Commerce Building / David Kinley Hall
Business education was woven into the very fabric of the fledgling University's existence from the start, with "the first circular of information published in 1868 [declaring] it to be one of the aims of the institution to prepare men 'for the arduous and riskful [sic] responsibilities of the merchant and business man'.". However, the school was initially organized as a vocational school and its early history was a tumultuous one. [1]
Captain Edward Synder became the first head of the Department of Commercial Science and Art upon the University's opening in 1868, but two years later the department was reorganized and renamed the "School of Commerce". The purpose of the school was to teach "bookkeeping, commercial calculation and commercial correspondence", and in this respect it excelled magnificently. However, the college was structured as a vocational school, rather than a University program, and on September 10th, 1879 the Board of Trustees voted that "the course of studies in the 'School of Commerce' is more extensive than is practicable to teach at the present time" and by the following year, on June 10th, 1880, the school graduated its last class. [2]
The Commerce Building was constructed in 1925 [3] for $506,000. [4] It's 71,000 square feet [5] were a welcome expansion to the College, which had begun to outgrow its quarters in the present Henry Administration Building, despite repeated additions. The new Commerce building was one of several co-designed by James White and Charles Platt. [6] The English Brothers firm provided general contracting services on the project. [7]
On September 24, 1946, the Commerce Building was renamed David Kinley Hall [8] in honor of David Kinley's service to the University and especially to the College of Commerce. He was largely responsible for the foundation of the college itself, reestablishing the program in 1902 and serving as its dean until 1915, when he helped transform it into the College of Commerce and Business Administration. Kinley also served in a variety of roles outside the college, as an Economics Professor from 1894 to 1944, Dean of the College of Literature and Arts from 1894 to 1906, and Dean of the Graduate School from 1906 to 1919. He even served as the sixth President of the University from 1920 to 1930. [9]
The fountain in the courtyard to the east of the building was dedicated in June 1996 in honor Nathan Austin Weston by his daughter, Janet L. Weston. Nathan Weston served as a Professor of Economics for 33 years and was the first Dean of the College of Commerce and Business Administration. [10]
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