St. John Observatory (left), Stickney Hall (center), Seabury Hall (right). Photo Credit: Trinity College Archives.

Stickney Hall, at its final location where McCook Academic Building stands today, is visible toward the left of this image taken in 1962. Photo Credit: Trinity College Archives.

Stickney Hall, also called the Campus Cottage, was a nondescript wooden house that served as College dining, student commons and later, was home to the Brownell Club.

In 1896, the old gymnasium, which stood at about the site of the Smith House, burnt down.

An almost exact replica was erected to the south of Seabury Hall to provide a French classroom, a mechanical drawing room, and a reading room. The students called this building “Martin Hall” for Professor Winfred R. Martin, whose French classroom was located there…In 1902, it was replaced by a commons building of two stories. The students called the new commons “Stickney Hall” for Mr. and Mrs. Stickney who managed the college dining facilities from 1900 until World War I. ¹⁾

Originally intended to be a temporary structure, Stickney stood South of Seabury Hall on the Long Walk until 1931, when it was moved to make way for Cook Commons (later the Hamlin Dining Hall). The Brownell Club, which was organized in 1948, established a room in Stickney Hall in 1950. The structure was demolished in 1962 to make way for McCook Academic Building, which stands on the same site.

Generally, students did not favor temporary structures like Stickney Hall, which included Jarvis Scientific Laboratory and Boardman Hall, as they continually deviated from the Burges Plan. In March 1891, students voiced their dissatisfaction at seeing Trinity's proposed campus advertised in encyclopedias and magazines, yet unfulfilled: “the part of the planned great quadrangle already built is one of the finest scholastic buildings in the country and it would be a pity as Trinity grows to see the original plans given up and inferior buildings substituted.” ²⁾

A Trustees Meeting held March 15, 1889 had discussed the needs of the growing College, which presently had more students than it could accommodate. The Trustees felt that erecting smaller, temporary buildings was the best measure, rather than limiting enrollment: “the grounds which were originally allotted to the permanent buildings which were contemplated, and of which a portion has been erected, should not be encroached upon; but that they be left unoccupied at present, in order to invite the benefactions of those who may desire to erect memorials in connection with the College.” ³⁾

Trinity College in the Twentieth Century (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 47, 125.

The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, p. 236.

Trinity Tablet, March 1891

Trinity Trustees Minutes, Vol. 2, 1888-1907.