In 1902, Schuylkill
Seminary, one of Albright’s three founding
institutions, purchased the grounds and the buildings of the
military school, Selwyn Hall Academy. The grounds included four
buildings: Selwyn Hall, a chapel, a gymnasium and a small springhouse.
Selwyn
Hall
Built in 1836, Selwyn Hall, which was named in honor of Bishop
George Augustus Selwyn, the first bishop of New Zealand of the
Protestant Episcopal Church, was originally called Linden Hall. It
was originally built as a country residence for Jonathan Deininger
and his wife. The College purchased the building in 1902. It had
served as a military school since 1875.
Many alumni from the 1930s
to 1960s remember the dining hall that was located in the Selwyn
Hall Annex, where formal meals served by waiters and waitresses
required proper dress.
Selwyn Hall now houses the Admission Office,
Sociology Department, Career Development Center and Student Affairs.
Sylvan
Chapel
Sylvan Chapel, built in 1773, is the oldest building on the
Albright campus and once served as a springhouse for the farm
located on the property. The upper floor, which is currently a
small chapel, was a one-room schoolhouse at one time. The pews
and pump organ that today inhabit the quaint chapel are from Jacob
Albright’s
home church in Kleinfeltersville, Pa.
White Chapel
White Chapel wasn’t always called “White
Chapel.” Built
in 1882, it was simply called “the chapel” until
the red brick exterior received a white coat of paint around
1888, and students started referring to it as White Chapel. It
has served as a theatre, a gymnasium, an armory and housed the
Art Department. The second floor was added in 1888, providing
classroom space and dormitory rooms for men.
Alumni Memorial Hall
When we talk about the faces
and names behind the buildings that make up the Albright campus,
perhaps Alumni Memorial Hall speaks the loudest. Although it is
not named after one particular individual, more than 20 alumni and
faculty are memorialized in this building.
Once called the gymnasium,
Alumni Memorial Hall was erected in 1892 and had a connecting
walkway to White Chapel where there was a lavatory and shower room
for athletes. The second floor housed student athletes and was
known as “The
Lion’s Den.”
In 1936, the building was remodeled and
dedicated as Alumni Memorial Library. It served as the library
until 1964, when it moved to its current location. With classes
called off for the day, more than 700 students and faculty formed
a human chain and assisted in transferring books to the new library.
For
many years, Alumni Memorial Hall was also the starting place
for the May Queen’s procession. Every May Day, the student-elected
queen and her court would emerge on the front steps and proceed
to the exercises on the main lawn.
The Digital Media and Fashion,
Merchandising, Textiles and Design Departments are now located
in Alumni Memorial Hall.
Teel Hall
Following the merger of
Albright College and Schuylkill College in 1929, the building
now called Teel Hall, was dedicated as the Evangelical School
of Theology, affectionately referred to as “The
Angel Factory.”
When the Evangelical School merged with Bonebrake
Seminary and moved to Ohio in 1954, the building was renamed Teel
Hall in honor of the first president of Albright College in Reading,
Dr. Warren F. Teel.
Dr. Teel was appointed principal of Schuylkill
Seminary in 1901, and president of Schuylkill College when it moved
back to Reading in 1902. Teel was particularly well known for his
promotion of higher education and especially for his fundraising
ability.
Teel Hall now houses psychology, business and economics,
and political science.
Merner-Pfeiffer Hall of Science
In 1935 the country
was in the midst of the Great Depression and the College was
no exception. J. Warren Klein, who was appointed acting president
in 1932 following the death of President Teel, was facing substantial
college debt and the threat of foreclosure on Science Hall and
the School of Theology buildings. That’s when
he approached Annie Merner and Henry Pfeiffer, two philanthropists
from New York City whom he had never met.
With Klein’s persistence,
Annie Merner and Henry Pfeiffer virtually saved the College.
They pledged $50,000 to liquidate the mortgage on Science Hall.
Throughout the years the couple contributed a total of $750,000
to Albright toward debt liquidation, the building of Merner-Pfeiffer-Klein
Memorial Chapel and the
endowment of academic chairs.
Masters Hall
Masters Hall was constructed
in 1920, and was named in 1965 for President Harry V. Masters
(1938-1965). Masters’ term as president
was referred to as “The Golden Years.” During this
time, the College weathered World War II, enrollment increased,
the physical plant grew and the College remained financially
sound.
At one time, the entire college administration,
including President Masters, was housed on the first floor of this
building. Dorm rooms were located on the third floor. Men who lived
there had no excuse for being late to class, as the classrooms were
located on the second floor.
Currently, Masters Hall houses English
and communications, history, education and modern foreign languages
and literature.
Pushman Cottage
This historic farmhouse
was acquired in 1924. It was originally named Sherman Cottage after
Samuel Sherman, the building contractor who remodeled it and presented
it to the College. In 1994, the building was renamed the V. Lester
and Maryann Pushman Cottage. Lester Pushman, class of 1947, was
a standout athlete in football, golf and basketball.
In the 1940s
and 1950s, Pushman Cottage served as a residence and lab for
home economics students. These students would invite faculty and
other Albrightians to luncheons and dinners to demonstrate hospitality,
the ability to serve a meal and etiquette. Students also temporarily “adopted” an
infant to care for as part of their coursework in childcare.
The
building now houses the Alumni Relations Office.
F. Wilbur Gingrich
Library and Administration Building
The Library-Administration Building
was built in 1964, with the third floor added in 1977. Administrative
offices occupy the first floor.
The library, located on
the second and third floors, was named the F. Wilbur Gingrich
Library in 1980 in honor of Albright’s beloved
professor of Greek and chair of the Classical Languages Department.
He served on the faculty from 1923 until retirement in 1972.
Gingrich brought international recognition to the College when
he co-authored a Greek-English lexicon.
George C. Bollman Physical Education Building
Albright’s
main athletic facility, the George C. Bollman Physical Education
Building, was completed in 1952 and was posthumously named
in honor of Bollman. A graduate of Schuylkill Seminary in 1921,
he was a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball and track,
an avid supporter of Albright athletics, and chair of the Albright
Board of Trustees from 1953 until his death in 1971.
Eugene L. Shirk Stadium
Built around 1909 as Circus
Maximus, the stadium was originally the home of the Tri-State Minor
League Baseball League. It was donated in 1923 to Schuylkill College,
which then merged with Albright College in 1929, when Albright
moved to its current location in Reading. The College named the facility
Eugene L. Shirk Stadium in 1981 after the beloved Albright professor
and former mayor of Reading.
Shirk Stadium was completely rebuilt
in 2005.
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