College In 1959

Here is the  page from the 1959 Gettysburg phone book with all the listings for Gettysburg College.  There are only 12 specific listings although several dorms show a second phone on their top floor,  The fraternities and sororities have there own phones which are listed elsewhere in the phone book.   #1250 was the college's main number.   While this stuff may seem extremely trivial it is a great illustration of the cultural differences between the world of a 1950's student at an American college and that of today's college student. 

This was just ten years before I arrived at the college in 1968,  yet the 1958 campus seems like an entirely different place.    At some point during those intervening years four digit phone numbers were phased out nationally so that was not under the control of the college.    And the 1958 & 59 lists include dorms that then existed under different names.  Dorm B was renamed Rice Hall in April 1961 and Dorm C was renamed Paul Hall in June 1962.  Both had been opened in the fall of 1957.   North Dorm opened in the Fall of 1958 and was renamed Patrick Hall in June 1969,  unnoticed by me at the time.    South Dorm also opened in April 1959 and was renamed for Emma G. Musselmen in April 1960 -  her foundation was responsible for numerous financial gifts to the college and the community over the years.  

Hanson Hall opened in 1950 and Stine Hall opened in 1956.   Huber Hall and the Old Dorm were around well before the 1950's and McKnight Hall was still doing service as a dorm.   There is no listing for Stevens Hall,  the Chapels (Brua & Christ),  or any administrative office except the Bursar's and in 1958 the Dean of Women.  Apparently the only gym in those days (Plank) was phone-less.   

There are numbers for the Bullet Hole (snack bar) and the Gettysburgian (student newspaper).   Both have the initals SCA (Student Christian Association of the YMCA & YWCA)  with their listings.   This referred to the SCA building - now Weidensall Hall - which was owned and operated by the association and was essentially a student recreation facility,  basically the first student union.   It even had a swimming pool in the basement.   Meals for both men and women were served in Huber Hall until early 1958 when the dining hall was finally opened (with no phone listing).  

Planning, program and post assembly materials for the Sixth National Student Assembly of the YWCA and YMCA. National student assemblies are joint meetings of delegates from the National Student YWCA and National Student YMCA to discuss key national and international issues affecting students and decide on the direction of the movement for the coming years. This convention puts an emphasis on creating dialogue surrounding these issues and the program includes dialogue groups to facilitate meaningful discussion. Assembly coverage from "The Intercollegian," the magazine of the National YWCA and National YMCA, includes photographs, assembly highlights, summaries of assembly sessions and reflections on the experiences. Materials distributed prior to the assembly include the assembly workbook, discussion guides for leaders and preparatory materials for delegates. Delegate workbooks include schedules, reports and information concerning the major areas of emphases and assembly format. 

In the 1958 telephone directory there are four phones listed that do not appear in the 1959 directory.   It lists the Lamppost Dormitory at 301 Carlisle St., Aughinbraugh Hall  at 143 Springs Ave.,  Buehler Hall at 249 Carlisle St.,  and Sundermeyer House at  239 W.  Lincoln Ave.  

In the 1958 telephone directory there are four phones listed that do not appear in the 1959 directory.   It lists the Lamppost Dormitory at 301 Carlisle St., Aughinbraugh Hall  at 143 Springs Ave.,  Buehler Hall at 249 Carlisle St.,  and Sundermeyer House at  239 W.  Lincoln Ave.  

The Lamppost was a restaurant listed elsewhere in the directory as Lamppost Corner at 301 Carlisle St.  This was my family's go-to restaurant when visiting Gettysburg in the 1960's.    It is just a large house whose upstairs served as a dormitory during that time,  with resident students waiting tables.   It is still standing and is obviously owned by the college.  As a restaurant it has apparently been an on-again off-again proposition.  I lived next door during the summer of 1969 and don't recall eating there then so I assume the restaurant was inactive during that period.

The house called Aughinbraugh Hall had been a gift to the college in 1942 which they would sell in 1959 - using it as a women's dorm for at least some of that period of ownership.  .

The house called Buehler Hall (above image) was purchased in 1954,  sold in 1958,  and then repurchased in 1975.   In 1968 it was the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity house,  they were at 235 W. Lincoln in 1958 and probably just swapped houses with the college sometime that year,  the college reacquired the house when the fraternity went belly up in 1975.  

The current infirmary was placed in service in 1960,  replacing several wooden houses on the north side of the 200 block of  W. Lincoln,   one of these is likely the Sundermeyer House listed in the 1958 phone directory.  These wooden houses were still in use as overflow girls' dorms during the 1968-69 school year.

As much as the college changed physically over the nine years before my arrival there was minimal change during the fifteen years after my departure.    A new library in 1981 and a field house in 1972.   But there were considerable improvements made to the interiors of existing buildings during that time.