College Hall

Some History

Written by Gerry Wilkinson

College Hall

Address:
1831 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
(Located on Broad between Montgomery and Norris Streets)

Description:

On June 25, 1890, the Grace Baptist Church purchased in the name of the church the lot just south of Baptist Temple for the construction of a new building for The Temple College. On January 2, 1892, the next southern lot on Broad was purchased for the College, making the two lots of which College Hall sits, 93 feet wide. On December 17, 1892, a meeting was called to make arrangements to have the building lots transferred into the name of The Temple College.

College Hall was the original College building for Temple College, built in 1893 and opened the next year. In that same year, Broad Street was paved with asphalt covering the cobblestones underneath. It had 35 classrooms and a lecture hall known as the Forum. Though the cornerstone for this great building was laid on August 19, 1893, it was never called College Hall until 1908. From 1894 until 1908, it was the Forum, although it was also referred to as "the College building" or "the new building." The College had humble beginnings. As it expanded, it became clear that they would be compelled to build. Though the current administration of the University tries to maintain that the College and later the University was always administratatively separate from the Church, it was the Church that raised the money to build College Hall. A fund was created. The very first contribution came from a member of the Young Men's Bible Class. A young boy brought the pastor, Dr. Conwell, a fifty cent piece. It was the very first money he had ever earned. The second gift was a gold ring from a lady member of the Church. All kinds of gifts poured in including a great quantity of jewelry. A business man gave a whole day's receipts. All of the organizations of the Grace Church (the congregation of the Baptist Temple) contributed time, money, work and their prayers. It was, indeed a church effort regardless of what the University today says. Whether they like it or not, this is their roots. This is their origin. This is their history.

When ground was broken for the building, Rev. Conwell sold the first shovelfull of dirt at auction for $100.00 to Jacob Reese. Four years earlier, Conwell used the same technique for the ground breaking of Baptist Temple.

At the College Hall auction, Dr. Conwell said, "This college goes out into the neglected corners, and there we often find the gems of humanity. Our intention is to bring them out and polish them." A guest speaker was the Rev. Dr. H.L. Wayland, editor of the National Baptist publication, who said, "The wisest teacher in the world cannot make anything out of a pupil unless that pupil is anxious to make something of himself."

A Temple brochure of the era referred to the area as "away from the more congested portions of the city."

During the laying of the cornerstone, Dr. Conwell said,

Friends, today we do something more than simply lay the cornerstone of a college building. We do an act here very simply that shows to the world, and will go on tesifying after we shall have gone to our long rest, that the church of Jesus Christ is not only an institution of theory, but an institution of practice. It will stand here upon this great and broad street and say through the coming years to all passersby, "Christianity means something for the good of humanity; Christianity means not only a belief in things that are good and pure and righteous, but it also means an activity, that shall bless those who need the assistance of others." It shall say to the rich man, "Give thou of thy surplus to those who have not." It shall say to the poor man, "Make thou the most of thy opportunities and thou shalt be the equal of the rich."

On May 3, 1894, the building was offically dedicated. Presiding of the events was Robert E. Pattison, Governor of Pennsylvania. Offering the prayer was Bishop Cyrus DFoss from the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Philadelphia. This church was later known as Thomas Hall. The orator was Charles E. Smith who was described in an University document as "ex-minister to Russia." Also on hand was Rev. Frank Lambader, the Dean of The Temple College. The dedication ceremonies took place in The Baptist Temple. At that time, Dr. Conwell said,

By united effort, penny by penny and dollar by dollar, every note has been paid, every financial obligation met. It is a demonstration of what people can do when thoroughly in earnest in a great enterprise. ...We trusted in the Lord and in the people who are moved by the spirit of the Lord. ...We found this college for the purpose of educating the working people. ...We are educating a class of people who demand that they shall pay for their learning. ...I come to congratulate you on the success of your enterprise. ...You have been obligated to meet over stables, in back yards and in cellars.

On Friday, May 4, 1894, the Philadelphia Public Ledger printed a huge article about the dedication including wood block sketches of College Hall and the speakers at the dedication cermony. That same day, the Philadelphia Press, a daily Philly newspaper of that era reported

The exercises were held in the Baptist Temple. ...The great platform of the Temple, with its magnificent organ, its chorus of nearly 200 voices, its orchestra and its clusters of palms at each side, together with the distinguished Philadelphians who sat at the front of it....

An idea of the way in which everything is done at the Temple was also given to the audience at the conclusin of the exercises. Mr. Conwell then announced subscriptions that had been received amounted to upward of $12,000.

The exercises began at 3 o'clock. At that hour, Mr. Conwell and the speakers and the college trustees took their seats....

A very pleasant part of the exercises was the abundance of good music which gave variety to the exercises. The first musical number was "The Temple College March," which was composed by William H. Stobbe for this occasion. Immediately afterward came "Unfold, Ye Portals," from Gounod's "Redemption," which the great Temple Chorus rendered excellently. Mr. Conwell then made a very brief prefatory address, in the course of which he said that the audience was to remember that the Forum was only one of the Temple College buildings..."

Rev. Dr. William T. Chase made the opening prayer. The chorus sang "And the Glory of God," from Handel's "Messiah." Rev. Dr. John Gordon read a lesson from Scripture, and then Thomas P. Lonsdale presented the keys of the Forum to Mr. Conwell, the president of the college. Mr. Charles Emory Smith...(said) "We have gathered in this splendid temple of religion to dedicate a noble kindred edifice consecrated to the sister cause of education. These two stately structures, standing side by side; under one common inspiration, fitly symbolize the great truth that religion and education go hand in hand.

...Out of this vital spirit sprang the Temple College. ...This is the people's university. It is designed to meet the needs, the opportunities and the possibilities of the masses."

That fall (1894), 4,200 students were enrolled. That's more than attended Harvard that year. The tuition for night students was $5. These were the students Conwell hoped to reach, working men and women who wished to better themselves. Students who could afford the luxury of attending classes during the day were charged $50. In that same year, Dr. Conwell send a letter to all current and former Temple College students,

The near approach of an important election leads me to suggest to you the following.... There being now in this city over seven thousand voters who have been students in The Temple College, you have by your votes and your influence, either by combination or as individuals, a considerable political power. You should use it for the good of your city, state and nation.... I urge you to think first of the poor. The rich do not need your care. Vote only for such city candidates as will most speedily secure for the more needy classes pure water, clean streets, cheaper homes, cheaper and more useful education, healthier environment, cheap and quick transportation, the development of the labor-giving improvements and the increase of sea-going and inland commerce. Select large-hearted, cool-headed men for city offices, regardless of national parties... In selecting your candidates for state offices remember the needs of the people. Favor the granting to the submerged poor a more favorable opportunity to help themselves. Move in the most reasonable and direct way toward the ultimate abolition of the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and for the increase of hospital and college privileges for the afflicted and the ignorant.... Think independently, vote considerately, stand unflinchingly against any measure that is wrong, and vigorously in favor of every movement that is right. This is an opportunity to do a great, good deal. ...With endearing affection, Russell H. Conwell.

No recommendation of any candidate or party was ever mentioned in this letter.

Temple College, in 1899, was deemed to be the best college for the dollar in the country. College Hall was the home of the University's library until 1936 when Sullivan Memorial Library was opened. For years, Conwell had asked his church members to not send flowers to the church during Easter. Instead, he requested that each bring a book in order to build up the school's library. He also asked for the gift of book at Christmas.

In 1899, the interior was greatly remodeled and a broad passageway above the street was added connecting College Hall and the Baptist Temple. It was an early convenience because of the close relationship between the University and Baptist Temple. In spite of the close connection between the two institutions, Temple College and later Temple University was always non-sectarian and welcomed persons of different faiths as students, faculty and administrators. This building will be used by Temple Law School when the renovation is completed. The major renovation project includes roof replacement; cleaning and rejoining of exterior brick and stone; repair, replacement and/or restoration of windows; weather-proofing of exterior stucco; and installation of a new elevator shaft. During the 1998 renovations, the passageway between College Hall and the Baptist Temple was removed. It seems to be a symbol of the University breaking away from its roots and origins.

In a letter sent to the alumni in 1944, the University stated

College Hall looked (twenty-five years ago) much as it does today from the outside, except that there was an entrance at the northwestern corner, now walled up. The inside, however, has been completely transformed. Entering from Broad Street, in those days, you faced the bookstore, in what is now just a hallway from front to back. To the left was a "forum," like an old-fashioned Sunday School room---as, indeed, it still was on Sundays--with a semicircle of seats facing a raised dais. The room was used for chapel exercises, debating, and amateur theatricals, as well as for studying, conversing, and, occasionally, a little roughhousing. Around the forum, beginning at the left, one found, first, the office of the Dean of the University Corporation, Dr. Carnell, and next, in what is now C 102, the office of the bursar, the University mailboxes, and the telephone switchboard. In those days there was no registrar---each division of the University kept its own records.

The rest of the first floor consisted of classrooms, the rear of which housed a class in mechanical drawing---one of the classes specially organized by Veterans' Bureau, for rehabilitating veterans of the first World War. Room C-111 held what there was of the University library.

The second floor was a gallery of classrooms around the forum, with a number of classrooms and laboratories in the rear. In one room you would have found the departments of mathematics and physics, in another the department of biology, and in a third, the department of psychology.

On the third floor front were the office of the School of Commerce and the classrooms for the commercial subjects; in the rear were the office and laboratories of the department of chemistry, with about one-seventh of the space now used by this department. Here would have ended our tour of the three undergraduate colleges in 1919.

Those of you who graduated before 1922 and have not returned, must still picture the College as it was then, with its little informal gymnasium, and the annual French play, THE formal event of the year, at the Bellevue-Stratford.

...An old grad walking into College Hall feels completely lost. He sees, within the swinging doors, a hallway, with classrooms on either side. The central space is space is used now, on both the first and second floors, as classrooms or laboratories.... The College Office...is now a biology laboratory. Physcis occupies most of the first floor, and chemistry the entire third floor and part of the second.

The first collegiate degrees were conferred in 1892, for the Bachelor of Oratory, a degree probably never granted elsewhere in the United States. There were four women among the eighteen who received degrees. Ella Faser was one of them. It is her degree shown, and was issued just before ground breaking for College Hall.

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