Editor's note: This is a series of columns by John Malcolm on his "50 years at Fredonia." Retired, he is a professor emeritus at Fredonia State.
By JOHN MALCOLM
In 1960 Cranston Hall was constructed and opened in January 1961. It too is a carbon copy of similar buildings on other four-year campuses. (I have visited others at Geneseo, Brockport, Oswego, and Oneonta.) It may seem odd that you have to walk upstairs to get to the dining room but at Geneseo the plan is on a hillside and you walk in at ground level. (Jemison Cafeteria.)
Cranston was a dream come true for manager Leslie Shaw and true to the standards of the day Cranston was well built with terrazzo and tile. The dining room even had provision for a separate dining area with its own entrance. I washed the first dish in Cranston. (And just before its current expansion, I washed the last.)
Cranston is becoming an impressive structure with conference style residence hall, restaurants, and the bookstore.
At the same time plans for a gymnasium and science building were well under way. Both buildings had been in the works since the 1930s.
All buildings up until this time were constructed under direct state supervision. Buildings after Cranston and the dorms were bid out to independent contractors.
Jewett was a long time coming for Dr. Willard Stanley. He had joined the faculty in the '30s and had worked with the building's namesake. When you enter Jewett you get the feeling of substance if not style. To the right was the first modern lecture hall. (Jewett 101.) It had movable blackboards, provisions for showing slides and film with control from the front of the hall. There was even a television projection system.
It also became the site of all faculty meetings and the showing of art films.
Across the hall was the new location of the natural history museum. Even with the completion of Jewett, classroom space was limited so its complete display had to be delayed for a time.
One oddity, someone had a sense of humor, there was no private entrance to the museum office so one was made by removing a telephone booth and using this narrow niche for a doorway labeled "Dr. Stanley."
Dr. Stanley was in his own time a faculty icon. Deep voice, ever present pipe, and a dry, dry, sense of humor. One favorite story reported that Dr. Stanley scheduled a "quizzie" after which one student commented. "If that's a quizzie I would hate to see your testies."
Dr. Stanley loved to work in the field and was always leading field trips. He was, of course, one of the main supporters of the Lodge as a biological preserve. His class, Field Biology, was capped with an examination that took up most of two laboratories with specimens displayed on just about every flat surface.
John Malcolm is a Fredonia resident.
