University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 22 text:

1787 1987 The McCormick administration is best remembered today for changing the name of the University, moving the University to the new campus, and erecting six major buildings. It should be remembered as well for other less dramatic developments. That administration was one in which the deans of the schools and the heads of the departments wielded extraordinary power. They had, in fact, more authority to act and to command than faculty administrators were to have at the University of Pittsburgh for almost a half century. McCormick apparently felt no fear of being overshadowed by his faculty. The McCormick administration also was one that set out to save the College of Liberal Arts from extinction and in so doing produced an accommodation in the century-old conflict between proponents of technical training and those of liberal education. If McCormick was known for progressive academics, his successor, John G. Bowman, will always be remembered for progressive architecture. His contribution to the University stands as a symbol of Pitt’s excellence. Under Bowman, the people of Pittsburgh came together to erect the Cathedral of Learning. In a 1924 letter to architect Charles Z. Klauder, Bowman spoke of his dream of building the Cathedral. He wrote, My life is tied up in the idea that the proposed structure will be the most beautiful and outstanding building ever erected. I am confident that Pittsburgh will build it.” After a massive public fundraising campaign, work began on the tall building at 11:15 on September 27, 1926. After a series of setbacks, it was finally completed in October 1934. The construction of the Cathedral of Learning is probably what it has been called, the most important single event in the history of the University. The late 1930s were a time of crisis for the University. Chancellor Bowman was dissatisfied with the situation and ordered a committee be formed to look Frick Acre . here the Qitlwdral of I-earning was «o be coiwtrucled. in 1924. Right: A nearly completed Cathedral. into it. The investigation of the situation at the University in all of its aspects was a model of its kind: a painstaking, probing, productive study of the operations of an institution in trouble. The members of the special committee went directly to the heart of the University's problems. They made surprising proposals that opened the way for a revolution in procedure and style. They conducted the investigation in a manner that reflected credit on themselves — the seven trustees who asked the questions — as well as on the administrators, faculty, and alumni who answered them. In the history of the University, December 1941 is a watershed between the old and the new, a Great Divide between the past and the future. Doubts were quelled and uncertainties resolved by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and for the students there was relief and unaccustomed excitement in the common national purpose. In a flurry of activity, the University prepared to make its contribution to the war effort. By mid-1943 the Cathedral of Learning was at the center of a large, important, and efficiently run military installation. The classrooms, the halls, the Commons Room, the lawn, the sidewalks about the building were crowded with young soldiers. Soldiers who were taught at the University and professors who taught them speak highly today of the 1943-1945 experience. The seriousness and discipline in the classrooms were hitherto unknown on many campuses. The students marched to their classrooms to the cadence count of a section marcher, who was distinguished for the day by a blue band around his upper left arm. They stood at attention when the professor entered. The marcher reported his section all present and accounted for, holding his salute until the professor returned it. With the end of the war on August 14, 1945, the University turned its attention to new and happier problems. Now and for some years ahead it would be necessary to process, enroll, and find room and teachers for a flood of veterans. John Bowman declared in his biennial report, Everyone who comes in contact with this group of students is impressed by their intelligence and by the strength of their purpose. They are eager, disciplined, and, the faculty say, a joy to teach.” 16 Bicentennial

Page 21 text:

The football team in 1890, a tquad of thirteen with a mated. The player fumUhed their own uniform and chipped in to . University Archive buy the football. Holland resigned in 1901 and was replaced by outgoing, popular John A. Brashear whose term lasted three years. Under the administration of Brashear's successor, Samuel Black McCormick, the University received its present name and location. The trustees felt a new name was necessary because, mong other reasons, W.U.P., pronounced whup, was not dignified. The present location was chosen in February 1905, in the biggest real estate transaction in Pittsburgh history. The executors of the Mary Schenley estate sold 103 acres of Schenly Farms to Nicola syndicate for about $3 million. The land encompassed an area bounded by Forbes Avenue on the south, Center Avenue on the north, Bellefield Avenue on the cast, and Bouquet Street on the west. On October 2, 1908, the cornerstone was laid for Henry Hornbostel's large, awkward, and inutile Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. This ceremony took place near the close of the city's ses-quiccntcnnial, when distinguished guests from all over the world were gathered for a happy, successful, and beautifully managed celebration. Immediately after the Memorial Hall ceremony, the crowd walked fifty feet to see the cornerstone laid for the first University building, that for the School of Mines. Bieenlennial 15

Page 23 text:

I j |rmu Jiuwifl