SU is US

No, there isn’t an Otto Hall on the SU campus, at least not yet. However, there are many buildings on campus, the origins of the names of which you may not know. In my ever shrinking spare time I was wondering who some of these people are and how they are associated with the University. Here is a small, but interesting, sampling of what I found:

Holden Observatory – The second building on campus after the Hall of Languages and a national landmark was named in memory of Charles Demerest Holden, an 1877 graduate who died in 1883. Mr. Holden’s father was the first Vice-President of the Board of Trustees and a prominent Syracuse merchant. There was actually a plan to move it to the top of Mt. Olympus, but it was never realized. In 1991, it had to be moved slightly to make room for Eggers Hall.

Carnegie Library – Named after Andrew Carnegie, who in 1905 informed SU that he was willing to donate $150,000 for the erection of a university library provided the University raised an equal sum as an endowment for up-keep of the library. The University raised the required endowment in little over a month, with the largest share being contributed by John D. Archbold (who also donated $300,000 to cancel the mortgage on the University Block given to build the Gymnasium named after him). Do you know what else was named after him?

Slocum Hall – In 1915, as a memorial to her father, a former State senator from Onondaga County and a pioneer in urging systematic and scientific agricultural education, Mrs. Russell Sage donated $300,000 to the University for the construction of a building to house the Joseph Slocum College of Agriculture.

Hendricks Chapel - Named for Francis J. Hendricks, former Mayor of Syracuse, Assemblyman, State Senator and Republican leader of Onondaga County, who died in June 1920. Hendricks, a member-at-large of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees from 1895 to 1920 and member of the Forestry College Trustees from 1913 to 1920, left the University $500,000 for the erection of a memorial chapel in memory of his deceased wife, Eliza Jane Hendricks.

Heroy Geology Laboratory - Named for William B. Heroy, an internationally known petroleum geologist and a 1909 graduate of SU. Heroy was director of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. He gave stocks worth $1 million, which subsequently doubled in value, toward the cost of the building.

Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center – Former the DKE fraternity, in the spring of 1996 plans for the Center were announced. The renovated and expanded facility encompasses the previous Faculty Center and is also the home for the Office of Alumni Relations. Fall 1997′s Homecoming Weekend marked the Halloween dedication paying tribute to the donors, including naming donors Alfred and Ann Goldstein.

For additional information about these buildings and other existing and former (lost) SU buildings on and off campus, see:

http://archives.syr.edu/buildings/

In preparing this post, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how many of the campus buildings would not be there but for the vision and generosity of alumni and other donors.

There is still plenty of space available on the Hill for a new SU building for you to name in honor or in memory of someone special.

Finally, I look forward to seeing those of you who will be attending Orange Central on November 10^th-13^th. If you see me, please make sure to say hello. For those who have not yet done so, you may still register at:

www.orangecentral.syr.edu

Thanks so much for checking out my blog.

Go Orange!

Brian