Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

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' IlNlOl KAI IVJINJ ...No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent. — Abe Lincoln

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mo The night of January 12, 1892, a lone student spent a long, cold night alone in a tiny building on top of a deserted hill, keeping the fires going so that the plaster would be dry before morning. The next morning, five faculty members opened the first classes of the new Washington State Agricultural College and School of Science. The facilities were meager and the country dreary. The tiny build¬ ing—to be named the “Crib” by later students—measured only 36 by 60 feet. A town of 350 persons huddled in the valley at the bottom of “College Hill.” Not a house or barn dotted the hill be¬ tween the college building and Main street, only a widening path connected the two. The town of Pullman didn’t look much like a college town in those days. Its main traffic consisted of cowboys ambling along Main street in chaps and sombreros or prospectors eagerly urging their pack burros westward. The students bore little resemblance to collegians of today. For the majority who were unable to pass “the satisfactory examination in reading, spelling, penmanship, arith metic, grammar, geography and United States history” required for freshman standing in the new institution, preparatory courses were offered. But the little college in the middle of the Palouse survived. By 1893 a dormitory was erected—Old Ferry hall—which housed 136 students, and two years later familiar landmarks Stevens hall and the Administra¬ tion building stood solidly on the hillside. Enrollment had risen considerably, many students were working their way through school at a wage of 12 4 cents an hour. In the early years of the 20th century, the college became what we know it as today. Bryan, College, Van Doren, Morrill, Ferry — following its predecessor which burned down in 1897 — and Science (now Arts) halls all were placed on the hill. In the meantime, the town of Pullman was growing upward to meet the college. In 1905, the unwieldy title was officially changed to the “State College of Washington.” Just after the turn of the century, college officials decided to build a gymnasium. Having only enough bricks to construct the outer walls, they tore down the “Crib,” cleaned off its bricks and used them for the inner walls of the gym. These bricks have seen the building change from the men’s to the women’s gym, thence to army headquarters and emergency dorm during World War Two, most recently to the home of “TUB labbers”—until now, with the advent of the CUB, a lonely shell with an undetermined future.