Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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r r f F f P r iiii|;::;;!| iiiili; ' ' ■,rrrrrrr rs New YMC A Building - 1913 . The new facilities and the coagulat- ing curricula gave a new lease on life to the Education Division. With bright outlook, the 1913 Catalog stressed that any man with ability and good character should be able to suc- ceed in any of the programs . In describing its new facilities, the catalog emphasized the importance of the location, surroundings, and physical appointments of the school: The location ought to be healthful, accessible, and attractive. Its build- ings ought to be properly heated, lighted and ventilated and above all conducive to the health and progress of students at all seasons of the year. Having sweltered in the middle of January through a class in a room in Robinson Hall, where the windows cannot be opened, one can see that the above is an ideal toward which North- eastern continues to strive even now. The new YMCA facilities also boasted one of the country ' s largest indoor salt water swimming pools, heated to a comfortable warmth by an elaborate pipe system. While educating a good lawyer or engineer, the Education Division re- tained its desire to concurrently build men of good character. The 1913 Ca- talog thus exhorts students to avoid excessive social and athletic activities. Furthermore, it is assumed that stu- dents come to the school for a serious purpose, and that they will cheerfully conform to such regulations as may from time to time be made . . . Stu- dents are expected to behave with decorum . . . and to pay due respect to (the School ' s) officers . For students commuting to school, the Catalog points out that the facili- ties are easily accessible by various railroads and electric trolley cars. The Education Division sponsored various monthly socials and entertain- ments for the exclusive enjoyment of its students, including an outdoor field meet, held annually in May. The Huntington Schools offered a wide variety of student activities in conjunction with the YMCA includ- ing an array of athletic teams, a school newspaper, a Glee Club, and an Orchestra. Some of the more unique activities included a Congress, similar in com- position to the national body, with each student representing a state. The purpose of the club was to debate proposed bills and gain public speak- ing experience. Another oddity was the moving pictures series held in Bates Hall, one of the subsidiary sec- tions of the YMCA complex. The educational films shown in the series were evaluated in the 1914 Catalog as a means by which much informa- tion can be received ... in a short time with little effort (nascent McLuhanism!). The overall atmosphere of the pre- war schools more resembled a junior high school of today. The school day went from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a 30-minute break for a light lunch- eon. Students were not permitted to leave the building without permission except at lunch time. The 1914 Cata- log explained, The pupil ' s time be- longs to the school and is at the dis- posal of the teacher in the same way as it would be at the command of an employer. YMCA ' s new heated salt water pool — 1913.

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The Tabernacle on Huntington Field — 1916 . The 1912 Catalog of the Evening Institute delineates the rapid growth of the Cooperative Engineering School: Faculty: 18 Enrollment: 70 School expenses: (including YMCA n embership) $100 per year Rooms at the YMCA: $1.50 per week and up Board at the YMCA: $3.50 per week From 70 students in 1912, enroll- ment reached 235 by 1918, and more than doubled to 592 by 1920, when tuition had climbed to $175 per year (with $10 student activities fee). Ob- viously the Engineering School, with the added attraction of co-op employ- ment was something the public need- ed and wanted. Until 1909, the Chauncey Hall School gave day classes in the same YMCA facilities used by the Evening Institute at night, located at the corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets. When the Chauncey School relocated, leaving the YMCA vacant during the day, Speare suggested that the space be used by the Evening Institute to conduct day classes. Speare envi- sioned a new type of college prepara- tory school, providing individual su- pervision of students; programs of sports and activities; and college preparatory education at a cost be- tween that of private boarding schools and evening schools . Therefore, in 1909, the College Preparatory program which had been part of the Evening Institute since its inception, was reorganized and estab- lished as a day program. The initial enrollment of 100 in 1909, grew to 250 a year later. In 1913, this Association Day School became the Huntington School for Boys. After the incorpora- tion of Northeastern in 1916, the Huntington School became one of the group of Northeastern Schools. How- ever in 1950, the decision was made to make Northeastern strictly a college- level institution. Thus the Hunting- ton School resumed its ties with the Boston YMCA and continues its work today at 290 Huntington avenue. Until 1910, the Evening Education Division operated in the Boylston street YMCA. In that year, the build- ing burned down and for months classes were held in rooms provided by the City of Boston, the Boston YMCU, Boston University, MIT, and after that, in various buildings on Huntington and Massachusetts avenues. The YMCA decided to rebuild, not on Arlington street, as originally planned, but on Huntington avenue. The section of Huntington avenue which appealed to the YMCA direc- tors m 1910, was an open field which lay beyond Symphony Hall and had been the site of the first World Series games in 1903, when the Boston Americans had defeated the Pitts- burgh Nationals. This area was attrac- tive because of the athletic field, and because of the rapid development tak- ing place in the Back Bay area. Sym- phony Hall had been erected in 1900; The New England Conservatory had been completed in 1901; Isabella Gardner had transplanted her palace in 1902; the first section of the Mu- seum of Fine Arts had been completed in 1907; and the Boston Opera House had opened in 1908 . Ground-breaking ceremonies for the new YMCA Main Building were held in November, 1911. But the Vo- cational Building had been completed in October of that year, and was al- ready occupied by the Automobile School and the Electrical School. The Main Building was completed in 1913. The Catalog of the Evening Division for that year boasted of the facilities provided in the new building, including a fine gymnasium, bowling alleys, swimming pool, cafe, dormito- ries, shops and laboratories, library and reading room, camera club rooms, social and recreative rooms, and auditorium.

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A Commuters Day - ' Z ri0 Campus humor from the 1921 Cauldron. The popularity, variety, and ever- increasing formalization of Education Division programs led in March, 1916, to the incorporation of North- eastern College. The 1916 Catalog de- clares, The College is not a new insti- tution, but the realization of an ideal carefully worked out and persistently followed for a period of twenty years. A thorough investigation of all the Association Schools was conducted in 1914 by George H. Martin, former secretary of the State Board of Educa- tion, prior to application for incorpo- ration. This investigation concluded that all the technical and professional schools were of college or graduate grade. The 1916 Catalog capsulizes the development of the College: The Association system starting with eve- ning courses only, elementary in char- acter, brief and unconclusive, and with no endowment, adequate space or equipment, and no criteria to guide them, have passed successively through the realm of elementary and of secondary education, into the pro- fessional and technical school realm retaining and developing nearly every feature ever undertaken, and finally emerging as a fully organized college with both day and evening courses, splendidly housed and equipped. Upon incorporation, the Education Division ' s programs were divided into two groups: the college level schools were renamed Northeastern College; the secondary grade courses contin- ued under the old title of Depart- ment of Education. The Northeast- ern College group consisted of the School of Law, in its 19th year; the School of Commerce and Finance, in its tenth year; the School of Co-oper- ative Engineering, in its seventh year; and the School of Liberal Arts, which was established in the Fall of 1916 . Since its beginnings in 1898, the student enrollment had increased by 768 per cent, from 419 to 3,260 stu- dents. The number of teachers had risen from 12 to 214; the number of courses had increased from 20 to 336; and the budget had gone from $2,800 to $185,418. In their preliminary statement in 1916, the Trustees glorified the low operating costs of Northeastern, since it didn ' t need to pay for its own build- ings and facilities. However, the state- ment stresses the urgent need of an endowment to be spent on a new building containing lecture halls, lab- oratories, amphitheatres, and drafting rooms; additional scientific equip- ment; and the creation of more liber- al scholarship funds.