Morris on My Mind: A Retrospective History on Morris Hall and Wabash
When observing the history of our great college campus, people examine the history of many of the great buildings that our campus has. Often they turn to the Pioneer Chapel, Center Hall, or the old Yandes Hall, which is today Detchon Hall. But there are buildings on this campus that often get overlooked in our college’s history. These buildings in many respects have had even larger impacts on the student body than many of the aforementioned buildings. The buildings that I am speaking of are the dorms of Morris and Wolcott, and since their construction in 1954 they have been the home away from home for thousands of Wabash men. For the past two years I have had the privilege of living in Morris Hall, which sparked in me an interest to investigate this truly luxurious form of living for its day. While our facilities are not brand new or newly renovated, we as independents live happily surrounded by the history that has shaped our college.
The story of the construction of Morris Hall is one that encompasses the dreams and visions of then President Frank Hugh Sparks. President Sparks came to this college an already established man of industry. Dr. Sparks entered college in his later years after he had already established himself as a successful Indianapolis businessman as the founder of the Indianapolis Air pump Company, which grew into a multimillion dollar industry. He entered Butler University at the age of 38 with a goal of becoming a college president. Dr. Sparks entered college because of one aspect of society that concerned him, bringing to light his big idea: “The training of youth ought to be the concern of every adult who has achieved a responsible position in society.” Upon becoming president of Wabash College in 1941, Dr. Sparks envisioned changing the campus, but those plans were put on hold because of World War Two.
When Dr. Sparks finally got the opportunity to address the physical condition of the college he turned to architect Eric Gugler. Eric Gugler at this time was one of the most prominent architects in the nation, having designed the Theodore Roosevelt memorial and the rebuilding of the West Wing under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Gugler designed many of the buildings on campus, including the Sparks Center, Lilly Library, Morris Hall, Wolcott Hall, and Baxter hall. You can still observe Gugler’s touch in the G’s in the decor of many of his buildings. When in the Lilly Library, all one has to do is look up to see a G in the light fixture, and there are G iron inserts surrounding the Sparks center. The choice of Eric Gulger was a controversial move within the Wabash community, and this fascinating story is wonderfully laid out by President Byron K. Trippet in Wabash on My Mind, a book that I would encourage all to explore.
One might be asking what all of this information has to do with Morris Hall and Dr. Frank Sparks. President Sparks was extremely interested in getting men who had become financially successful to invest in the state’s private colleges and universities, his big idea, which he explained at the end of an episode of “This is Your Life”, an episode that you too can enjoy because it has been uploaded to Wabash College’s YouTube page. In this episode he expounded upon the quotation: “The training of youth ought to be the concern of every adult who has achieved a responsible position in society.” Dr. Sparks, along with other college presidents, felt that businesses were the chief beneficiaries of students with a good education, so in order to continue this good education they would need to invest in the state’s colleges. President Sparks approached the education of men and the college experiences a lot like a business. The students are the products, and in order to produce a good product you need the best facilities. In his mind, in order to accomplish this, successful business men must invest monetarily in the nation’s colleges.
In order to accomplish this goal he created and implemented the Wabash College Institute for Personal Development. The college archivist Beth Swift described the program as one that offered a basic great books course for local Indiana businesses. This overtime grew into a summer program for up-and-coming businessmen and CEOs. One of the men affected by this program was Ernest M. Morris, who founded First Source Bank in South Bend Indiana, the largest locally controlled bank in the northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan area. His family donated a sum of money for the construction of Morris Hall in his honor. Morris had no real connection to Wabash. In fact, he graduated from Valparaiso University.
Gugler designed Morris and Wolcott the same exact way. When looking at the blueprints in the archives I was amazed to see just how little the building had changed. The design was to have two single bedrooms with built a built-in desk, dresser, and bed to be adjoined by a bathroom that would be accessed by both rooms. All of the rooms would be laid out the same way on one side of the building and a mirror image on the other. While Gugler did the actual architectural design, Mrs. Abbie Sparks was in charge of the interior design. Mrs. Sparks not only had a huge influence on the interior design of both Morris and Wolcott, but is also the main reason for the style of living. President Trippet observed that Mrs. Sparks believed, and conveyed to her husband, a notion of “gracious living,” and the new campus center and Morris and Wolcott epitomized this notion.
Each of the rooms had built-in wooden desks, dressers, beds, and closets. The floors in the hallways and the individual rooms were parquet wood floors. The bathrooms were tiled from floor to ceiling with a salmon pink ceramic tile with a marble door jamb separating the bedroom from the bathroom. The shower stall was in the same ceramic tile with a glass door. Each of the rooms had matching window dressings and bed linens. Each of the rooms had reading lights built into the walls above the desk and the bed. The rooms were even accompanied with maid and linen service. At the end of the hallway on each floor was a telephone booth, and each room had an intercom system, which has since been unwired and painted over for obvious reasons. When Wolcott opened its doors in 1955 to students, The Wabash recorded a rumor that had been circulating around campus about the luxury of the new dorms. The students exclaimed, “they even furnish the soap,” and these rumors were confirmed by the administration. The men living at both Morris and Wolcott were living in the lap of luxury thanks to President Sparks’ “big idea”.
The history of Morris and Wolcott are so important because they have not changed since 1954. Sure, the light fixtures are no longer here, and we no longer have linen service, but the bathrooms still house the faded pink tile and all of the built-ins are still surviving. This in itself is an amazing accomplishment and tells a lot about the construction of the building to withstand fifty-seven years of practical jokes, football games in the hallway, and the general abuse that can be imposed by seventy young men. While some aspects did not survive, like the glass door for the shower, which most likely fell victim to a rambunctious group of gentlemen horsing around, while the phone booth at the end of the hall no longer houses a phone, but toilet paper, trash bags, and light bulbs, the majority of the building is still surviving.
The modern amenities and luxuries that once graced this building have turned into oddities and issues of inconvenience and concern. The building itself is beginning to show its age. Dresser drawers no longer close completely. The walls are beginning to crack in areas, and there is nothing like going to bed at night knowing that you are sleeping on a mattress with no box springs on top of a piece of ply wood. As an independent I am very open to the idea of upgrading independent living and understand the constraints that the administration is under, but when a student who graduated in 1955 can walk into either Morris or Wolcott and observe that almost nothing has changed, then something must be done.
I have enjoyed my time here in Morris Hall, and much like C&T used to be, it is a common experience that I along with many others have had the pleasure to experience. Wabash is very much about a common experience, and that is what makes Wabash so great. In almost no other college in the United States can a father and son actually share the same room and almost the same experience. This occurs here at Wabash. My roommate Andrew Forrester, class of 2011, lives in the same room that his father lived in, Matthew Forrester, class of 1979. All of the men of Morris and Wolcott have shared this common experience. All have most assuredly had the moment of panic when they have been locked inside the bathroom and the lights turned off, and yes this does happen. The days of Morris and Wolcott being the jewel of the campus’s eye have faded away, and the days are slowly numbered for the once great dormitories. When the time comes for the modernization and new facilities, I and the men who preceded me living in Morris and Wolcott will be sad to see them go. They truly embody the entire Wabash experience.
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