Audio recording of the dedication banquet for Bemis Hall (May 7, 1975)

Springfield College · [May 7, 1975?]

This is an audio recording of the dedication banquet of Springfield College's Bemis Hall, or Hickory Hall as it is called now. The recording is a little over an hour in length and has the president of Springfield College, Wilbert E. Locklin, speaking, the architect of the building, Alfred Casella, and Joel Cohen, head of the Biology Department. The quest speaker was Art Linkletter. Hickory Hall, previously known as Bemis Hall, was the final item funded by Springfield College’s 7.3 million dollar Capital Campaign in 1974. It was located adjacent to Schoo Hall, known today as the Schoo-Bemis Science Center. Construction began in April, 1974 and the building was opened for full use in April of 1975. The new building, with a unique circular structure, was used as a life sciences building. Some innovative features included, moveable walls in lab areas, “dustless” marker boards, an interior ramp allowing handicapped access, faculty offices designed to accommodate seminar groups, and laboratories designed for specific areas of interest such as microscopy, physiology, plant biology, microbiology and genetics. Under the leadership of SC President Richard B. Flynn a complete renovation of Bemis Hall was undertaken. The new design focused on creating technology enhanced classrooms, replacing the life sciences laboratories and classrooms with an 80-seat semi-circular lecture hall and seven new classrooms. The newly renovated Hall was dedicated on September 27, 2007 along with the Schoo-Bemis Science Center (renovated at the same time). The Bemis name, along with the life science focus of the Hall, was moved to the new state-of-the-art Schoo-Bemis Science Center. Interestingly enough, Hickory Hall was actually supposed to be a place-holder name, being the name of the street that used to pass through the center of campus. Note written by digitization technician states, "Levels vary - some people not on mike" on the reel and on a small slip of paper that was originally with the reel the date is listed as May 21, 1975. Other documentation on Bemis, though, says that the dedication took place on May 7, 1975.;