The Aquinas 1972-04-17

              The Building of a University
When the Scranton family gave its
family home and the surrounding property
to the Diocese of Scranton in trust
for the University in 1941, the University
was little more than an aging and
crowded building near St. Peter's Cathedral
on Wyoming Avenue. Although
the gift of land opened possibilitie.s for
a new campus which had never before
been seriously considered, a University
extending into the residential Linden
Street neighborhood remained for many
years only an idea.
By 1968, when the present seniors ar-
16
rived on campus for the first time, that
idea had long been a reality. The first
building in the University's history, Old
Main on Wyoming Avenue, had been
demolished, and the last construction
project in ten years of campus expansion
along Linden Street, the Long Center,
had been standing for several
months.
This month, the Aquinas takes a look
at the years of becoming, the years between
1941 and ·1968 when the idea of
a University was transformed into 'a
reality.
The first maj or campus construction
in the 1950's was concentrated around
the Jesuit Estate itself. Since the Scranton
family originally preferred to have
the home used as a library rather than a
residence, the first plans for the grounds
called for a modern addition to the back
of the mansion itself, making the. entire
building into a University library. A science
building much like Loyola Hall
was planned for the front of the estate
grounds, with the project to include for
removal of the massive stone wall fronting
the estate grounds. Other buildings
to be erected on the land immediately
surrounding the Scranton home
included a new faculty residence., classroom
building, chapel, administration
building and auditorium.
Plans for the impractical library addition
to the estate mansion were gradually
dropped as the Scranton family
appeared pleased with the way the Jesuits
in temporary residence in the home
were maintaining the mansion, and it
was decided that a separate, modern
library should be built at the southwest
corner of the property. After the science
building was completed in 1957 (with
the stone wall preserved in frq.nt of the
building), preparation for library construction
got under way.
But early library construction (left)
was plagued with difficulties. When initial
excavations had been made, a massive
mining cavity, complete with a
network of surrounding tunnels, was
discovered to lie only forty feet below
thp surface of the building site. Con-
THE AQUINAS