University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 17 text:

 Western Psychiatric Hospital had a log-hewn academy before the .signing of the Constitution, but of a treasury for learning where the youth of Pittsburgh could find, grown out of the early struggles of creative and energetic Pittsburghers, new courage, imagination, adaptability—new spiritual and mental power. The Cathedral of Learning, as the new edifice and symbol of the University became known throughout the world, was built tall, not merely because height meant less material expense, but because it expressed the infinite, the unlimited span of knowledge and education possible within its walls.

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Thaw Hall The next important addition to the upper campus on the hill was Alumni Hall with its winter ground-breaking in January, 19 20. The cornerstone was placed in June of the same year, and its doors opened to students on March 31, 1921. During that year Dr. John G. Bowman started his term as chancellor with a vision of even greater advancement for our University—it was to be a lasting advance, upward, always outward, and yet close to the life of Pittsburgh. He dreamed of not only a monument to the city of Pittsburgh itself, which Alumni Hall

Page 18 text:

Medalion Room . Its beauty and massiveness, combined with form and order, made a tribute to the character of Pittsburgh which would attempt to show the city’s values. This dramatic approach excited the emotions of many thousands of Pittsburghers, adults, and school children alike, who contributed in 1926 the funds they could give, fully approving the ideas that the building was designed to advance.