Kalamazoo College Trowbridge Hall

Abstract

An exterior view of Kalamazoo College's Trowbridge Hall in the 1950s, possibly around the time a second addition to the building was made in 1957. One of the oldest buildings on campus as of 2009, Mary Trowbridge Hall was first occupied in Fall, 1925. As with Wheaton Lodge, an earlier hall for women, funds for the building were largely raised by Baptist women’s groups across the state. Mary Trowbridge, for whom the building was named, was a former student, a leader among Baptist women in Michigan, and the wife of a college trustee. The original building, designed by Albert Kahn, was added on to in 1939 and again in 1957. The 1939 addition was when the phrase "The End of Learning is Gracious Living" was engraved on a plaque near the southeast corner of the building. The original structure housed the College's first dining hall in the basement. It was used for all residential students until the construction of Welles Hall in 1940. The student in the picture is not identified. This is photographer David Fischer's file no. 1044-13.