Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn - Polywog Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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POLY WCG '18 The Dawn of the Greater Polytechnic AS SEEN BY A STUDENT Yea, the Greater Poly! The Greater Poly, friend, is a great big idea, conceived some years ago, inspired by the most unself- ish of motives, planned and furthered to victory over all obstacles, and finally materialized ill the Year of Uur Lord, 1917. The who and the how of this project make an interesting story of accomplishment. l'll tell it to you as 1 saw it acted, even though 1 perhaps saw only the last part of the show. h p h As a Freshman here at Tech, in 1915, 1 first heard those words, the Greater Poly. Occasionally 1 saw them in print-in the '4Reporter -and on more seldom intervals I had heard some penetrating, far- sighted prophet utter them with that supercilious air of mystery known only to student-prophets. But I didn't get the idea immediately. i 1 In fact, the whole meaning of the thing only comes after a prolonged soaking-in process such as, for instance, must precede the revelation of the meaning of that Sphinx of mathematics, the integral sign, or some such enigma. At least, so it seemed to me, and finally, when 1 did get uthe drift, it left lots of food for thought and contemplation. ' The Greater Poly-a Poly that was to be greater. That was my final definition, and simple though it may seem, the how of that proposition took some pondering to answer. 1 at last decided that Poly was great just as she stood, and this opinion has always been vehemently upheld by all our grads and want-to-be grads with whom I have ever spoken. Hence, 1 argued, it consequently followed from the natural premises of the problem, that the only way for Poly to become greater was to become bigger, and 1 suflixed my E. D. However, it was not to be Quite Easily Done, as was.soon evident. 'For' to become bigger meant, primarily, to become bigger in size. And right here my mental' building process hit an impenetrable wall of fact which unfortunately surrounded us on two sides. Upon further examining the natural premises above referred to, 11

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Poly Peaks ' E The Chapel Administration Building

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POLY Woo '18 I discovered that the only way to increase in size was to grow upward, and that seemed scarcely feasible after considering the topography of that Alpine roof which separated our earthly domain from infinity and the fourth dimension. There Wasn't much that happened along these lines during the Spring.of that year, but there was a lot more talk when College reopened the following Fall. Our next door nelghbor, the Prep, had somehow extracted ?B800,000 from some private individuals and the public at large, and rumor had lt that the fund was to be used to build a new home for the Prep in the primeval wilds of Dyker Helghts. Then, with the new year of 1917, came somenew news. And it was some news. First of all, the Prep was soon to move and we, the College, were to inherit its old home, or rather, as was recently pointed out by Dr. Rossiter W. Raymond, the oldest living'Poly grad, the college was to come into its own again. Then, some weeks later, at a meeting' of the Boardof Trustees, it was voted to raise T5l00,000 to remodel and equip the building which had 'ccome back so that it would be lit for Institute purposes. It was further decided that all plans and specifications for the rejuvenation of the lnstitute's old birthplace were to he approved by April 1 of that year, and soon' Anthony the Only began to make daily tours of inspection through the Prep building with the inquiring eye of a prospective proprietor. lmmediately the Alumni were heard from. They took upon themselves the raising of a third of the necessary ufirst hundred thousand, once again proving that they are as loyal a crowd as any college can boast of. The plans, when they were finally made public, were admirable. Certain departments had for sev- eral years imperiously demanded expansion, especially in regard to laboratory space, and such laboratory space and facilities were wisely and discreetly alloted. Coordination of the various departments was under- taken and accomplished. A number of luxuries, which seem nevertheless indispensable were provided for -but of these you shall hear later. The main point now is that the one who planned all these changes and I O I I Q 5 addltlons 1S lndeed, 1n our own vernacular of compliments, a HWISC guy of the first order. From the nature anddscope of thle changes it was apparent that the engineer of the whole proceedings understood Institute C t c . ' . ' ' ' on 1 1ons as t ey now exist and antlclpated condltlons WVll1Cl1 are doubtless soon to come ln fact it was . , . . 1 - 9 clearly 6V1fl6l1t that the b1g gun belnnd the whole campaign was none other t.han our famous discourser .12