Each year, popular lore about the College is conveyed to the incoming class. But they are not told about the plethora of more obscure and yet equally interesting factoids in the school's collection of legends.
"The buildings carry a lot of the history of the College-both good and bad," said President Tom Gerety. "All the presidents have felt the special grace of this hill and of this place."
The Dickinson Homestead, where poet Emily Dickinson once composed her introspective verse, is one of the most famous corners of campus, but are you aware that the Homestead was probably the first brick house built in Amherst or that Emily's grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was one of the founders of the College? As the third oldest college in Massachusetts, after Harvard University and Williams College, Amherst is a hotbed of historical intrigue and anecdotal curiosity; within its hallowed walls of brick and stone, the buildings on this campus hold their fair share of mystery.
A Quad from Yesteryear
Most Amherst students have some degree of personal attachment and sentiment regarding one of the six freshman dorms on campus. For most of us, either Appleton, Valentine, North, South, James or Stearns represents the center of our first-year experience. The history of each dorm is likewise unique, with its own colorful history full of numerous stories. For example, South is the oldest building on campus, built in 1821 before the College had a charter, and therefore lacked all the basic amenities it has today, such as heating, plumbing and lighting. Prior to these improvements, the rooms had been large, generic, square, all-purpose rooms that served as both a dormitory and a study.
When construction began again in 1823, North was built as a mirror image of South. South was then known as "Middle College" because it stood between Johnson Chapel, (built in 1827) and "Old North" College. The College built the Chapel using funds provided primarily by the townspeople of Amherst, who made a series of modest donations amounting to a substantial total.
"There was a town-wide effort to get this college launched," said Gerety, adding that there was a tremendous sense of pride in the town at the prospect of the new college.
It was just this sense of pride that made it difficult for the College to obtain its charter from the state. Williamstown, it seems, had a similar sense of pride in its own college and took advantage of its substantial influence in the state legislature to keep Amherst from receiving its charter until 1825.
Meanwhile, Williston Hall replaced Old North College after a fire destroyed it in 1857. Williston later underwent renovation in 1954 when the College removed the building's south tower.
The Henry A. King Library and the James Turner, Class of 1880, Library were added to North and South, respectively, by President Stanley King in 1933.
In 1855, the College built Appleton Cabinet in honor of Boston philanthropist Samuel Appleton. Born in Concord, NH, and brought up in a frontier lifestyle, Appleton was an elector for NH Congressman Daniel Webster during part of his career. After the age of 60, Appleton retired to devote his life to funding hospitals, colleges and historical societies. Other institutions bearing his name include Appleton Chapel at Harvard University and the town of Appleton, Wisconsin, which was called Grand Chute prior to his influence.
Appleton Cabinet originally housed the Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet, the Gilbert Museum of Indian Relics and the Adams Zoological Museum. At that time, the Hitchcock Cabinet contained the world's largest collection of fossil footprints and tracks and much of it remains today in Pratt Museum. In 1925, Appleton Cabinet's name was changed to Appleton Hall, when it was remodeled to hold classrooms and offices. It was remodeled again in 1999, when it became the newest freshman dorm on campus.
Valentine was built in 1941 with three large dining rooms, a lounge and enough dorm space upstairs for fifty-five students. The hall was named after Samuel H. Valentine, Class of 1866, and his wife, Eliza W. Porter Valentine. The annex was later added, along with the Lewis-Sebring Commons, funded by a donation from Charles Lewis '64 and his wife, Penny Sebring.
Valentine Hall was built as a response to student and faculty suggestions for an "Eating Union." During its first year, freshmen were required to eat their meals at Valentine and, by the following year, the meal plan was made available to everyone. Valentine's original china, adorned with designs of Lord Jeffery Amherst chasing after Indians, was replaced with today's familiar plain white scheme in the late '60s, when the civil rights movement hit the campus with full force.
Arguably Amherst's most notorious pair of dorms, with the present exception of Stone Dormitory, James and Stearns are only a fairly recent addition to the campus. Built in 1946 as a response to a shortage of campus housing after World War II, the dorms were completed in front of the recently razed Stearns Church, whose steeple remains standing today and will most likely continue to haunt the freshman quad with its incongruous demeanor for years to come. The church's removal, however, allowed for the construction of the new Mead Art Museum, which sits in the shadows behind James and Stearns.
William F. Stearns, who funded the construction of Stearns Church, became immortalized again as the nominal entity behind the dorm's four floors of glory; Stearns' rival neighbor is named after D. Willis James and his son Arthur Curtiss James, class of 1889.
The view of the Holyoke Range to the quad's southwest, which most students today take for granted as one of the most beautiful areas on campus, exists mostly because of a freak act of nature. Originally, Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, suggested that the College orient its buildings to face Pelham Hills, which are now visible beyond the social dorms. However, in 1938, hurricane winds destroyed the woods which enveloped Memorial Hill at the time. When the rain died down, the picturesque view appeared, and the administration decided to keep the area unobstructed.
Frat Frenzy
With the expansion of enrollment at the College came the inevitable construction of new facilities, and each one boasts its own history. Hamilton was built in 1918 as the home of the Phi Chi Phi fraternity and was named after James S. Hamilton '06, who was a critic, editor, screenwriter and author. It was Hamilton who wrote the ever-popular college song, "Lord Jeffery Amherst."
Fraternities, in fact, are responsible for a number of the current dorms on campus. Mayo-Smith (named after famous economist and social scientist Richmond Mayo-Smith, Class of 1875) was built in 1885 as the Chi Psi fraternity house but was remodeled in the 20s by New York architect Richard Stephenson, Class of 1880, after its design was deemed inadequate. Seelye, on the former grounds of the president's house, was built from 1912-13 as the Psi Upsilon House. It was designed by Allen Cox, who also designed Porter, Garman, Hamilton, Seligman and Drew. When Amherst officially disbanded fraternities in 1984, the name Seelye was adopted after Julius H. Seelye, Class of 1849, who was president of the College from 1876 to 1890.
Plimpton, built in 1914, provided the former stomping grounds for the Delta Kappa Epsilon frat, and was renamed in 1984 after a late 19th-century president of the College. In the 1920s, DKE alums raised money to create the Georgian mansion's first-floor library, which included a fireplace from Isaac Newton's London home.
Halls of Academia
The College's academic buildings also resonate with a great deal of history. In 1860, Northampton physician Dr. Benjamin Barrett, Class of 1858, was honored with the opening of Barrett Hall, which served as the school's gymnasium for nearly half a century. Within this building, Dr. Edward Hitchcock (namesake of Hitchcock House), chaired the nation's first Department of Hygiene and Physical Education.
In 1907, the gym was moved across the quad to Pratt Gymnasium, which has been Pratt Museum since 1936. Built in 1884 out of the materials from the East College dorm (which no longer exists), the new gym was one of the most advanced in the country. It housed pool tables, bowling alleys and both hot and cold water. Today, students can still see the yellow and terra cotta tiles in the basement of the building, which were meant to give the pool room the distinctive look of Roman baths. The building is a gift of Charles M. Pratt 1879, as is Pratt Dormitory, which Pratt and his wife donated, price-no-object, in memory of their son Morris '11.
Each dorm has a history; for every new experience that makes it special for its new inhabitants become an event from the past which has created the character which exists in it today. What makes your favorite dorm special? How much do you know about the buildings where you go to class daily? As students at Amherst, we have the privilege of residing for four years in an environment fertile with heritage and background; sometimes we may find it worth our while to take a step back from our lives and take a moment to appreciate the past which surrounds us.