 |
BEREA -- Baldwin-Wallace College has purchased Hamilton House to ease its need for on-campus housing.
The apartment complex, located at 381 Front St., was acquired, according to public records, for about $2 million and will be used to house 100 college students in 48 units and a few townhouses in the fall.
George Richard, director of B-W college relations, said the college will honor the leases of the 40 tenants, and in some cases extend leases into the fall season or allow tenants to break their leases early.
Each apartment tenant has been individually informed of the purchase and provided with a contact at the college to answer concerns or address maintenance issues.
"The people we've talked to have said they appreciate how the college is working with them," he said. "We are trying to work to minimize the inconvenience this would cause existing tenants."
Hamilton House at one time was owned by B-W trustee and prominent Berea developer Glenn C. Snow, who died in 2006. His estate accepted a bid from a buyer recently. The college then purchased the building from that new owner.
The previous owner had two employees -- a rental agent and a maintenance worker. The college offered the agent a severance package and encouraged her to apply for any open positions within the college. The maintenance worker was retained under the same arrangements under which he had been working.
Berea residents have often complained that property sold to the college comes off the tax rolls, but Tom Lee, vice president of finance and administration, said B-W will continue to pay property taxes on the building to the city for the next three years.
Other than this transaction and negotiations with the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Lee said, "there are no plans to take property off the city roll and the college is not acquiring the city over time."
He added that this primarily provides housing for the north campus and addresses the major resident complaint that some students living in neighborhoods are not being neighborly.
"This will take some relief off that," Lee said.
And these students will be under the direct supervision of a student affairs staff person who will live in the complex and serve as hall director.
Gov. Ted Strickland and Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, have said that one of the top priorities for providing an educated work force in Ohio is to attract students from outside the state so that they will hopefully live and work in Ohio after graduation.
"But as we attract students from farther away, we have to be able to provide them options for campus living," Richard said. "This year, 20 percent of incoming students were from outside Ohio."
Without this property, the college would have been forced to admit a smaller number of students because of housing availability and restrictions. Freshman and sophomore students are required to live on campus.
The college is a 1,808 bed-campus now and there are about 3,000 undergraduate students currently enrolled.
Citation: James D. Harvey, “Handball Courts,” Baldwin-Wallace Alumnus 42, no. 4 (1967): p. 29
A contract for handball courts and a gymnasium storage unit has been awarded to the R. S. Ursprung Company, President Alfred B. Bonds Jr. announced. Construction will start immediately so that the facilities will be completed by the opening of school in the fall.
These additions to Ursprung Health and Physical Education Building will cost $103,000, with cash on hand and pledges totaling $80,000.
Lee J. Tressel, athletic director and head of the Department of Health and Physical Education, has long considered the courts high on the list of priorities for the HPE program. Starting the ball rolling was the work of Gerald S. Wellman, vice president for development, and Ellwood V. Rasmussen, assistant to the president for development.
Walter 0. Larson '51 as chairman and Kenneth F. Steingass '33 as vice chairman headed a committee of Lettermen, alumni and faculty who carried the ball in fund raising: William H. Beyer '55, Lee L. Ellsworth '50, John Mucklo '32, Kenneth Reiber '53, Hugh 0. Chronister '55, Richard E. Van Almen '37, director of alumni affairs, Tressel, and Theodore S. Bogardus, professor of engineering. Jess Bell, alumni trustee, gave the drive a great deal of support.
The two handball courts - four-wall, standard 20' by 40' - will adjoin the west side of the gymnasium. The new storage unit, which will house gymnasium equipment, apparatus and mats, will be added to the rear of the building on the west end.
Architects for the addition are Heine, Crider and Williamson.
For many years the Department of Health and Physical Education has felt a need for supplementing its program of teaching and increasing its recreational facilities.
"The new courts will make a significant contribution to the HPE program by increasing the teaching possibilities, " Tressel said, "and they will provide an excellent means for conditioning the members of athletic teams."
Ideal for competitive tournaments, the courts will also offer recreational opportunities for students, faculty members and (on schedule) a limited number of friends of the College.
Baldwin-Wallace initiated a major development program in 1957. To date the sum of $13,197,000 has been raised, with $7,234,000 of this amount representing gifts from private sources.
Citation: Updated B-W History, n.d.
 |
The hall located on the corner of Prospect and Bagley Roads was a former nursing home in Berea. When the college first acquired the hall it was used as a female residence hall, but in 1994 it was made coed hall. Hanson is the farthest residence hall from campus.
Baldwin Wallace University’s newest living-learning community is online, as the R. Amelia Harding House for Sustainable Living brings together students who share the goal of reducing their environmental footprint.
Imagine living in student housing where watering the roof, monitoring your energy consumption and harvesting fresh food are blended into everyday residence life. That and more are being experienced by 47 students who moved into the new R. Amelia Harding House for Sustainable Living, BW's first building designed to Gold LEED certified standards.
"At Harding, sustainability is evident in the building's design using environmentally sound materials and techniques, as well as the lifestyle of the residents who collectively commit to green living," says Robin Gagnow, BW’s director of residence life.
Students initially proposed the idea for a sustainable housing option. BW zeroed in on the possibility of adapting the building at 77 West Bagley Road, a former nursing home that the University had purchased and repurposed as a student residence hall. Since 2004, the former Hanson House had been used as storage and temporary office space during campus construction.
A generous gift from the Harding Family Charitable Trust and others (see donor list in the right column) transformed the building and gave it a new, purposeful life. This fall, the state-of-the-art R. Amelia Harding House for Sustainable Living opened its doors with a full house, plus a waiting list.
"Harding House is an essential piece of BW's leadership in sustainability," says Professor David Krueger, co-director of BW's sustainability major and director of the University's Institute for Sustainable Business Practice. "Not only do we have the region's first undergraduate and graduate programs in sustainability, but now we have a state-of-the-art living learning laboratory that enables students to practice sustainable living."
"We made this community a housing option for the entire campus and the result is a healthy mix of students," says Gagnow. "Among the declared majors, only half are sustainability majors and minors."
In addition to a greenhouse and organic garden, green features incorporated into Harding include individual energy use monitoring, a partially vegetative roof that reduces rainwater runoff and regulates the building temperature, and an indoor bike storage facility to encourage two-wheel riding instead of driving.
"I love the idea of the indoor bike storage," says Kory Gillisie '14 of Parma. The accounting/criminal justice major says northeast Ohio winters are hard on bikes left outdoors. "I had to throw my bike out at the end of last year because it was rusted through." As a two-sport athlete, Gillisie is also interested in cooking healthy dinners in Harding’s new kitchen.
With building materials and design items like permeable pavers, porous concrete, bioswales, rain barrels, composting and a straw-bale shed, the project aspires to reach Gold LEED Certification. But, Harding House aims to become much more than a building filled with sustainable technology and tools.
"This will be a real living-learning community," says Janet Stocks, Associate Academic Dean. "The students living in the house will come together to set ground rules and goals for themselves, wrestling with questions such as whether students should be allowed to have individual microwaves and refrigerators in their rooms, cars on campus, etc. These guidelines will be passed on to next year’s residents, but each year students will review and reaffirm which sustainable living practices they will commit to."
"The building is also a gateway to the larger community to help others see and learn how they can adopt many of our small-scale technologies and practices in their own lives and organizations," says Krueger.
Eventually, students will be tapped to lead community outreach and educational tours that show off the sustainable technology and practices to both the on and off-campus communities. Plans also call for interpretive signs to explain the sustainable design elements and there’s a top floor classroom available for community use.
"Environmental responsibility has been a priority at BW for some time now. But we are very excited about the potential of Harding House, not just for the students living in it, but also as an influence on the rest of campus," Stocks says. "We have an increasing number of students at BW interested in living sustainably, and we are delighted to be supporting them in their efforts."
 |
Citation: Updated B-W History, n.d.
The original infirmary at B-W burned prior in 1939 at a loss between $8,000 and $10,000. It was located in a home on the Northeast comer of Bagley Rd. and Seminary St. (Presently the site of Ritter Library). The second center was in a home on the southwest comer of Grand and Beech Streets. The house was built in 1873 by William and Georgianna Kirk. The house became the President's Home for German Wallace College, and the residence for it's president, Dr. Arthur L. Breslich. It continued as the President's Home until after the merger. President Alfred L. Storms was the lived there from 1918-1933, and was the last President to live there. The college built a home for the president in 1935 for Dr. Louis Wright. At that point, the college became the Health Center and continued as such until the present Health was built. It was equipped for observation, clinical services, and temporary hospitalization with thirteen rooms including men and women's wards. It was staffed by three nurses and two doctors.
The (new) Health Center was built on the comer of Beech and Liberty Streets in Berea. The architects were Heine, Crider, and Williamson, and the general contractor was R. S. Usprung, B-W Trustee. The groundbreaking was on August 22, 1966 for the $315,000 facility. It was dedicated on Founder's Day, October 19, 1967. It was built in the in the Georgian-Colonial Style. The Health Center is a one-floor, air conditioned, building housing an infirmary with fourteen beds, four examination rooms, a therapy room with a whirlpool and ultra-sound unit, a minor surgery room, a laboratory, a kitchen, laundry, and storage rooms. In addition, the building has a large office for the college physician, nurses stations, a residence room for nurses, and a combination lounge and dining room. The health center was to provide 24-hour service to students. At the time, Doctors Letchner, George H. Brown '36, and Edward C. White '55 were the college physicians. The Health center also serves to house the Counseling Center of B-W.
If you're feeling particularly bed- ridden lately, if you're flat on your back with a strange Illness — save your maladies tor this fall, when B-W's new Health Center Is open.
The one-floor building whose Georgian facade already provides a sneak preview of new health facilities to the B-W student, will be a welcome change from the present Health Center, whose foreboding framework Is quite familiar to anyone who has walked down Beech Street. Ruth Frear, R.N., supervisor of the present Health Center, Informed this reporter as to the nature of the now facilities.
 |
First of all, there will be a better chance to Isolate contagious cases, because all 2-bed rooms will be on one side and all 3-bed rooms on the other side of a brand new 14-bed infirmary. One advantage of the Increased privacy facilitated by this set-up Is the provision of studying space as the student convalesces, and a much better opportunity for individual counseling. Nurses also will reap added benefits from the new edifice. The nurses will live in and have their own private kitchen, laundry, and dining room facilities.
The architects of the new building have proposed to break the monotony of the traditional antiseptic atmosphere of a health establishment by planning the interior decor around warm colors, a scheme which will have continuity throughout. The new furniture will be light, airy, modern, and easily-cleaned. Carpeting will be Installed in the waiting room and halls to reduce the noise of well-intentioned but over-anxious visitors. The whole establishment is geared to be fireproof, including fireproof curtains and built-in formica cabinets. Communications will also be ameliorated, with a buzzer system to relay messages and a telephone system throughout.
Other innovations Include a therapy room with a whirlpool bath, private conference rooms for doctors, a ramp for wheel chair cases, deluxe Infirmary beds, a special room for commuters, and a new autoclave. The design and focus of the entire infirmary will be strictly student-oriented.
A constant reminder that the Health Center's opening is well under way Is provided dally by the construction workers on Beech Street, who seem to find nothing wrong with flirting with young female passers-by. (Young love amidst mortar and limel) At any rate, let's hope that the new Health Center doesn't become the nesting ground for the "Indisposed In-Crowd." The new Health Center will be beautiful indeed, BUT — illness belongs in the minority.
Citation: Stack, Cindy. “Free Health Care for B-W Students.” The Exponent, September 14, 1979, p. 5.
Many Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress are pushing for free national health care, but many don't know that B-W has provided this service for a' longtime. It takes the form of the Health Center on the corner of Bagley and Beech.
The Center, with a medical staff directed by Harriette Adams, R.N., provides a wide range of medical care, most of which services are free.
The facilities are for use by both commuters and residents.
According to Mrs. Adams, the services at the Health Center are: treatment of illnesses, emergency care, cast applications, minor surgery, diet counseling, pregnancy and v.d. testing, contraception and gynocological exams and acne care.
The Center is staffed with two full time, one part time, and five evening and weekend nurses. Nurses are on duty from 8a.m.-11 p.m. daily, but one must ring the bell after 5 p.m.
There is one alternate and two regular physicians. Hours are 8:30-9:30 a.m. and 12:30- 2 p.m. Emergency care is available 24 hours a day. If one lives in the dorms and an emergency arises after 11 p.m., contact your R.A. He or she will then get in contact with the Health Center.
When a student is too sick to stay in the dorm but not sick enough for a hospital, there Is an infirmary with ten beds at the Health Center. When there's an Infirmary patient, a nurse is on duty 24 hours.
The atmosphere at the Health Center is relaxed and friendly. The staff stresses the health education of each individual.
According to Mrs. Adams, we "try to help each student be comfortable" and do "a lot of talking on the medication we give".
Confidentiality is also an Important factor. No person can see any medical information on a student without that student's signature.
The staff at the H.C. gives talks around campus on any topic connected with health care. "We are very happy to come out and talk", said Mrs. Adams. She added that sometimes the R.A.'s feel that there is a great need for a particular subject to be discussed.
The H.C. Is connected with the Alcohol Program and this year, they hope to initate [sic] a weight loss group. Counseling at the Center is done by Nancy Gehring, R.N.
According to Mrs. Adams, each student will visit the Health Center at least one time while on campus, "We tend to see quite a few students."
Last fall quarter, 2,380 cases were treated at the Health Center.
Stop by if you would like to see the facilities, are feeling under the weather, or need some medical information. The phone number is 2178. If that line is busy, call 2179.
Baldwin-Wallace can take care of many of your health needs as well as your thirst for knowledge and occupational education. The Baldwin-Wallace Health Center is thirty years old, having first been constructed in 1967.
The Health-Center is a one-story brick building located on the corner of Beech Street and Liberty Street. It contains a dispensary for medication which can be prescribed by the Health Center physicians and a fourteen bed infirmary.
The facility extends to include an experienced Counseling Center with two full-time counselors on staff. They are there for all your emotional and mental needs throughout your academic career. The Counseling Center includes resident rooms for resident nurses that adds comfort by insuring 24 hour emergency service for the entire campus community.
In addition, physicians at the Health Center have daily hours at the center. If you have any questions about the Health Center or need to see a physician or counselor, you can call the Health Center at extension X2178.
Citation: Updated B-W History, n.d.
 |
Heritage Hall is of the Colonial style, modeled after the Early American Architecture of Philadelphia's Independence Hall. It was built on a part of the land purchased from the Methodist (Berea) Children's Home. The three and one-half story residence hall was built to house 300 men. The building is located on Tressel St. (formerly Maple St.), behind Ernsthausen Hall. The dormitory also contained a dinning hall large enough to seat 1000 men at one time. The building is unique in design, as it is composed of five sections, referred to as sections; A, B, C, D, and E. The architects were Heine, Crider, and Williamson of Berea, and was constructed by the Martini Construction Company of Cleveland. It was built at a cost of $1,700,000 through a $1,500,000 federal loan. The groundbreaking was on Thursday, December 7, 1961 and the cornerstone was laid on May 11, 1962. In the cornerstone, were cards from the Trustees, enclosed in a copper box, stating their memories of and wishes for B-W. The hall was originally named in honor of Rudolph and Eckenroth, and his wife, Hazel. He was an inventor and businessman from Lakewood, Ohio. The dedication was held on October 17, 1963. However, Eckenroth pulled out at the last minute and the building is called Heritage Hall.
The bell in front of Heritage Hall was the only Liberty Bell on a college campus in the country at the time it was built. The Bell was built especially for Baldwin-Wallace on the original mold of the Bell in Independence Hall. It was cast by an old French Foundry, Les Fils de George Paccard, located in Annecy-Le-Vieux, Haute-Savoie, France. It was placed in front of the hall when it was completed in 1963. On July 4, 1965, the Bell was rung 13 times in memory of the original colonies and the courageous men who brought freedom to the land. The bell also rang 50 times for the 50 states of the United states.
The hall was to be a fraternity center on campus, providing the members of fraternities safe and healthy living, while preserving the identity of the individual fraternity. The college-owned buildings that housed the fraternities were thought to be expensive and less safe, and were eliminated. Each chapter had its own private entrance, a lounge with a fireplace, three-room house director's suite, and private dining area for up to 80 members. The 135 ft. dining areas could be unpartitioned to create a large ballroom.
The hall is presently coed and houses two fraternities, two sororities, as well as independent sections. The fraternities are Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Kappa Tau and the sororities are Alpha Phi and Delta Zeta. There is also a section of Freshman girls in Heritage. The ballroom has been eliminated as the college union now serves as the dining center. Now in its place is the B-W Printing Services department. The Residence Life offices were also moved to Heritage Hall in 1996. Heritage Hall is still the largest hall on campus with 300 men and women residents.
Get the key from the office (if you can); then right about face and proceed in the direction of Professor Hertzler's classroom. On your left you will notice some steps lending downward; screw up your courage and follow them whither they may lend and you will come face to face with the doors of what page 22 of the B-W. catalog calls the Herman Herzer Museum.
If you are among the favored few who are trusted with the key, unlock the portals and enter. The room is full of shadows and you get an impression of lots of old, mysterious things, which arouse your curiosity.
Before you enter the room, look at the framed motto on your left which the tag says is (it least 75 or 100 years old. It is entitled, "The Art of Making Money Plenty in Every Man's Pocket" and is written by our old friend Dr. Benjamin Franklin.
Think of having a perfectly good price of advice like that hidden in such an out- of- the way place! It should have a permanent spot on the bulletin board, where it could be read every day, or to be truly philanthropic we should have it placed in the post office window where the whole town could benefit by it. In these days of high prices and no jobs what greater service could we do unto our fellow men than to give them freely of this bit of advice which now hangs dusty and forgotten in the basement of the Memorial Building?
There are cases which contain rows and rows of things which the unitiated call shells and stones but which the catalog claims are bryozoa, Brachiopoda, gastropoda, pelecypoda, cephapoda, blastoids, crinoids, et cetera, et cetera.
When you glance toward the end of the room don't jump; for what seems to be uninvited company are only models wearing Chinese robes— a strange looking rain coat, a padded cloak and an embroidered robe which the tag calls "An Official Costume of the Ming Dynasty." It is dusty and moth eaten—out of sight and forgotten like the splendor of which it was once a part.
Our professors speak frequently and voluminously on the work of the monks in the ancient monasteries and the books they printed with so much care and artistry. We wonder if any of the faculty know of two precious valumes in "the basement of Memorial Building which would accomplish what all their lectures cannot?
The one is the "Biblia Sacra Cum Prologue et Epistola S. Hieronimi" and came from the library of the Abbey of Cambrai, in Northern France. The other is a manuscript of 1374. with the Schism of the Catholic Church. Think of it! To have the original story of the great Schism right here in our own college and yet as deeply hidden as if it were still lying in, some ancient monastery in its native country.
"Seeing is believing" and if the students could once see these books so beautifully and painstakingly penned it would help to tear away the veil which separates us from the past and give a sounder and more thorough respect for the learning of long ago.
Why has the student body never seen all of these relics which would add so much to the richness of their knowledge? It would be a safe wager that not 25 per cent of the students even know of the existence of the Herman Herzer Museum.
Was it merely to satisfy a whim that the donors went to all ends of the earth to bring these precious things back to Berea or did they really think someone might be benefitted?
Few of us will he privileged to visit foreign lands but we can enrich our store of knowledge by studying those things which come to us from fur off places.
There are crude images here which came from the island of Cypress who knows but what Paul himself looked upon them and denounced them? A crown of thorns from the Mt. of Olives helps us to understand Christ's experience and an old, old, shrunken mummy's hand from Cairo sets our imaginations to working.
Many are the things from China queer shoes and hats, an opium set deathly looking razors, and interesting compass and pipes in styles to suit everyone.
Every dog has his day—let the Museum have one. At present only the sociology classes have the privilege of entering. That menus that some students never see the collection and will not be enriched by the experience which might be received.
But let us be encouraged. Agitation enough in the right direction sometimes accomplish miracles. Perhaps some day it will succeed in opening the doors of the Museum.
See: student web exhibit, curated by Chase Augustine at https://herzerfossils.weebly.com/museum-bilingual.html.
 |
Citation: Updated B-W History, n.d.
Hulet Hall, was the gift of Fletcher Hulet. Born in Lee, Massachusetts in 1803, Hulet moved to Brunswick, Ohio in 1816. After marrying in 1829, he heard of John Baldwin's plan to establish a Methodist education center in Berea. In 1846, he moved to Berea with his wife and became involved with the school, and served as a Trustee of Baldwin Institute and Baldwin University. He soon became a quarry owner, and with student help, he erected and donated a sandstone building to Baldwin University. Known as Hulet Hall, it was the university's largest building. The donation was valued at $16,000 in addition to his labor, and stood as a memorial to Fletcher Hulet's dedication to education. The first floor contained recitation rooms and the upstairs was an auditorium used for chapel services, commencement day exercises, and lectures. For many years, some of the most talented lecturers in the country were included in the lecture courses. The building was 56' by 90' in size. The Civil War and financial resources accounted for a delay in the progress and completion of the building. A catalog of Baldwin University from 1866-1867 states the efforts for a new college hall were being made. The structure was standing by this time, but not entirely finished. The hall was dedicated Tuesday, August 22, 1871. In 1878, a tower was added to Hulet hall at a cost of $800. Much of the stone for the tower was donated by John Baldwin Jr.
The land the hall was built on, as well the rest of the old Baldwin University campus, was sold to the Cleveland Stone Company. This land, near Wallace Lake, is now part of the Cleveland Metropolitan Park System. After the land was sold is was necessary for the building to be moved. The hall was moved and rebuilt in 1902 on the corner of Beech St. and Bagley Rd. Only a very small part of the stone of old Hulet Hall was used in the building of the new structure. Although it was still a three story structure, the buildings form had been changed. Now a ladies' dormitory, it contained parlors, a dining hall, a gymnasium, and dormitory accommodations. The hall was equipped with electric lights, steam heat, baths, and other modern improvements.
Hulet Hall served B-W students in its second location from 1902 until 1972. The hall was razed during the week of December 18, 1972. The building was said to be in need of repairs costing $150,000. After two and a half months of consulting with college personnel, it was decided to demolish the building at a cost of $20,000 instead of renovating the historic building. When students returned from break, there was only a vacant lot where Hulet Hall had stood for 70 years. The hall had been used as a men's dorm in the years before the demolition. The proposed uses of the site were for the expansion of Ritter Library or a parking lot. A parking lot has since been built on that corner.
 |
In 1860, Fletcher Hulet donated money for a new building for the Baldwin University campus. Hulet Hall, erected with student labor, contained recitation halls, a chapel and (later) the Baldwin University Library (In the early 1880's, Philura Gould Baldwin, granddaughter of John Baldwin, collected books (from the libraries of the Literary Societies, faculty, alumni and friends and started the first library in Hulet Hall's basement). The chapel was on the second floor; the classrooms on the first. The graduating class of 1872 donated funds to erect a steeple with a large bell on it for the hall. The bell towel, however, was not rebuilt when the building was moved to the new campus stone by stone and reconstructed, though not in the original style. Today Hulet Hall is a men' [sic] dormitory and has office and classroom space for the Humanities Department.
Citation: Charles F. Mott, ed., Palladian (Berea, OH: Baldwin University, 1897), p. 10.
The demolition of Hulet Hall and the removal of usable material to the new campus make the summer of 1896 memorable to old residents of Berea and to those students whose college life, in whole or in part, found its working center in that old building. The piles of stones on the new campus are not ornamental, but to some they speak forcibly of one of B. U.'s greatest needs-rich friends, willing- to bestow upon her a portion of their wealth that they may thus enrich in mind and heart the generations to come.
Encyclopedia of Baldwin Wallace University History: Campus Locations - K ►
*No content currently exists for the Campus Locations - I & J. Check back again.
