the Holland Union Building is home to the College’s cafeteria, the Union Station Snack Bar, the Underground coffee bar, the Devil’s Den Convenience Store, the College Bookstore, the College radio station (WDCV), the Microroom (a 24-hour computer lab), a dance studio, a post office, the cashier’s office, numerous offices and conference rooms, a social hall, a meditation room, and lounges.

The College purchased the former residence of W. L. Jackson on July 14, 1961, at a cost of $37,500. The house, located at 42 North College Street, was part of a land acquisition project designed to secure room for the construction of a new student union.

The Jackson House served as a men’s honors dormitory until 1963, when it was razed to make way for the new Holland Union Building.

The Benjamin D. James Center was built on the northwest corner of Louther and College Streets on land acquired by the College from the Church of the Brethren in 1985. The building was dedicated on October 17, 1987, and provided classrooms, offices, and the department laboratories for geology, psychology and environmental science.

The building was named in honor of Benjamin D. James, a member of the class of 1934, college professor, coach, dean of admissions, dean of students, and professor emeritus of psychology and education. The James Center was designed by Spillman Farmer Architects and constructed at a cost of $2.8 million.

In the summer of 2006, the James Center was demolished to clear land for the construction of the Rector Science Complex. One wing of the new Rector Complex was named James Hall, as a continuing tribute to Dr. Benjamin James.

Sometime after 1932, the Kappa Sigma fraternity moved out of the east end of East College and into a house on the northeast corner of College and Louther Streets. The third floor of the large home provided dormitory space for the members, while study rooms occupied the first and second floors. The basement contained a recreational room. In 1961 the rise in numbers in the fraternity prompted the purchase of a carriage house to the rear of the main building to provide additional social and dormitory space.

The house was destroyed by fire on December 16, 1963, and in 1964 the group moved to Quad 3 (now Cooper Hall) in the Fraternity Quadrangle.

Kisner-Woodward Hall was the first building at Dickinson College designed to be a coed dormitory, and was first occupied by students in April 1969. This student residence was named for Hugh B. Woodward and Helen Kisner Woodward, both members of the class of 1908, whose generous donation made the construction of the building possible.

The building was designed by Howell Lewis Shay and Associates, and constructed at a cost of $820,000.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Kline Life/Sports Learning Center, built to replace the Alumni Gymnasium, took place on May 18, 1979. The facility was opened in September 1980 and officially dedicated during Homecoming Weekend on October 25 of that same year. It was designed by Daniel F. Tully and constructed at a cost of $3.5 million. The Center is dedicated to the memory of Josiah and Bessie Kline, whose grant of $500,000 made the building possible.

The Kline Center is a multi-use facility which can accommodate many sports and activities. It has an indoor track, basketball and volleyball courts, squash and racquetball courts, a swimming pool and diving area, a dance floor, a climbing wall, and a seminar room. A Fitness Center, offering free weights and both strength training and aerobic exercise machines, was added to the building in 1998. In addition to its sports and recreational spaces, the Kline Center also houses the department of physical education, the College Health Center, and the College Counseling Center, the latter two located within the Fitness Center addition.

The College acquired Landis House, the former home of Merkel and Mary Lamberton Landis, on January 25, 1968, at a cost of $26,000. The house is located on the southeast corner of Pomfret and College Streets, across from the Benjamin Rush Campus. Since its purchase, the Landis House has served Dickinson College in various capacities, including being the home of the economics department and the first residence of the Community Studies Center. In 2010 the building was renovated and became the location of the Women's Center, the Office of Diversity Initiatives, the Conflict Resolution Center, and the Rape Advocate's office.

Dickinson College acquired this house on West Pomfret Street, formerly the home of Samuel M. Hepburn, on May 16, 1893, for $5,000, the mortgage being signed by President George E. Reed and Professors Henry C. Whiting and Bradford O. McIntire. A local fraternity, Alpha Zeta Phi, initially occupied the building, but it was turned into a residence for women in 1895.

The house was called “Ladies’ Hall” until February 7, 1905, when it was renamed to honor John Zacharias Lloyd, a recently deceased Methodist clergyman and trustee who had made a $10,000 bequest to the College. The house was sold in 1919, and ultimately razed fifty years later.

One of ten residence halls that originally made up the College’s Fraternity Quadrangle, Longsdorff Hall (Quad 6) first opened its doors to students in September 1964. Longsdorff, one of the six “upper quads,” first served as home to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and later became a residence hall for both men and women. The hall is named for Zatae Longsdorff, class of 1887, the first woman to graduate from Dickinson College.

The building was designed by Howell Lewis Shay and Associates and was constructed at a cost of approximately $200,000.

"Lovers' Lane" was a tree-lined path in the John Dickinson campus at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania that provided a direct route from the main campus entrance at the corner of West and High Streets to East College. The path apparently was the favorite spot of many a college student, a place to while away the hours with friends or perhaps even with young ladies, possibly giving rise to the name. The path seems to have fallen out of favor with the student population, however, after the First World War.

The re-landscaping of the quadrangle in 1929 and the removal of many of the trees in that area of the campus have effectively erased any trace of the once-infamous "Lovers' Lane."

Originally a storage facility for Byers Lumber Company, the Lumberyard was included in the land purchase made by the College for the construction of the Kline Life/Sports Center. This storage building was later renovated and made into a student social center, which opened on April 21, 1989. Less than five years later, on January 18, 1994, the Lumberyard collapsed when the ice and snow that had accumulated swiftly during a severe winter storm proved too heavy for the building’s roof to support. In 1995 the Depot, a new student social center, was constructed on the site that the Lumberyard had occupied.

Built as a dormitory for men, Malcolm Hall was completed in September 1966 and dedicated on May 6, 1967. It was designed by Elmer H. Adams and constructed at a cost of $475,000.

The building, situated on the former site of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at the southwest corner of High and Mooreland Streets, was named in honor of College President Gilbert Malcolm, class of 1915, who had served the college in various administrative capacities for four decades.