Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Exercises and Addresses: Attending the Laying of the Corner-Stone of the New Dartmouth Hall and the Visit of the Earl of Dartmouth to the College, October 25 and 26, 1904
Externally, the hall, in its earliest and latest years, was recognized as one of the best examples of college archi tecture of the colonial period; somewhat similar (and the only two remaining) buildings being Nassau Hall at Prince ton, which has been twice burned, and University Hall at Brown. Though Eleazar Wheelock's original plan for a stone or brick building was relinquished, his attendant plan of using Nassau Hall as a general model was carried out in detail. The proportions of Old Dartmouth, however, not withstanding its less expensive material, have been de clared by architectural experts to be more artistic and impressive than those of its model. The building as originally constructed, says Mr. Chase, was reputed the largest of its kind in New England. Its interior was several times modified and improved, but its exterior remained practically the same from the beginning.
For forty years Dartmouth Hall met nearly all the College requirements for recitation rooms, dormitories, libraries, and apparatus. From 1791 to 1840 the College and society libraries were kept in it. From 1799 to 1811 the Medical School occupied portions of the building. Until 1828 there was a museum on the third ?oor. Of late years the first and second ?oors of the building were used principally for recitation purposes by the departments of Latin, Greek, French, and German, leaving only the third ?oor for students' rooms.
The portion of Dartmouth Hall about which centered the most varied emotions was the Old Chapel. This was evolved by a remodelling of two stories in the central portion of the building in 1828, when the wooden chapel standing in front of Thornton was removed. From this date until the erection of Rollins Chapel in 1885 this Old Chapel was the center of the religious life of the College. Here met, for morning prayers, all the classes from that of 1829 to that of 1888. Here for many years, also, the classes gathered for oratorical work, and on Wednesday afternoons successive generations of seniors addressed the College in Rhetoricals. Here too, from early days were held mass meetings to arouse enthusiasm for various branches of undergraduate activity, and seldom did the attempt fail; and here, until the construction of College Hall, occurred the exercises of Dartmouth Night, the annual event which has done so much to promote the Dartmouth spirit. It was used for an athletic meeting the very evening before the fire.
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