Collective Beat
Historic Heart Connects Past, Present And Future

With their classic architecture and central location on campus, several structures in the “Historic Heart” serve as the centerpiece of Wittenberg’s idyllic setting. That heart began to beat in 1845 when students and faculty started construction on what is now the east wing of Myers Hall. It beat more strongly in 1851 with the completion of that building, and by 1884, a steady pulse sounded with the addition of Recitation Hall. As the college continued to grow, so did its heart. In addition to Myers and Recitation Halls, five other buildings still continue to create memories for those who teach and learn within them.

Thanks to a gift from the family of The Rev. Joseph Clark Zimmerman in 1891, Zimmerman Library found a home on campus. Expanded in 1920, the building served its original purpose until its conversion into a modern home economics building in 1956. After five years, the home economics major ended, and the history department moved to the building, followed by psychology, which remains in the structure today.

As the sciences burst upon the scene, Carnegie Science Hall opened in 1908 with classrooms and laboratories for chemistry, physics, biology and geology, as well as a museum. The building was actually planned by three instructors who visited other colleges, and their collaborative design was accepted by the architect.

Science continued to dominate education, which required the campus to expand once again. Koch Hall was built in 1926 to house the chemistry and psychology departments. Named in honor of Judge and Mrs. John H. Koch of Ohio City, it offered students the most modern science facility of its time.

Today students in the management, sociology and geography departments, along with the urban studies program meet in Carnegie, which was last remodeled in 1969, and Koch was remodeled for the art department in 1979 through a Kresge $100,000 challenge grant.

A short walk northeast of Carnegie, Blair Hall, dedicated in 1927, housed academy classes and included the Little Theatre where movies began in 1928. During World War II, Blair and Carnegie were given over to the government and became an Army Air Force Training School. Classroom instruction continued in both bui lding s throughout the war.

By 1955, biography, education, f ine arts, archeology, speech a nd a n industrial management program were taught in Blair. Today the building houses the education department and Upward Bound. The theatre depar tment maintains Blair Hall Theatre.

Back toward the west, the Elgar Weaver Observatory, dedicated in 1931, contained a 10-inch telescope, a meridian transit, a chronograph, a spectroscope and a sidereal clock. A digital camera was added in 1998, and the telescope was refurbished in 2002. In addition, the American Hymn Society opened headquarters there in 1979. The Torch operates from the building today, and an active astronomy club opens the facility to the community for stargazing several times a year.

Weaver Chapel completes the Historic Heart of Wittenberg and has provided a place of worship and gathering since 1957. Together, the buildings that form the center of campus not only serve as anchors for tradition and history, but also as avenues for furthering the university’s mission.

– Phyllis Eberts ’00