USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The history of Colby College > Part 51
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Of great concern to President Johnson and the Colby Trustees was the proposed library. Not only was it to be located at the focal center of the campus, but it was also to be the largest and most expensive building in the original plans. Construction costs increased so much that some of the later buildings cost even more than the huge library, but originally it called for the largest allocation of funds. A good start had been made when the estate of James King, 1889, pro- vided $150,000 for the library's south wing. For a long time the source of remaining funds for the building was in doubt. President Johnson and Dr. George Averill had reason to believe that the money could be obtained from a California resident, Merton L. Miller, 1890, classmate of President Roberts and a member of the sophomore class that had initiated Franklin Johnson into his freshman year. Miller was known to have substantial interest in productive gold mines in the Philippines, as well as other investments. The importunity of Johnson and Averill finally prevailed, and at their annual meeting in June, 1939, the Trustees voted: "Because of the receipt of $125,000 from Merton Miller, with promise of a substantially larger amount, the Library shall be named, in memory of Mr. Miller's father, the William Miller Memorial Library." Mr. Miller himself laid the cornerstone on September 29, 1939.
The summer of 1939 saw the creation of Johnson Pond. Earth to fill depressions and smooth the landscape had to come from somewhere. Walter Wyman suggested that it be taken from the marshy, spring-fed area north of men's dormitories, although at that time those dormitories were only excavations.
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The result was the lovely expanse of water appropriately named for President Johnson.
In June, 1939, the alumnae had, with appropriate ceremonies, laid the cor- nerstone of the Women's Union with Florence E. Dunn, 1896, presiding. Others prominent in the exercises were Ervena Goodale Smith, 1924, who had directed the campaign; Mabel Dunn Libby, 1903; Edith Watkins Chester, 1904; and Dean Ninetta Runnals, 1908. The Alumnus commented: "The shoveling of the women, while symbolic, proved somewhat ineffective as to making a hole in the ground. This was remedied, however, by the steam shovel, which imme- diately snorted and began to chew into the soil in earnest, putting on a good show and proving that dirt actually was beginning to fly."5
When the Trustees met in November, 1939, President Johnson could make a stirring report. "The construction of Roberts Union, Women's Union and the Library are now nearing completion. What was once a dream is now becoming a reality. The four buildings already constructed® include a larger aggregate of cubic space than that of all the buildings on the old campus except the Field House. The highly specialized buildings for science, and the dormitories, are all that remain necessary for operation of the College on Mayflower Hill."
In the spring of 1940, the Maine Million campaign had progressed sufficiently to warrant the construction of the outer shells of the East and West dormitories for men and the large dormitory for women, which housed under one roof with connecting kitchen the units later known as Mary Low and Louise Coburn halls. The Alumnus proudly called attention to the unique construction of the housing for men.
The buildings are ingeniously planned so as to get away from the barracks-like nature of the conventional school dormitory. There will be no long, noisy corridors. Each building consists of what amounts to three separate residence halls under one roof. Each self-contained unit will bear its own house name and accommodate about thirty boys. Each will have its own entrance, recreational lounge, and apartment for a faculty resident."
The six separate sections of the men's dormitories were named respectively for six Colby presidents: Chaplin, Champlin, Pepper, Robins, Small and Butler. Even before a single class could be held on Mayflower Hill, careful thought had been given to landscaping. Attractive terraces had been built in front of the Miller Library, and the winter month of January, 1941, saw the transplanting of ten full sized elm trees to line the approach to the Lorimer Chapel. They were the gift of Mrs. Mary Curtis Bok of Philadelphia, who made the gift in memory of her father, Cyrus H. K. Curtis, publisher both of Mr. Bok's Ladies' Home Journal and Mr. Lorimer's Saturday Evening Post. The trees, taken from another part of the Mayflower Hill land, were all 35 to 40 feet high when they were transplanted in the biting cold of January. A frozen ball of earth would then adhere to the roots without crumbling. Later Mrs. Bok became convinced that the entire approach to the Chapel should be changed, that instead of the straight central walk there should be two curving walks with a broad lawn between them. She provided $10,000 to make this obvious im- provement, and the whole area in front of the Chapel has since been known as the Cyrus H. K. Curtis Approach.
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After the laying of the cornerstone of the women's dormitory on June 15, 1941, summer work proceeded vigorously. The women's dormitory was roofed in before autumn and the women's gymnasium, gift of Dr. and Mrs. George Averill, was well under way. Foundations were laid for Delta Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Tau Omega fraternity houses.
Step-up in national defense had caused a scarcity of building materials through most of 1941. Then on December 7th, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Har- bor, came the crushing blow to further progress on Colby's building program. All construction had to cease, with small hope of its resumption until the war should be over. Like President Roberts in 1917, President Johnson in 1941 was determined that Colby's complete and united effort should be directed toward the patriotic task of winning the war.
There they stood, most of them untouched until 1946-the outer shells of half a dozen buildings, the mere foundations of others, and only excavations for a few more. Before a single class could meet or a single student be housed on Mayflower Hill much work remained to be done.
It was Colby's determination to participate to the fullest extent in the war effort that enabled limited use of the new campus much earlier than had been expected during the first grim months after Pearl Harbor. In order that buildings on the old campus might be available for military use, the government was per- suaded to release the necessary materials to complete the women's dormitories and the women's union on the Hill.
Colby women will always be proud that it was they, the once unwanted guests in a men's college, who first occupied the Mayflower Hill campus. When college opened in September, 1942, they took residence in Mary Low and Louise Coburn halls, and soon afterward both their union and their gymnasium were ready for use. Not all the girls could be accommodated on the Hill; some of the freshmen had to be left in the smaller dormitories downtown. Fortunately, how- ever, old Foss Hall and other buildings of the city campus were made ready for 500 men sent to Colby in February, 1943, as the 21st College Training De- tachment of the Army Air Force. When the second semester opened, a few classes were being conducted in the Women's Union. Those classes were at- tended chiefly by girls, because by that time the war had reduced civilian male enrollment.
Before the war came to an end, Mrs. Bessie Fuller Perry had made a signifi- cant gift of $10,000 to equip an infirmary on Mayflower Hill as a memorial to her husband, Dr. Sherman Perry, 1901. At first intended to be an infirmary solely for men students, in one wing of Roberts Union, it developed into spacious infirmary quarters for both sexes. The "annex" to Mary Low Hall, intended as the women's infirmary, proved inadequate, and the happy decision was made to adapt the Perry Infirmary to the use of all Colby students.
When the war was at last over, the Trustees wasted no time resuming con- struction. In November, 1945, they voted to contract for nearly two million dollars of work, although only $775,000 could be made immediately available to pay for it.
There is no better way to recount the progress made during 1946-47 than to quote from President Bixler's report made at the close of that year.
When the women's dormitory and the women's union were opened in 1942, five other buildings stood as empty shells and remained so until April, 1946. Despite almost fantastic difficulties, including scarcity of
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both labor and materials, those five buildings have now been com- pleted. Two dormitories for men came first. Then in February the Roberts Union was ready, providing a cafeteria for men, as well as a recreational center and headquarters for student organizations. The Miller Library was ready for partial use in February, making it pos- sible to hold virtually all classes, except in the sciences, on the Hill. More than 120,000 books were moved from the old to the new library during the spring recess. Finally, just in time for Commencement, the Lorimer Chapel was ready. Foundations are being laid for two new science buildings and a president's house. A new building, 200 by 150 feet, to serve as a temporary gymnasium and field house, is now under construction.
The athletic facility to which President Bixler referred was an ingenious device. Securing as war surplus a large airplane hangar, the College cut it in two, made from it a big indoor field and basketball area, and built around three sides of it offices, shower rooms, training rooms, and remedial quarters for the work in athletics and physical education. Dr. and Mrs. George Averill, who had already done much to assure the new campus, donated the funds for the President's House, built at the top of the southern slope beyond the women's quadrangle.
Just before Pearl Harbor the College had received a bequest of $200,000 from Mrs. Jennie C. Keyes for the erection of a science building. It had at first been intended to have separate buildings for chemistry and physics, but careful consideration convinced the authorities that one building could adequately serve the needs of both sciences. Such a combined building would be called the Keyes Science Building. By the spring of 1947 it became apparent that rapidly rising costs had pushed the expense of such a building far beyond the money avail- able from the bequest. It was another incident of the many frustrations that confronted the College during the long years that followed the decision to move. Again it was Dr. George Averill who came to the rescue. Martin Keyes, founder of the famous Keyes Fibre Company, had been the doctor's father-in-law, and the doctor himself had been largely responsible for bringing the business safely through the depression and for protecting Mrs. Keyes' inheritance. Dr. Averill generously agreed to furnish the funds necessary to complete the building, which before it was occupied had cost nearly $600,000.
Before the war, plans for a classroom building had centered around a me- morial to Elijah Parish Lovejoy. A vigorous campaign was started among the newspaper publishers of the United States to raise the necessary funds to erect such a building as a memorial to Colby's martyr in the cause of freedom of the press. The intent was to make the building not only the site of social science classrooms and offices, but also a center for studies and conferences in communica- tion. Although many publishers gave liberally, the war stalled the campaign, and it never regained sufficient strength to raise the necessary money, especially in view of rising costs. Decision was finally reached to redesign the building to house classes and offices for the divisions of humanities and social studies, as well as provide a large lecture room. Funds from other sources were added to the gifts of the publishers, and in February, 1959, Colby's most useful classroom building was opened.
A tremendous problem was presented after the war by rapidly rising costs of construction. This is illustrated by what happened to the fraternity houses. In 1940, when the architect planned fraternity houses for at least thirty occupants
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not to exceed a cost of $35,000 each, the Trustees voted to assist in building such houses by loaning to the alumni corporations of the fraternities "an amount not to exceed fifty percent of the cost, but not over $17,500 for each house." By 1958, seven fraternity houses had been erected between the Library and the Roberts Union. Following the building of houses for DKE and ATO, Zeta Psi and DU soon put up their buildings, followed quickly by Phi Delta Theta and Tau Delta Phi. Several years later the Lambda Chi Alpha house was opened. So serious had become the inflation that not one of those houses cost less than a hundred thousand dollars.
Some of those buildings were still in the future, however, when Commence- ment came in 1949. Since the start on Lorimer Chapel in 1937, twelve buildings had been erected: Roberts Union, Miller Library, Lorimer Chapel, ATO and DKE fraternity houses, the Women's Union, the Women's Gymnasium, the dor- mitory containing Mary Low and Louise Coburn halls, East and West dormitories for men, the athletic field house and the President's home, the last being another magnificent gift by Dr. and Mrs. Averill. But the work of construction had by no means stopped. The Keyes Science Building was well under way, founda- tions had been laid for five additional fraternity houses, and two more dormitories for men had been started. Campaign to raise funds to house biology and geology was drawing to a successful conclusion.
The Keyes Science Building was opened in the fall of 1950, Dr. George Averill presenting President Bixler with the keys at appropriate dedicatory exer- cises. Somewhat earlier the football field had been appropriately named for Charles Seaverns, 1901, and the baseball field for Colby's famous big-league pitcher, Jack Coombs, 1906. The tennis courts, six clay and six asphalt, were com- pleted by a gift from Mrs. Edna M. Wales of Massillon, Ohio, and Northport, Maine, in memory of her son, Sgt. Walter M. Wales, a war casualty. The two additional dormitories for men were named for Franklin Johnson and Dr. George Averill. In order to house married veterans who enrolled in increasing num- bers after 1945, the College secured four abandoned shipyard houses, which were placed at the extreme west of the campus and converted into eight apartments each. Intended for use during three or four years only, those ugly structures stood for more than ten years until they were finally razed in 1958. Johnson and Averill halls were opened for student occupancy in the fall of 1950.
Dr. Matthew T. Mellon of Pittsburgh, a member of the Colby Trustees, made in 1949 the magnificent gift of a new Walcker organ for the Lorimer Chapel. First publicly played on March 1, 1950, at a recital by one of America's foremost organists, E. Powers Biggs, Colby's organ is one of very few pipe organs in this country of European manufacture. It it is product of E. F. Walcker and Com- pany of Ludingsburg, Germany. The instrument was dedicated on July 28, 1950, when the recitalist was the famous Swiss organist, Karl Matthaei.
On June 10, 1951, was laid the cornerstone of the long awaited Life Sciences Building, with State Geologist Joseph M. Trefethen, 1931, as the principal speaker. The completed building was dedicated on October 3, 1952. Foss and Woodman halls were dedicated in June, 1952.
When College opened in the fall of 1952, President Bixler could proudly say: "No longer is our house divided. We are now completely on Mayflower Hill, with all our students housed in the new dormitories or fraternity houses. The old campus is but a fond memory."
It was indeed a great victory. Twenty-two long years had elapsed since the momentous day in 1930 when the Trustees voted that the College must move
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"when feasible." Twenty-one new buildings now graced the landscape on May- flower Hill, but the task was not yet complete. As Bixler put it: "Too many classes are still held in crowded quarters in Miller Library and the Women's Union. We must press for the Lovejoy Building and the classrooms it will provide. Our work in art and music has long outgrown the makeshift facilities on the top floor of Roberts Union and in the basement of Lorimer Chapel. A building for fine arts is on the list of 'musts'."
Before either building could be erected, several years would pass and a new financial campaign would be completed. Meanwhile the college shops near the tennis courts were remodeled into a Little Theatre and headquarters for the ex- panding work in dramatic art, while a new brick building near the gymnasium was built to house the shops, storerooms and offices of the Department of Build- ings and Grounds.
Alumni agitation for an indoor skating rink resulted in the building, as a north extension to the field house, of a modern skating rink, which not only gave impetus to Colby's already active sport of hockey, but also provided opportunity for recreational skating to both students and townspeople. The skating arena was named for a generous contributor, Harold Alfond, manufacturer at Norridgewock, Maine. The improved field house was named for the man who had done much to promote all Colby progress, including athletics-the late Herbert Wadsworth, 1892, for several years chairman of the Board of Trustees.
When, in 1956, it had become clear that completion of the needed facilities could not be obtained without another spirited financial campaign, there was then launched the Colby Fulfillment Fund, to assure the erection of three build- ings: the Lovejoy classroom building for humanities and social sciences, Art and Music Building, and Administration Building.
The Lovejoy Building was opened for use in February, 1959, and in the fall of that year the Departments of Art and Music left their dingy temporary quar- ters to take occupancy of a splendid new building, dedicated to the man who had done more than any other person to make art and music significant sub- jects in the Colby curriculum, President Julius Seelye Bixler. During 1960 the Eustis Administration Building was under construction.
How many buildings would stand on Mayflower Hill when the Administration Building should be finished? The answer is not so easy as it seems, because it de- pends on whether one counts as each unit only each structure unconnected with any other, or whether he considers connected structures as separate units. For instance, the women's dormitories are considered as four distinct units, although they are only two complete structures. On the other hand, the ten largest dor- mitories for men are thought of as only two buildings, although each is divided into three separately named sections. The building called the Women's Union should appropriately be considered two buildings, because the Union proper is the gift of Colby Alumnae, while the gymnasium wing, which serves the College so admirably as its largest auditorium, is the gift of Dr. and Mrs. George G. Averill.
Based on the precedents of their origin and their subsequent use, the num- ber of buildings on Mayflower Hill, including the Administration Building, in 1960, was thirty-one. Beginning with the President's Home, the building first encountered as one approaches the campus via Mayflower Hill Drive, the visitor comes next to the buildings of the Women's Division: Foss and Woodman halls, the Women's Union and Gymnasium, Mary Low and Louise Coburn halls. Then, up the west drive, he passes the Administration and Lovejoy buildings. As he reaches the
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crest of the grade, on his left is Lorimer Chapel and on his right the Miller Li- brary. Behind the Library are Averill and Johnson halls, and the two larger dormitories known as East and West halls, containing the six units named re- spectively for Presidents Chaplin, Champlin, Robins, Pepper, Butler and Small. To the north and east of the Library are seven fraternity houses, Roberts Union, the Maintenance Shops and offices, the Wadsworth Field House, the Alfond Arena, the Superintendent's Home, the Little Theater, the Bixler Art and Music Build- ing, the Life Sciences Building, and the Keyes Science Building.
Into the Mayflower Hill plant have gone more than three million hours of labor, more than twenty-five million bricks, more than fifty thousand tons of cement, more than twenty thousand yards of sand and gravel. The erection of all the buildings necessary for a college of a thousand students was no small contribution to the economy of Maine.
Two questions command attention. How much did it all cost, and where did the money come from? At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1959, there had been expended on land, buildings, utilities, improvements, and new equipment at Mayflower Hill a total of $8,552,415. Of that amount more than seven and a half million had gone for buildings, nearly three-quarters of a mil- lion for landscaping and utilities, and the remainder for new furnishings. College officials estimated that, when all bills had been paid for the erection of the Art and Music Building and the Administration Building, the total expenditures on the Mayflower Hill plant would exceed $9,500,000.
Some of the construction figures reveal the amazing increase in building costs during the twenty years between the beginning of Lorimer Chapel and the erection of the Lovejoy Building. The beautiful, spacious chapel, including its wing with the smaller Rose Memorial Chapel, had cost $213,153. To replace it in 1959 would have taken at least $650,000. The original building to house women students (Mary Low and Louise Coburn) had cost $444,884. When the matching building (Foss and Woodman) was constructed ten years later, al- though many savings were effected, including one dining room instead of two, the cost was $880,219. In fact, up to the time of the auditor's report in June, 1959, that dormitory had been Colby's most expensive building.
The two largest dormitories for men had cost respectively $260,000 and $220,000. A few years later the erection of the much smaller Johnson and Averill halls cost $170,000 each. In spite of its size, the Miller Library with its towering spire cost less than the Keyes Science Building. The few years that elapsed between the construction of the Miller and the Keyes structures had seen prices advance so that, while the Library cost $578,784, the smaller Keyes Building called for $584,061. Although the Lovejoy Building, in size and floor space, was almost a duplicate of the Keyes Building, the later construction necessitated ex- pending $750,000, and even then the cost was kept down by watchful care that effected substantial savings.
If the thirty-one buildings now in use on Mayflower Hill had been built anew as late as 1960, they would have cost more than twenty million dollars.
Where did the money come from? It came from several thousand individuals and from many corporations and organizations. After the Development Cam- paign became the Mayflower Hill Campaign, under the direction of Marts and Lundy, various campaigns were organized. There was an alumni drive for $300,000 to build the Roberts Memorial Union; an alumnae solicitation of $100,000 for the Women's Union; and a Maine Million campaign for dormitories.
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Later the College organized its own Development Office and pursued a continuous appeal for funds, with only occasional assistance from any professional firm.
The expanded Development Fund of 1929 had brought in a tidy sum as a sort of Mayflower Hill nest egg. The depression years saw slow but steady ac- cumulation of the needed dollars. Before 1940, Mr. Lorimer had given $200,000 for the Chapel, Dr. and Mrs. Averill had provided $100,000 for the Women's Gym- nasium, Mrs. James King had given $150,000 toward the Library, and Merton Miller had assured its completion. Alumni and Alumnae had made possible the two unions.
A brochure bearing the title "A Venture of Faith," published in 1939, set the cost of "the complete new Colby" at five million dollars, and except for in- flated prices that estimate would not have been far wrong. A 1940 folder, "Some- thing to See in Maine," stated that gifts from 3,839 persons had gone into the development at that stage. In the midst of World War II was issued "A Matter of Will Power," a stirring appeal for bequests. After the Japanese surrender another folder, "The Soundest Post-War Project in America," announced vigorous resumption of the campaign.
After all activities were finally moved to the Hill in 1952, the slogan became "On the Hill, but not Over the Top." Still needed were a building for hu- manities and social sciences, one for art and music, and a third for adminis- tration. Vital was the need to increase faculty salaries and to supply additional funds for scholarship aid. Hence the decision to launch the Fulfillment Campaign with an ultimate goal of five million dollars. The immediate task was to raise half the amount, $2,500,000-a million and a half for buildings and a million for added endowment to assure salary increases and more scholarship aid. Al- though sound advisers told the Development Office that it would be impossible to raise two and a half million before 1960, since only in 1958 did the campaign get well under way, the Commencement in 1959 saw the glorious success of that campaign, when at the Alumni Luncheon Mr. Edward McMillan, vice-president of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith, presented to President Bixler a check for $100,000 from the Charles Edward Merrill Trust. That check put the Fulfillment Campaign over the top. Its success assured the completion of the Lovejoy and the Art and Music Buildings, and a start on the Administration Building. At the same time, substantial increase was made in the endowment funds, thus assuring definite steps toward increased faculty salaries and larger financial aid to students.
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