Hill: 125 Years in the Life of Syracuse University The HaLL of LanguageJ N 1881 , ERASTUS 0. HAVEN , 125 YEARS OUTGOING CHANCELLOR OF SYRACUSE' S STRUGGLING UNIVERSITY, IN THE LIFE OF HAD A GLOOMY MESSAGE FOR HIS SUCCESSOR , CHARLES N. SIMS : SYRACUSE " YOU CANNOT SAVE THE UNIVERSITY. IT MUST GO. " UNIVERSITY HOW WRONG HE WAS. CompiLe() by Bob HiLL • AoditionaL reJearch by ALanna Fincke Published by SURFACE, 1995 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 11, Iss. 3 [1995], Art. 5 lHU \t$ll.l Courage, transfers to SU from The Methodist Epis­ 1870 ilSHlODll Lafayette College. H e stays only copal Church, w hich had estab­ one semester and late.r admits lished Genesee College in Lima, he came "more to play baseball New York, but was unhappy than to study." Chancellor Sims with its remote location, passes recalls Crane "was not a schol­ a resolution at its state conven­ arly s tudent, but his writings tion to establish a college in are of the kind, I fancy, that will Syracuse. The resolution be long remembered." becomes a reality on March 24, w hen Syracuse University is J ames Roscoe Day chartered. 1894 becomes chancellor. During his 28-year tenure, enrollment The first classes for 1871 increases from fewer than 700 41 registered students begin students to more than 6,000, September 4 in rented space in and ll colleges are founded. the Myers Block building on Montgomery Street in down­ The College of Law town Sy racuse. The curriculum 1895 is founded. consists of algebra, geometry, Latin, Greek, history, physiolo­ book is placed on a raft, set 1898 The student ha nd- gy, elocution, and rhetoric. afire, a nd p ushed onto the book warns freshmen "not to There are no electives. water. The tradition ends' i n conclude that the U niversity 1889 w hen accompany ing fire­ can't get along w ithout y ou. It Alexander Winchell, works 1872 prematurely explcrde. certainly can." a former geologist at the University of Michigan, Char 1881 les N . Sims 1901 The L.C. becomes SU's first becomes SU's third c hancellor Smith College of Engi­ chancellor. a nd inherits a University debt neering a nd Computer of nearly $ 1872 The 173,000. Science is founded. College of Medi­ Stud 1886 ents burn the 1903 Born Sep- cine is founded. ramsha ckle gymnasium behind tember 15, the Daily the Hall of Language s. Orange quickly becomes the 1873 The nation's first collegiate newspa­ College of Visual 1887 SU purchases the per w ith cartoons. Among its and Performing Arts, internationally renowned first editorial messages: Don't the nation's first libra ry of Leopold vo n R a nke, a hit other students w hen playing degree-granting college G erman once proclaimed. the golf on campus. of fine arts, is founded. world's greatest living ALexander historian. Winche LL 1873 SU dedicates its first 1889 N ine of the 10 bells in building, the $136,000 H all of the Crouse College tower are Languages. It w ill stand a lone installed. For the next 92 years, on the 50-acre farmland camp us the bells are rung at least twice a for 14 years until the construc­ day and again on special oc:;ca­ tion of the Holden Observatory. sions, such as holidays, elec:;tions, deaths, and football victories. 1874 A need for spittoons Beginning in 198 I, the bells are in the H all of Languages is quieted for 18 months until reno­ a nnounced by Tbe UniverJtfy vations make them safe to ring Herald, forerunner to the Daily agam. Orange. 1890 Orange becomes the 1874 Erastus 0. Haven, a University's official color after a former s enator from M assachu­ search of BairdJ College Manual setts, becomes SU's second reveals that no other Ameri;can chancellor. university has adopted orange alone as a school color. SU's origi­ 1877 Their required nal colors, rose pink and pea green, course in calculus completed" were not particularly popular. sophomores head to nearby Ska neateles Lake for the a nnual 1891 Stephen C rane, Calculus Buria l. A ca lculus text- author of Tbe Red Badge of Stephen Craned nwJtjamott.J rvorlc 1870 1880 1890 1900 https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol11/iss3/5 2 Hill: 125 Years in the Life of Syracuse University 1909 Traditional 1918 Twelve students die, Moving-Up Day exer­ emergency hospitals are erected in cises-during w hich dormitories, and the campus is· graduating seniors are quarantined for more than two­ excused from mandato­ and-a-half O ctober weeks because ry chapel attendance, of a Spanish Flu epidemic. juniors take their empty seats, and each class 1918 Enrollment declin,es subsequently "moves by more than 30 percent after up" -are temporarily more than 1,000 students are abolished after celebrar­ drafted during World War I. ing freshmen paint Sim:S Hall, streetcars, and 1918 The College for John D. Archbold and the .1taJiwn that bore hi.J name campus monuments. H uman Development is founded. 1903 Chancellor Day 1910 The Daily 1919 The School of M an ­ allows his cow to graze in the Oranpe holds a three-day editor­ agement is fo unded. open field on the eastern por­ ial campaign to promote cam­ tion of the Quad. pus friendliness. 1920 SU loosens its ties with the Methodist Episcopal 1905 Industrialist Andrew 1911 The Graduate SchooJ Church with a change to its is founded. Carnegie makes a surprise charter, which now defines the donation of $ 150,000 to erect institution as "nonsectarian." the library that will bear his 1911 The New York State name. Senate approves a bill appropri­ 1921 J. Herman Wharton, ating $55,000 for the creation o£ dean of the College of 1905 The Boar's Head a School of Forestry at SU. Business Adminis­ dramatic society is founded. tration (forerun­ Early campus theatrical pro­ 1912 The senior class ner to the School ductions include Kinp Lear and donates a stone bench to the of Manage­ Macbeth. T he society entertains University, which places it on ment), is shot audiences for more than 50 the west lawn of the Hall of nine times and years. Languages. It later becomes killed by Pro­ known as the Kissing Bench. fessor Holmes 1906 T he School of Edu­ Tradition holds that if a couple Beckwith, whom Whar- cation is founded. kisses w hile sitting on this bench, they will eventually ton recently 1906 One hundred spec­ marry . fired. Beckwith tators are injured and one is subsequently kills killed w hen bleachers collapse 1912 Junior Elizabeth himself. J. Herman during a Syracuse-Colgate foot­ Reed, unhappy w ith the quality Wharton ball game at New Star Park, of dining hall food, is expelled 1921 Under financial duress, the team's temporary home. after organizing a food strike. the University solicits students for donations totaling $60,000. The The School of Infor­ drive raises $36,243. 1907 The 25,000-seat 1914 Archbold Stadium opens. It is mation Studies is founded . named after philanthropist 1921 D ancing is John D. Archbold, w hose banned for the final many donations also help two weeks of the spring build Archbold Gy mnasi­ semester by Chancel- um and Sims Hall and lor D ay, w ho sa:ys, eliminate the U niversity's "We are close $60,000 deficit in 1910. upon examin <~­ tions and have no 1909 The Senior time to dance." Council forbids under­ graduate men from 1922 accompanying women to Charles Wesley any intercollegiate athletic Flint, former presi­ contest. Separate seating dent of Cornell Col­ lasts 40 years at SU sport­ lege in Iowa, ing events. becomes S U's fi fth chancellor. The Ki.JJing Bench 1905 1910 1915 1920 Published by SURFACE, 1995 3 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 11, Iss. 3 [1995], Art. 5 MORE THAN ONE MILLION WORLD WAR II VETERANS STARTED THEIR COLLEGE EDUCATIONS IN 1946 UNDER THE G.l. BILL, WHICH GUARANTEED TUITION, ROOM, BOARD, AND A SMALL ALLOWANCE FOR RETURNING Welcome fidditions VETERANS. NOT EVERY UNIVER­ SITY WAS WILLING TO TOLERATE THE DISRUPTION CAUSED BY AN INFLUX OF THOUSANDS OF NEW, AND OFTEN OLDER, STUDENTS. SYRACUSE WAS AN EXCEPTION. SU set the national standard for welcoming veterans-and earned praise from President Harry S. Truman-by admitting 9,464 in 1946. Enrollment literally tripled overnight. Hous­ ing was a major effort. More than 900 Quonset huts, barracks, and trailers sprang up along Comstock Avenue, in the Uni- versity Farm (now Skytop and Slocum Heights), and in the Drumlins orchard. More space was needed, however, and many veterans were forced into temporary off­ campus housing. Chancellor William Pearson Tolley had to deliver his freshman address three times - once on cam pus, once in Baldwinsville, and once at the State Fairgrounds, where hundreds of veterans bunked in cow barns. Food Jhopping at DrumLinJ 1924 The Maxwell School until 1978, when American Indi­ Slocum College of Agriculture, of Citizenship and Public an students complain that the the only private agricultural Affairs is founded. mascot is offensive. school in the country, is elimi­ nated 20 years after its founding. 1930 A DaiLy Orange story 1933 Faculty members declares college is a waste of agree to take a 10 percent salary 1934 The S.l. N ewhouse time for women: "For an aver­ cut as part of the University's School of Public Communica­ age girl who intends to make program of retrenchment during tions is founded. marriage her chief business, to the Depression. The Joseph waste four p recious y ears that 1937 William Pratt Gra­ ought to be devoted to romantic ham becomes SU's sixth chan­ adventure seems tragic." cellor.