Academic Buildings
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West College, or "Old West" as it is better known, was built and in use by 1805 after the burning of the original brick building two years before. The Building was designed by Benjamin Latrobe, Architect of the U.S. Capitol Building. Throughout its long history Old West has has seen every aspect of college life held within its walls. The building would be the dorms, kitchen, classrooms, chapel, library, and offices of the college in the early years of Dickinson. Eventually, as more structures were created Old West would be used solely for offices and official formal functions, mainly held it its gorgeous colonial meeting room, Memorial Hall. In 1934 the then ivy covered building would be used for administrative purposes, housing six classrooms, five faculty offices, a modern language lab, a small chapel, and a conference room. However being such an aged building and several accounts, both official and non official remark that for as old and beautiful as Old West was, it was a building in desperate need for renovation and repair to the aging inside and the threat of fire, the cause of the original loss of the first building on the site. |
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Tome Scientific Building was completed on June 24, 1885 made possible by a gift from prominent banker Jacob Tome. The building was a dream of Prof. Charles Francis Himes and included six laboratories, a museum, five offices, and five classrooms. Although not as expansive as Himes had originally foreseen it to be, Tome was still state of the art when it was built and would remain the pride of the Sciences here for over a century. 1934 saw it used for housing the Priestly Scientific Apparatus and also in use by the Physics, Geology, and Chemistry Departments. |
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Bosler Library and Chapel was originally built in 1886 and was a gift of Mrs. Bosler in memory of her husband James Williamson Bosler. The building was at the time a dark reddish sandstone color much like Denny Hall, a deep difference from the soft white limestone of Tome, East, and West College. At the time it was run by librarian May Morris and held the Chapel, Library, and a majority of the Dickinsoniana Collection of College Memorabilia. Needless to say all these uses made internal space cramped and numerous accounts and images relate that the building was crowded and in need of more space. |
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The Psychology building was built in 1899 by Phi Delta Theta Fraternity as a home. It was purchased in 1931 by the College for $8,300 and remodeled as classroom space and offices for the Psychology Department with a small portion going to the Department of Education. These arrangements would last a short time until the departments moved to other facilities as they became available. Within the walls was crammed five offices, two classrooms, and a laboratory and apparatus room, needless to say, large demands for such a small building. |
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Denny Hall was built on the land purchased from the Denny Family of Carlisle and completed on June 8, 1896. It was quickly accommodated by classes and the two literary societies of the college. However on March 3, 1904 it caught fire and burned to the ground prompting a sudden drive to rebuild the much needed space. By June of the next year though the building was back up and operating with both college offices and classes within its walls. Fully rebuilt the stained glass windows would be restored and the clock tower would later hold the College Bell, formerly atop Old West, along with the safe used by the administrative offices for important documents until the 1920's when offices moved into Old West. Still in the wall of a present classroom in 2000, the safe still remains nearly a century later, an odd reminder that every room has changed greatly over the decades. The building would hold a total of 18 classrooms and 20 offcies but was old, difficult to ventilate, and because of expansion in the town of Carlisle, buildings would be erected that would all together block the eastern exposure of the building to light. |
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Allison Church was affiliated with the College in 1934 and had been for several decades prior to 1934 as a donor of funds for College needs. Following a fire on January 20, 1954 the Church would move to Mooreland and the old building razed and become part of the property next to the Presidents House. |
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Tricket Hall, as the Law School was almost entirely comprised of was an enormous building constructed in 1917 for the Law School. It would hold nearly the entire Institute within its walls and still does so nearly a century later although the addition of some other buildings has taken the burden off of it. The School was founded in 1834 as an original part of Dickinson College. However in 1890 it became a seperately run institution under the title Dickinson Law School although no longer directly affiliated with Dickinson College. |
