Page 10 University Daily Kansan Friday. Nov. 20, 1953
Fraser Stands As Hill Veteran Here Since '72
Kansan photo by Wilson Ayars
FRASER HALL—Long a familiar landmark in the Lawrence area is red-topped Fraser hall. Fraser is one of the oldest University buildings still in use. This building still houses the English, German, home eco- nomies, correspondence departments, extension services and many offices.
By STAN HAMILTON
Buildings the world over come and go, but in the minds of many old grads who will reassemble here tomorrow. Fraser hall will live on forever.
There is a mustiness about the old building, first occupied in 1872, despite recent renovations. Marks of age can be seen plainly in the creaking corridors and steps and the cracked walls of classrooms, but never in the 81 years of its life, has the twin-towered building been more extensively used.
Today the building is the home of the School of Education, the departments of English, German, home economics, Latin and Greek, the University Extension, teacher appointment bureau, the visual instruction division, and the Classical museum.
Old grads, however, may recall when Fraser housed at one time or another the chancellor's office, the office of the board of regents, the faculty room, the library, a study room, workshops, the University press, drawing rooms, and the departments of physics, mathematics, astronomy, mechanics, chemistry, Greek, Latin, English, surveying, engineering, natural history, geology, botany, zoology, philosophy, political science and law.
It was on Dec. 21, 1872, that Chancellor John Fraser told an assembly meeting in the old North College hall "Our new building is ready, so we will now go over and take possession."
He led the student body of 273 from the outmoded structure to the new University hall, as it was known until it assumed its present name in 1895. At that time KU was principally a preparatory school, and only 73 of the students enrolled were taking college courses. There was a faculty of 10.
The new hall, which had 54 rooms, was the largest educational building in the nation when first used, and Chancellor Fraser predicted it would be adequate enough to meet the needs of the University for the next 50 years. He could not look far enough ahead to see the future construction of more than 20 other buildings now in use.
Fraser was constructed just 17 years after the State Legislature had provided for a state educational institution. Money came from two sources—the Legislature and the citizens of Lawrence. Half of its total cost of $182,000 was appropriated by the Legislature and about $95,000 was raised in a bond campaign in this city.
Built of native limestone, the proud structure has undergone few external face-liftings, but old alums wouldn't know the inside. The original 54 rooms have been split up into more than 70. The old chapel was converted into the present 680-seat theater in 1928. Electricity replaced the old gas lights in 1893. Stone steps have taken over for wooden ones, and fire escapes have been added from time to time. The old red tile roof last year gave way to shingles.
The Fraser Chapel provided a rostrum for many notated speakers in its long existence. Edward Everett Hale, Susan B. Anthony, Sen. John J. Ingalls of Kansas, Frances E. Willard, Henry Ward Beecher, and Dr. Charles Eliot were early visiting dignitaries. Others more recent graduates or faculty members may still remember as Fraser speakers
And the now-familiar American flag and large KU banner have replaced other flags that adorned the twin peaks through the years. In the University's early days the chancellor's flag was flown, usually during registration week. Before home football games a monstrous 16-foot banner was displayed. Even weather flags were flown to keep the students up on latest atmospheric conditions.
Students, and Lawrence residents,
too, knew if the white flag was posted
the weather was to be fair. The blue
one signified stormy conditions, one
half blue and half white meant unsettled,
the white triangle was for rising
temperatures, and the blue
three-cornered one meant falling
temperature.
were Woodrow Wilson, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, and Ambassador James W. Gerard.
The initial graduation exercises (for 4 grads) were held in the same auditorium in June 1873, but the dignity of the occasion was "seriously impaired," early Kansan stories say, when pranksters (who never were apprehended) lowered a skeleton belonging to the zoology department through an opening in the ceiling just as Chancellor Fraser was delivering the main address.
In 1929 some drama students tried a new angle for having a party and ended up on the roof after starting festivities in the loft. In 1938 some wag raised a Communist flag in place of the American standard. Past Kansans termed the loft of the building as a "campus necking parlor," a situation which soon after prompted the locking of that area at nights. And, of course, numerous attempts, some successful, have been made to pilfer the KU banner atop the tower.
But, in more serious vein, a dependent World War I veteran leaped to his death in 1919 from a window in the loft.
In days before the modern Law-
rence water plant, students found use
for Fraser. Rain water collected in a
cistern located on the east side, into
which janitors would lower buckets
and fill drinking casks. All students
shared a pair of cups to drink the
water thus gathered.
A now-vanished part of exterior surface of the building which holds an interesting background was the east portico. The board of regents had refused an appropriation for stone steps on that side, and when
the regents heard that a portico designed for the mental institution at Osawatomi was not to be used there, they eagerly jumped at the chance and procured that item for Fraser. Campus visitors never could seem to understand why the east entrance of the most impressive structure on the Hill did not seem to fit into the general architectural plan.
To more passers-by, the old landmark has managed to conceal the wear and tear of its 300,000-plus students through 81 years. It is carefully guarded against fire and other damage by the careful surveillance of maintenance crews which are constantly at work. No smoking is permitted in the halls, and the flags are lowered each night to prolong their longevity.
Since it would undoubtedly cost more than $1 million to replace so vast a building, the Crimson and Blue of KU is likely to wave its daily greeting for many more years from the commanding heights of north Fraser tower.
Yale university has been the "Mother of Colleges" because so many Yale graduates have gone on to found or be the first administrators of other American colleges. Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Western Reserve, Johns Hopkins, Tulane, Temple, and the University of Wisconsin are among the 41 colleges in this country that trace their beginnings to Yale men.
Michigan's Department of health was the first state health agency to distribute blood plasma to hospitals on a state-wide basis.
Crude oil production in the United States in 1952 set a new record. It went up from 2,247,711,000 barrels in 1951 to an estimated 2,291,997,000 barrels in 1952—an increase of more than 44 million barrels.
Be on a Winning Team!
IT'S THE JAYHAWKS TODAY AND SCHNEIDER BETTER USED CARS TODAY AND EVERYDAY!
About 33,726,000 gallons of motor oil were sold through car dealer shops, garages, chain stores, etc., in 1952. These outlets, plus the 200,000 service stations spread across the United States, compete to keep oil products flowing from oil wells to consumer in ample, economical supply.
VERN SCHNEIDER
Phone 424
1012 Mass.
Kansan classifieds bring results
Hershey Eyes Colleges For Draft Prospects
Hershey estimates there are 1,200,- 000 male students in our colleges and universities today. Of these, many are World War II veterans, and more than one-fourth are enrolled in ROTC programs.
He states that some 185,000 students are being deferred because they meet certain class standards or received a certain score in the Educational Testing Service Examinations.
"The time for appraising in that direction is about over and the time for action is almost here." He mentions however, that "it should never be forgotten that students will not be the only men affected by this tightening."
The general believes that the fallacy of a man sacrificing his future ambitions when he enters the service is widely accepted. "In the case of the college student, the absurdity of this fallacy is apparent, for in the vast majority of cases, the man leaves college to serve in the army, forces, granting that he is ambitious, will come back to college vastly grown in mental stature."
"So if I may be permitted to use the word 'vulnerable,' not a great number of college students have been vulnerable under the present Selective Service law," he continues.
He also states "there is every reason to believe that the combined effect of Selective Service and the new Korean Bill of Rights will be to increase the male population of the colleges rather than to decrease it."
Washington, D.C.—(I.P.)—In order to meet the call for men, "we must look toward the colleges with more than an appraising eye," according to Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, director of Selective Service.
Fewer than 100 aborigines remain in the Andaman Islands today.
Newest Campus Trend: Lively Arrow Sports Shirts
According to the style experts, more checked and plaid Arrow sports shirts will be seen on campus than ever before. Students have shown widespread enthusiasm for the colorful collection now on view at all Arrow dealers.
TRADE MARK
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