Schools Archives - Page 20 of 23

Morgan Hall, Amherst Mass

May 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Morgan Hall at Amherst College in Amherst, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Morgan Hall in 2015:

Morgan Hall was built in 1853, and was the first library building at Amherst College. Its Italianate architecture was popular in the United States in the mid 1800s, and it was constructed of gneiss that was quarried from nearby Pelham. The building served as the library from its completion until 1917, when the college’s holdings outgrew both the original building and an 1880s addition that had expanded the capacity to over 30,000 books. From 1874 to 1877, Melvil Dewey served as the Acting Librarian here, where he established the Dewey Decimal Classification. This library became the first to use the classification system, which today is used in about 200,000 libraries around the world. During its time as a library, this building would have also been used by future president Calvin Coolidge, who graduated from Amherst College in 1895.

Since the first photo was taken, the building has seen several renovations. When the library moved in 1917, the building was converted into classroom and office space, and today the building houses several academic departments. It is also home to the Bassett Planetarium, which was installed in the second floor in 1960. Today, Amherst College’s main library is across the street and is named for Robert Frost, who taught English at the college from 1916-1920, 1923-1924, and 1927-1938. Melvil Dewey would be disappointed to learn, however, that like most other academic libraries the Robert Frost Library now uses the Library of Congress Classification instead of the Dewey Decimal Classification that was pioneered here.

Amherst College Graduation, Amherst Mass

May 20, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Seniors marching in front of College Hall at Amherst College, around 1908. Historic image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

College Hall in 2015:

These two photos show College Hall, an administrative office building at Amherst College that is also seen in this post. It was built in 1829 as a church, and was later acquired by the school to use as an auditorium before being converted to offices in 1965. The first view shows the seniors, probably the class of 1908, marching into the auditorium for the commencement ceremony. I would imagine that this essentially the same as it would’ve looked 13 years earlier, when 22 year old Calvin Coolidge graduated from Amherst College. By the time the first photo was taken, Coolidge was living a couple towns away in Northampton and representing them in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Probably the only major difference in the exterior of the building between Coolidge’s graduation and the present day came in 1905, when the portico was restored; it had been removed in 1861 before the school acquired the building.

College Hall, Amherst Mass

May 20, 2015 by Derek Strahan

College Hall on the Amherst College campus, at the corner of Northampton Road and South Pleasant Street in Amherst, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

College Hall in 2015:

This building on the Amherst College campus is almost as old as the college itself, although it wasn’t originally built by the school. Its architecture gives away its original use; it was built in 1829 as the meeting house of the First Congregational Church in Amherst. However, the land itself was originally part of Amherst College – it was given to the church, who built the building, under the stipulation that the college be allowed to use it. It was used as a church until 1866, when the land was sold back to the college and became College Hall. It was used for commencements and other meetings, and saw some changes before the first photo was taken. The portico had been removed in 1861, but was restored in 1905 as a gift from the class of 1884. The biggest change, however, came in 1965, when the building was renovated into administrative offices.

Old Academy Hall, Wilbraham Mass

May 4, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Old Academy Hall, on the campus of Wilbraham & Monson Academy, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The building in 2015

Built in 1824, this was the original building at what would eventually become the Wilbraham & Monson Academy. The school was initially founded as two separate schools: Monson Academy in nearby Monson, Massachusetts in 1804, and Wesleyan Academy in Newmarket, New Hampshire in 1817. Wesleyan Academy was founded as a Methodist school, and when Newmarket was found to not be a suitable location, the school moved to Wilbraham, which at the time was an important center for the small but growing Methodist denomination.

The school moved into this building in 1825, and although the campus has grown substantially over nearly 200 years, the original building is still in use. Over the years, the academy taught a number of notable people, including Massachusetts Governor and US Senator Winthrop M. Crane, industrialist and Pratt Institute founder Charles Pratt, and abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone. Several members of my family also attended Wesleyan Academy, including my great-grandfather in the 1880s and both of his parents in the 1840s. In fact, my great-great grandmother was less than a year younger than Charles Pratt, and likely would have known him during his three years at the school.

Wesleyan Academy closed in June 1911, and remained closed throughout the 1911-1912 school year. It reopened in September 1912 as Wilbraham Academy, with a new headmaster, a new faculty, and a mostly new student body. Only one Wesleyan Academy student enrolled in the new Wilbraham Academy, so there is a bit of discontinuity with the school itself, even though the campus remained essentially the same. Another change came in 1971, when the school merged with Monson Academy and the Monson campus was closed. Today, although Wilbraham & Monson Academy uses the old Wesleyan Academy campus, the school recognizes 1804 as its founding date, the year that Monson Academy opened. The original Wesleyan Academy building has remained nearly unchanged from the exterior, and today the building houses classrooms for the English and foreign language departments.

Main Street, Wilbraham Mass

May 3, 2015May 3, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street from Faculty Street in Wilbraham, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

Main Street in 2015:

These photos show Main Street where it passes through the Wilbraham & Monson Academy. The houses on the left-hand side of the road can also be seen in the photos in this post; those photos were taken from the field on the far right in this view. At the time that the first photo was taken, the academy was called Wesleyan Academy; it was later called Wilbraham Academy, and in 1971 it merged with Monson Academy, giving the school its current name. Today, other than having a paved road and fewer trees, not much has changed in this scene, and the area is part of the Academy Historic District, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wesleyan Academy Baseball Field, Wilbraham Mass

May 1, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The baseball field at Wesleyan Academy (today Wilbraham & Monson Academy) in Wilbraham, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The field in 2015:

These photos show the same field as the one in this post, just from a different angle. The historic image here was probably taken at a later date; the one in the other post dates to the early 1890s at the absolute latest, while this one is probably about 10 years later. This game certainly seems to have attracted a bigger crowd, although obviously the game itself has not started yet – if nothing else, the table sitting on the first base line should give that away.

Wesleyan Academy is now Wilbraham & Monson Academy, and the field is still there, although today it is used for soccer and lacrosse. The three houses in the background are also still there, and are part of the academy campus. From left to right, they are: the 1854 Morrow House, the c.1814 Brewer House, and the 1878 Winchester House. Like most of the other buildings on campus, they are well-preserved, and they make up part of the Academy Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site.