University of Oregon - Oregana Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

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Che Builbing of Deabg E?oII The first historic glimpse we have of old Deady Hall is in 1875, when the people of Eugene and Lane county assembled on the University grounds to hold their Fourth of July celebration. , The speakers stand was under the fine oaks on the north side, but the chief attraction was the new building that was being erected for the future State Univer- sity. The building and grounds were going to cost the people of Lane county $50,000, and the strenuous effort necessary to raise the required amount had de- veloped a deep interest and a feeling of ownership in the new institution they were helping to establish. So it was but natural that they assemble on the campus to celebrate their national holiday. 'There was but little to be seen, for only the foundation of the new building had been finished, but there were many young people there that day to whom that plain stone foundation would remain a type of the education they were soon to receive in the finished structure. The next historic glimpse of Deady Hall was more than a year afterward, when we find the external 'view of the building much as it is today, except that the dull red of the natural brick had not been covered by the gray stone finish of later years. But the county had found it hard to raise the $50,000, and there had been so many delays that when the University opened October 9, 1876, the first floor alone was ready for use. This floor was divided then, as now, by the long, straight hall, the two south rooms being devoted to the preparatory department in charge of Mrs. Spiller and her assistant, Miss Mary Stone. On the north side there were four small rooms. President johnson occupied the room on the west end where, in ad- dition to his duties as president, he taught all the Classes in Latin and Greek. The next of these rooms was given to the young ladies as a study and waiting room. just east of the ladies, reception room Prof. Bailey taught the college mathematics, while Professor Condon taught geology and natural history in the little room on the northeast corner. I So it will be seen that the college work of the University of Oregon in 1876 9

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G m N m G E B E H T W

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was texcept its elocution with Mrs. Spilleri all confined to three small rooms on the north side of the first floor of Deady Hall. Surely such a beginning was con- tracted enough to hope for great expansion. The summer of 1877 seems to have been all too short for the workmen, for the beginning of the second year finds the building still unfinished. The Eugene City Guard of September 22, 1877, says: 11The college building is not quite completed as yet, which makes it a little uncomfortable for both pro- fessors and students. More than a month passed of this uncomfortable combina- tion of carpenters and plasterers with professors and students, when the Guard of October 27th again picks up the thread of history, and we are told: The school furniture will be moved up-stairs today, and next Monday morning i 1 will Open out in permanent and much more commodious quarters. When the college professors moved up-stairs President johnson occupied the roomon the northeast corner, Prof. Bailey the pleasant southeast room, while Prof. Condon soon had his cabinet ready for use in the northwest room, and the other room was given to the ladies for their study and reception room. No one except the charter members of the University could appreciate the pleasure of that first-year when the winding stairs were new, and we could add the views from an upper story to our outlook, and exchange our cramped surroundings for the freedom of large and pleasant rooms. 'In the meantime the basement had been finished, and Mr. Dudley, our new janitor, had moved into its cosy south rooms, where he lived so many years. The third story was still unfinished, and many old students must remember watching the laying of the floor in the pleasant assembly room, which was finally ready for occupation on the first commencement, in June, 1878. Thus we find after a lingering struggle of about three years old Deady Hall was ready for its career of usefulness.