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Clippinger (1967)

Change inevitable on campus

A stroll through College Green on Homecoming Weekend now might require more than a few detours.

A stroll through College Green on Homecoming Weekend now might require more than a few detours.

But for Ohio University alumni who spent the 1960s meandering through campus, construction is nothing new.

“Up until now, since the ’60s, it’s sort have been piecemeal and just kind of fix buildings and renovate buildings, but there hasn’t been this major destruction and construction of university buildings (like we have now),” said Bill Kimok, university archivist for Archives and Special Collections in Alden Library.

Current construction has parts of Park Place blocked off, much of South Green decked in scaffolding and has given the old Baker University Center — where a young President Roderick McDavis liked to bowl — a new purpose.

“I have great memories of old Baker’s Frontier Room where students could grab a bite to eat, study over coffee or watch a local music show,” McDavis said in an email.

But for those who haven’t stayed as close to campus, there are noticeable changes.

“(Alumni from the 1960s) would say ‘where the hell is Ewing Hall?’ … ‘what happened to the Women’s Gymnasium’ ... and ‘what happened to the fricking river?’” Kimok said.

The Hocking River was rerouted in 1969 to alleviate the annual flooding which left students floating to class in canoes.

The ’60s also saw the rise of Clippinger Laboratories in 1967 and Alden two years later.

The late 1960s were the final days for the Women’s Gymnasium and not long after, Ewing Hall.

Retired Associate Professor of Economics Jan Palmer said despite the changes, campus doesn’t look too different than when he started at OU in 1979.

“There’s an effort to have a consistent architecture and a consistent theme and I think that makes the campus appealing,” he said.

Palmer added off-campus has seen some of the most dramatic changes during his decades at OU, from the repurposing of the Barry Hotel (now the Court Street Diner) to the addition of Wal-Mart and Kroger on East State Street.

But the most obvious change on campus?

“The students weigh 30 pounds more,” Palmer said.

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