MU Phys Ed Building

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This photo shows the gym building as it looled shortly before it was demolished in 1982.

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HUNTINGTON -- When the future Marshall University entered the 1920s,
the college campus still consisted of only two buildings -- Old Main,
 the oldest part of which dated back to 1868, and Northcott Hall,
which welcomed its first students in 1916.

Finally, the campus got a third structure -- a Physical Education Building, which stood just east
of the present-day Memorial Student Center. Construction began in 1919 and was completed
in 1921. The brick building cost approximately $150,000 to erect.

An elaborate two-day dedication festival was conducted March 3 and 4, 1922.
 Dr. Frederick R. Hamilton, who was Marshall president from 1919 to 1923,
gave the official dedication address. Gov. Ephriam Morgan was also
scheduled to speak but was detained in Charleston by last-minute official
business. Members of the State Board of Education were on hand and spoke.

Board member J.B. Darst urged the students in the audience to make something
 worthwhile of themselves "to return the sacrifices your parents have
 made for you in sending you to school." Surely a sentiment
 many of today's parents would applaud.

The remarks were followed by physical education demonstrations by female Marshall
students and young students at the Marshall Training School. That next evening saw a
volleyball demonstration by the men's phys ed classes, a basketball game
 between Marshall and Alderson Baptist Academy and an operetta in the
Old Main auditorium. (Sounds like a rather full night, doesn't it?)

In 1961, when Gullickson Hall was opened, the old building was
 re-named the Women's Gymnasium and Physical Education Building.
The badly dilapidated building was demolished in 1982.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on May 5, 2014.

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