110 Years Ago

Mountain Day pushes TBT to Friday. This week we note the 110^th birthday of not one, but two campus buildings.

From The Mount Hermon Alumni Quarterly, vol. VI, no. 1, p. 2; September 1907.

New Buildings

In schools, as in other communities, one of the clearest signs of progress is increase in number of buildings. The returning old student looks to see the changes in this line, even before he greets his friends. And this summer he is not disappointed. At the south, in the rapidly growing cluster of houses about Dwight's Home, is to be seen a nearly completed residence known as Harris Cottage, from the name of the donor. This cottage will be occupied by Mr. Richard L. Watson. At the rear of the laundry [now Social Hall –ed.] is rising the new canning factory. Special interest centers here because the work is done wholly by Hermon labor, because the material is concrete blocks made on the place, and because the building means improvement in one of Hermon's specialties, the industrial system.

Today Harris Cottage is home to the Dowdys. Mr. Dowdy can tell you more about his house than your editor can. Direct all questions to him, but when you do, be sure to wish his home a Happy Birthday. As for the canning factory, it is now better known as Rikert House. After it was a canning factory, and before it became student housing just about 50 years ago, it served for many years as the headquarters of Plant and Property. It is therefore fitting that when the building began its new life as a dormitory, it was named for the longtime director of Plant and Property, Carroll Rikert, class of 1913. –ed.