The New College Building
When Professor J.J. Rucker ceremoniously handed the keys of a “building of modern design and structure” to W.M. Pratt, president of the Board of Trustees, in 1894, it marked a significant moment in the college’s history.
In June 1892, the trustees of Georgetown College had authorized President Dudley to proceed with the planning and construction of a new building. They instructed their financial agent “to make an energetic canvas for subscriptions. . . .” If the agent fell short in raising funds, the remaining would be borrowed from the endowment.
Architectural
drawing of the
"New College Building"
by Crapsey & Brown.
Catalogue of 1892-93
On March 25, 1893, the executive committee of the trustees approved the
plans drawn by the Cincinnati architectural firm.
Minutes, Executive Committee, Trustees of Georgetown
College, 1874-1915
Despite the Panic of 1893, the trustees proceeded with erecting the college’s first major structure in thirty-two years. Architects Crapsey and Brown designed a massive three-story, Romanesque structure. The edifice included—for the first time in the Baptist college’s history—space specifically designed for a library and a chapel.
A
gymnasium was also included, replacing a smaller one built in 1888 on College
Street. The building also contained the central heating plant, a swimming pool,
a museum, lecture rooms, faculty offices, and the meeting halls and libraries of
the Ciceronian and Tau Theta Kappa literary societies. Constructed at a cost of
$40,000, the new addition to the campus was dedicated in 1894 during
commencement exercises.
Following the keynote address by Professor O.T. Mason of the Smithsonian Institution, the campus community sang the hymn, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.” A new era had begun.