Please don't forget that you are always welcome to call us 812-488-2586 or stop by our office in the Igleheart Building at Lincoln and Rotherwood Avenues, located on the southwest corner of campus. The building was named for John L. and Belle Igleheart. Mr. Igleheart, a University Trustee from 1923 - 1933, and his wife gave the house to the University in 1928 for use as the President's home.
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UE TREASURES AND TRADITIONS ...
Did you know ... ?
Olmsted Administration Hall was completed in 1922, and for several years just known simply as “Administration Hall.” It was renamed in 1981 in honor of Ralph Olmsted, who was retiring as the University’s business manager. Over the years Olmsted had served the University in many roles – he had also been assistant to the president, superintendent of buildings and grounds, alumni secretary, admission director, instructor in journalism and University archivist. Upon his retirement, he was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities. At the ceremony, President Melvin Hyde said that Olmsted “like Administration Hall, has served our institution with great effectiveness, both in good and troubled times, for over half a century. Today they are joined as one, now and for all time to come.”
Did you know ... ?
Smoking was banned on UE’s campus till 1940, when a large number of adult students began attending the new Evening College classes and wanted to be able to smoke if they wished. Then in 1993, smoking was banned again, this time from all classroom buildings, recreational facilities and dining areas. Eventually residence halls were added to the ban, as wellDancing was forbidden on campus until 1931 – but unlike smoking, that practice has not seen a reversal in its approval policy
Did you know ... ?
UE’s student newspaper, The Crescent, got its title from George B. Franklin, its faculty advisor, at what was then Evansville College. He suggested that name since the city of Evansville is located at a crescent shaped bend in the Ohio.
The Crescent’s first issue was published on Oct. 21, 1919. Ralph Olmsted, Olmsted Administration Hall’s namesake, was the student editor-in-chief. Franklin also named the University’s annual yearbook,
The LinC, in a contest with 150 entries. Franklin explained that the name “LinC” came from Lincoln Avenue, the site of the campus. Written “LinC,” it also stood for Life in College, Franklin said.
The first LinC was published in 1922.
Did you know ... ?In 1919, a site was chosen for what eventually would be Evansville College on Lincoln Avenue – which was still a gravel road. Student enrollment that first year was 104. There was no time to construct any buildings before school began that fall, so the Young Men’s Hebrew Association building on Vine Street was rented for temporary class space.
Did you know ... ?In 1926, a contest was held to determine what would be the official Evansville College song. The winner was to receive free tuition for two quarters. Oddly enough, the song that actually won first place is no longer remembered! The song that received second place was more popular and became the school song by default. The music for the second place song was composed by Mary Ellen McClure, a Class of 1925 graduate, with the words co-written by McClure and Evaline Tureck. This song is now known as the University Hymn and is sung at official functions like Commencement and Founders Day.
Did you know ... ? In the first 10 years of Evansville College’s existence, there were no dorms. Instead, non-commuter students lived in residential houses in the community that had been reconfigured to accommodate dorm living. From 1919 to 1924, about 30 female students lived in a large old house on what was then Upper First Street (now Southeast First). The last name of the owner of the house was Sweetser – and the residence became known as Sweetser Hall. Many male residential students lived at the YMCA across from the College, but eventually a house was rented for them on what was then Upper Third Street (now Southeast Third). It became known as Excelsior Hall. It closed after a couple of years with most of its student residents moving back to the YMCA. Eventually other residences, located nearer the campus, were also used as dorms but by 1929, they too were closed and sold.
Did you know ... ?
Long before the University of Evansville’s award winning drama department came into existence - back when the institution was still Evansville College - students gathered to present plays on their own. In 1919 and 1920, several students participated in the Evansville (City) Drama League. Other plays were put on by residence hall members and various college groups and organizations.
Eventually, an official Dramatics Club began, soon to become known as the Thespian Dramatic Society. Their first production was in 1924, when they performed Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” In 1929, the Thespian Club was asked to compete in a contest at Northwestern University. The group made the trip in a big, seven passenger Hudson borrowed from then Evansville College President Earl Harper. The trip to Northwestern was without incident – but on the way back, on an icy road near Ridge Farm, Ill., the car was in an accident and was totaled. Car insurance was not that common in those days, and President Harper had none. The Thespian members gave several one-act plays to help pay off President Harper’s loss.
Did you know ... ?
After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, students at Evansville College went to the auditorium. They listened together to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech on the radio. The College, like the country, began mobilizing for war.
Lincoln Hale, Evansville College’s president, instituted – with the approval of the faculty – an educational schedule and program for wartime. Summer sessions were extended to 12 weeks from eight, so students could take heavier course loads and graduate in two and half to three years. The physical education requirement was extended from two years to four, with military drill optional for male students.
The physics and mathematics programs were expanded. New classes were started for nurses aides and for first aid, radio communication and meteorology. There was also an effort to implement courses designed to examine the causes of the war – and to prepare students to eventually face a new, post-war world. The College was already training pilots under contract with the Civilian Aviation Authority along with a few pilots for the army - this program grew larger.
President Hale was to be inaugurated on February 21, 1942 - this ceremony was cancelled because of the war.
Did you know ... ?
Some of the University’s older structures were considered cutting edge architecture in their day. At least one still holds a unique place in the history of architecture. Olmsted Administration Hall was built in 1921, when UE was still Evansville College. Made of Indiana limestone blocks of various shades and widths, the ends of the blocks were not sawed, but broken, with none of the straight vertical joints usual in that era. This was, as far as it is known, the first instance that Bedford stone was used in this way in America.
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