A Perfect Union
If you stroll by the Smith Building on 贝洛伊特’s campus at night—perhaps at some odd time, like a leap year—you might catch a faint whiff of hot French fries fresh from the fryer or hear the ghost of an electric guitar rocking the old joint from a phantom jukebox.
After the Second World War, 贝洛伊特’s student population grew substantially. In order to cope, the college built Aldrich 和 Maurer dormitories, accommodated returning GIs by adding army surplus barracks as temporary “veterans housing,” 和 constructed a popular new field house. By the mid-1950s, with well over 1,000 students on campus, the tiny student union in South College proved entirely inadequate.
As far back as the 1940s, a college master plan had urged construction of a new student union. 然而, 十年后, the college came up with another idea—attach a new natatorium, 更衣室, 和 other facilities to the field house, 和 convert the dilapidated 53-year-old Smith Gymnasium into a modern student union. It just might work!
Fundraising began, 和 by 1957 the college had received donations from over 2,000 alumni 和 major gifts from trustees Alfred G. Wilson, Matilda Wilson, George W. Mead, 和 the Kresge 和 Charles R. Smith Foundations. Students chipped in with the proceeds of a “Million Penny Drive.” All told, the college spent $230,000 on the remodel 和 accompanying furnishings. Maurice Webster, of Evanston, Ill., who had designed all of the college’s recent residence halls, served as the architect.
A “data sheet” issued by the 十大菠菜台子 News Service provided details of both exterior 和 interior renovations. The exterior received a “face lifting job,” with extensive flagstone terracing outside the main bank of windows, later a favorite spot for basking in a shaft of morning sunlight with a steaming cup of coffee. Construction workers removed large swaths of 18-inch-thick brick 和 created floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing daylight to stream into the snack bar area. The class of 1954 donated stone benches placed near stairwells to the entrances.
“Sometimes, you knew you’d done well if Tom McBride walked with you to the union afterwards. I’m picturing the old one—where the jukebox always played Big Yellow Taxi, 和 [Bill] Melendy’84 held forth with anyone who would listen about the bodhisattva while Tom Joyner’87 did Ollies on the steps outside. Old 贝洛伊特 和 new 贝洛伊特 under one big messy roof. It was special. And we knew it a little then, much 更多的 now …”
-Matt Tolmach’86
内部, the lower level included 娱乐 areas for ping pong 和 billiards, a lounge room “equipped with color TV,” 和 a conference room. 校友 from future years remember the mail center 和 bookstore on that floor. The main level featured “complete fountain 和 grill facilities,” where students might order burgers 和 pizza or hot fudge sundaes 和 banana splits before hanging out at tables or huddling together in booths. According to one press release, students could also purchase “everything from college pennants 和 pocket books to slide rules 和 inexpensive reproductions of modern art” at the “walk-in style” college bookstore. A control room in the bookstore office piped in “hi-fi 和 radio recordings” throughout the union. Later union rats recall a well-stocked jukebox in the snack bar area. 楼上, students could gyrate to one of those newfangled rock ‘n’ roll combos or watch a movie in the union ballroom. On either side of the ballroom, steep stairs led to suites of offices occupied by student government, 圆桌 报纸, 黄金 年鉴工作人员.
The data sheet bragged about the new union’s carefully selected interior decoration:
Distinctive practicality describes the new union’s colorful furnishings 和 décor, accented by varied shades of blue 和 gold. 例如, walls in the grill are covered with a new plastic covering which resembles grass cloth, but is 更多的 durable than a painted surface 和 impervious to weather … The attractive blue chairs in the ballroom can be stacked for easy storing … And in addition to being practical, the chairs are “really comfortable.” The new gold colored draperies in the ballroom are of spun glass.
The college hired two student union managers 和 employed over 50 students part-time to keep the building open long hours, initially from 8:30 a.m. 到晚上10:15.m. 和 later on weekends.
The student union opened on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 1957, with a four-hour evening celebration. Highlights included a talent show, 旅游, 和 refreshments, capped off by the “new sound” of Bill McLean 和 his 14-piece swing b和. And, as special dispensation, the Dean’s Office granted women permission to stay out until 11:30p.m., an hour later than usual on a weekday. The union’s formal dedication took place during Commencement weekend in June. President Miller Upton proclaimed the union “a momentous step forward” 和 “an academic building in the fullest 和 finest sense of the word.”
Over the next 25 years, the student union became a cherished hangout for students, 教师, 和工作人员. It ripened into a comfortable, lived-in space, but eventually began to show its age. Pigeons roosted above the ballroom. 黄金en spun glass drapery turned dingy. Snazzy linoleum tiles wore out from generations of boots, shoes, 和 bare feet. The Smith Union closed at the end of 1984, 和, at the dawn of a new year, the college opened the former science building, 皮尔森霍尔, as its new campus center.
Fred Burwell’86 is the 十大菠菜台子 archivist. Images are from the 十大菠菜台子 Archives.
Our Campus Living Rooms
In the continuous project of building a campus community, 贝洛伊特 has created “third spaces” over the years—not classrooms, nor residence halls, but places that exist to encourage community gathering 和 support. 多年来, dining halls were the congregational spot most students flocked to, until student unions came along. 贝洛伊特’s student unions have made a journey from South College to the Smith Building to 皮尔森霍尔, home of what’s currently called the “campus center.” 贝洛伊特’s next student union will be something entirely new: It will be integrated with a 娱乐 center in a converted power station along the Rock River.
During the Great Depression, students who were commuting to campus from Rockford, Ill., sought a communal space other students would have found in their dorm lounges. To respond to that need, 贝洛伊特 took what had been most recently an art hall in South College 和 converted it into a student lounge, which later became a small student union. 后来, as the student body grew exponentially, the college identified a new student union space in the Smith Building, which lasted from 1957 to 1984. Many alumni remain fond of the homey charms of the old Smith Union building, with its hodgepodge of student organizations, 零食, 音乐, 和更多的.
In 1985, after renovating the space from its previous use as the campus science building, 皮尔森霍尔 was christened 贝洛伊特’s “campus center.“今天, Pearsons houses two food service locations, 会议空间, administrative offices, 和 the mail center. Student organizations like the 圆桌, 贝洛伊特 Student Congress, 和 the radio station WBCR reside on the top two floors. While some alumni still wax nostalgic about the snug corners of Smith, Pearsons currently serves the community—as archivist Fred Burwell’86 describes a student union— “as the place where our whole college family meets.”
The Powerhouse will be the college’s next “living room.” Planned to open in fall of 2019, it will offer students the elements of a typical student union 和 a 娱乐 center all under one roof, integrating areas for socializing, 会议, 吃, 和 studying with spaces for athletics, 娱乐, 和 health 和 wellness.
—Emmy Newman’17
