Differences

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--- old_gymnasium [2026/07/22 19:14] – [Background] bant07
+++ old_gymnasium [2026/07/23 19:21] (current) – bant07
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 The old gymnasium was built in the fall of 1871 in order to support the [[athletics|Trinity Boat Club's]] need for training space and indoor calisthenics ((Trinity Tablet, May 1871)). The "large barn-like structure" ((Trinity Tablet, June 22, 1903)) was moved to the [[summit_campus|Summit Street]] campus North of [[jarvis_hall|Jarvis Hall]] in 1878, where it stood until it burned down on May 13, 1896, nearly 10 years after [[alumni_hall|Alumni Hall]] was completed.
-[{{ :34654290.jpg?400|Wooden building near Summit Street ca. 1885, possibly the old gymnasium. Photo credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34654290|Trinity College Archives]]}}]
+[{{ :34654290.jpg?400|Wooden structure that may be the only photograph of the old gymnasium, matching [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.32704259|one student's description]] in an 1894 //Trinity Tablet//.}}]
 ===== Background =====
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 [[wheaton_nathaniel_s|Nathaniel Wheaton]] observed undergraduates in England who were very active and "in consequence much less frequently the victims of debility, and the train of ills, mental and bodily, which result from a too sedentary life." Similar commentary came from traveling preachers such as the Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D.D., who spoke to students at Trinity in 1852, stating that "our educated men are sadly deficient in that healthy robustness."
-College administration believed students ought to exercise their bodies just as well as their minds, so apparatus at an early date "was erected in the open to the west of [[brownell_hall|Brownell Hall]]," ((Trinity Tablet, June 1908)) but the pieces of equipment (which included ladder, pommel horse, and parallel bars) were exposed to the elements, fell into disrepair, and disappeared.
+To encourage students, exercise apparatus at an early date "was erected in the open to the west of [[brownell_hall|Brownell Hall]]," ((Trinity Tablet, June 1908)) but the pieces of equipment (which included ladder, pommel horse, and parallel bars) were exposed to the elements, fell into disrepair, and disappeared.
-In May 1871, students advocated for a gymnasium utilizing the //[[tablet|Trinity Tablet,]]// which succeeded. The College agreed to build it, and the students cheered: "there is one thing which is most certainly essential to a college, and that is, a gymnasium. It is absolutely necessary that a person, who leads a sedentary life, should have physical exercise. If the mind must be trained in an intellectual gymnasium, so must the body be exercised in a physical one." ((Trinity Tablet, September 1871))
+In May 1871, students advocated for a gymnasium utilizing the //[[tablet|Trinity Tablet,]]// which succeeded. The College agreed to build it, and the students cheered: "there is one thing which is most certainly essential to a college, and that is a gymnasium. It is absolutely necessary that a person who leads a sedentary life should have physical exercise. If the mind must be trained in an intellectual gymnasium, so must the body be exercised in a physical one." ((Trinity Tablet, September 1871))
 Construction began about September of 1871, and the excited students soon became dubious about the size and layout of the structure: "if the authorities would only be willing to take suggestions from students who have spent, we may almost say, years among the parallel bars and ladders, who, as the building is for their benefit, might be expected to know best what they need and wish, all might yet be well. As it is, however, the end will probably be very unsatisfactory to the majority of the college." ((Trinity Tablet, November 1871))
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 ===== New Campus =====
+[{{:screenshot_2026-07-23_151116.png?400 |Approximate location of the old gymnasium (circled). By 1900, it is gone.}}]
-[{{ :35150631.jpeg?400|Students stand on the ruins of the old gymnasium, 1896. Photo Credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35150631|Trinity College Archives]]}}]
+The old gymnasium was the only building from the old campus that moved to the new Summit Street location. In December 1878, it was dismantled and re-erected "at the north end of the Campus, fronting [[vernon_street|Vernon Street]], a little to the east of the line of the main buildings." ((Trinity Tablet, December 1878 Supplement.)) It is unclear from photographs exactly where it was located, but it was somewhere between the [[long_walk|Long Walk]] and the [[smith_house|Smith House]]. Over the next twenty years, the Old Gym was harassed and vandalized by students who used its windows for snowball target practice and painted graffiti on its sides, considering it a "blot to the landscape" or "a huge decayed coffin...so out of keeping with the beauties of our College campus." ((Trinity Tablet, March 17, 1894.))
-The old gymnasium was the only building from the old campus that moved to the new Summit Street location. In December 1878, it was dismantled and re-erected "at the north end of the Campus, fronting [[vernon_street|Vernon Street]], a little to the east of the line of the main buildings." ((Trinity Tablet, December 1878 Supplement))
+There were also varied and often conflicting descriptions of the old gymnasium.
-After Alumni Hall's construction, the old gym was used for varied purposes, namely as Estabrook waiters' living quarters, a student reading room for newspapers and magazines, as a classroom and office by the Professor of Modern Languages, and for instruction in mechanical drawing.
+[{{:35150631.jpeg?400 |Students stand on the ruins of the old gymnasium, 1896. Photo Credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.35150631|Trinity College Archives]]}}]
-At about 2:30 a.m. on May 13, 1896, College students and faculty discovered the north end of the old gymnasium in flames; the fire department arrived too late to save the building. While watching it burn to the ground, students "gave vent to their appreciation of the sight by cheers and general rejoicing," ((Trinity Tablet, May 1896)) but by late morning were regretful at the loss of the "old landmark" that was also a substantial financial loss to the College due to a lack of insurance.
+After Alumni Hall's construction in 1887, the old gym was used for varied purposes, namely as Estabrook waiters' living quarters, a student reading room for newspapers and magazines, as a classroom and office by the Professor of Modern Languages, and for instruction in mechanical drawing.
+At about 2:30 a.m. on May 13, 1896, College students and faculty discovered the north end of the old gymnasium in flames; the fire department arrived too late to save the building. While watching it burn to the ground, students "gave vent to their appreciation of the sight by cheers and general rejoicing," ((Trinity Tablet, May 1896)) but by late morning were regretful at the loss of the "old landmark" that was also a substantial financial loss to the College due to a lack of insurance.
 After the old gym burned down, an exact replica was built to the south of [[seabury_hall|Seabury Hall]] and was called "Martin Hall" after French Professor Winifred R. Martin. In 1902, "Martin Hall" was replaced by a commons building that was called "[[stickney_hall|Stickney Hall]]."