1914年大学大厅火灾

直到1914年3月17日,Wellesley的灿烂学院大厅是学院的心灵和灵魂。

建筑物拥有学生,教师,员工,教室,实验室,艺术等,都在一个巨大的大厦。

韦尔斯利1875年开业时,所有的眼睛magnificent. Erected on the rise above Lake Waban, its single building was surrounded by 300 acres of a country estate with varied terrain of hills, woods, meadows, and water. The building itself was of immense size. At 475 feet in length, and rising four stories with five-story towers, it was one of the largest buildings in the United States at its opening. And it was exactly as [founder Henry] Durant wanted it—the perfect expression of the College Beautiful.

(From a “College Hall and Everything After” by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz ’63 in a special issue ofWellesleymagazine,改变了Wellesley的夜晚.)

Indeed, for 39 years, College HallwasWellesley。俯瞰Waban湖的巨大存在需要四年的建造。但是在3月17日早上一百年前,只需四个小时即可燃烧。

上午4:30。,在西翼的四楼,1914年的班级,由1914年级的班级,奇怪的噼啪声声像通过横向于她的门上方横向刺激。随着格罗弗从床上起床,她的室友金妮摩特特告诉她,大厅和居住总监奥尔维尔戴维斯1886。......戴维斯小姐指示格罗弗在下面的地板上提醒Edith Tufts 1884。当格罗弗谈到塔夫茨小姐时,日本锣已经响起,学生开始在他们指定的景点中聚集在一起......

由于1913年的学生消防局长未坚持在每个宿舍(针对大学医师的建议)中未经发扬的夜间消防训练,因此许多学生都借鉴了锣和随后的电动走廊钟声发出另一个钻头,并达到了他们通常的关闭惯例他们的窗户,打开他们的房间里的灯,扔在长袍或和服和拖鞋上,并向中心前往他们的中心分配的会议点。

(From “Up in Flames” by Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99 in a special issue ofWellesleymagazine,改变了Wellesley的夜晚.)

通过所有的目击者账户,平静和纪律统治了一天,没有“兴起,哀叹,或质疑”放缓安全地让每个人的过程。他们做了。令人惊叹的是,没有人类的生命丢失了。1914年4月2日,问题亚博永久官网Wellesley学院新闻- 签发和readable online现在 - 对火的广泛覆盖。Wellesley学生Barbara Bach Phipps 1916年编译了一个photograph albumdocumenting the destruction by fire of College Hall, which is also in a digitized form in the College Archives.

在那天早上100年前的早晨,Wellesley将永远改变,既由大学霍尔的建筑物 - 七人在1931年开放的最后一个 - 以及Wellesley毕业生和教师的回应。“这场火灾融合了校友的身体,”学院的普罗德·圣安安·圣安安·圣安安·圣安安斯说,他们补充说,大学成功的大部分都可以追溯到火灾中。

(From "记住1914年的火灾“由3月10日的劳伦斯生物公布高等教育的纪事。的)

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At the one hundredth anniversary of this dramatic and course-changing night, Wellesley honored the heroism and grit of the women who survived the fire, saving each other and many assets from the burning building. We continue to be grateful to and take inspiration from their resumption of the spring academic term only three weeks later. The success of the rebuilding effort wasn't always a foregone conclusion.

After the flames destroyed College Hall, the heart and anchor of the campus, college leaders faced a crucial decision: Should they cut their losses and shut down the school, or attempt to raise more than $2 million—the equivalent of about $47 million today, according to one Wellesley economist—in just months to keep the campus going?

(From "亚博永久官网Wellesley学院记得火灾审判" by Jaclyn Reiss in the March 16, 2014,Boston Globe.)

我们现在知道对这个问题的答案,当然还有它的持久效果。由其他机构和慈善家的慷慨支持的大学生,校外,教师和大学领导人支持的适应性和恢复力,高度筹款和长期思考,由其他机构和慈善家的慷慨,使Wellesley成为今天的内容。

百年纪念活动

Although no one was hurt, and many objects were saved by students and faculty as the fire burned, much was lost on March 17, 1914, and College Hall was left in ruins. Students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Houghton Memorial Chapel that morning, and then the students were sent home for three weeks while the College began the process of recovering from the devastation.

2014年3月17日,Wellesle亚博永久官网y College在其历史中记得这一关键事件。整个社区的特殊纪念活动包括在5年前发生的教堂里的早上会议。然而,这一次,早餐是送餐;音乐由tupelos唱歌;学生,教师,员工和嘉宾阅读在社区成员的消防之后写的个人信件;和总统很自然,打扮成Ellen Fitz Pendleton可能是1914年,解决了聚会。下午,在达瓦斯的文物博物馆中展出的一项特别展览,并持续了数十年的历史,并通过历史学家和总体圣安南的杰出言论开幕。