GCSU legends and oddities

GCSU has a rich history and plenty of interesting sites around campus that are sometimes overlooked. In addition to things of historic significance, there are some things on campus that are just plain unexplained. Some of these things are about be made clear, with some help from history professor and campus historian Dr. Bob Wilson.

The garden between Lanier and Parks Halls
This garden dates back to the 1930s, and was the site of a building that burned down in 1924. This building was called the Main Building, and it was the first building built on campus. Before the school acquired the land where the campus now stands, a state penitentiary sat on the grounds. This building was built in 1891, and held most of the classrooms and a small auditorium. The cause of the fire is unknown.

“It almost burned down Parks Hall . you can still see scorch marks on the back of Parks that relate to that fire. It’s the only . major fire that the college has ever had,” Wilson said.

The garden between Lanier and Parks Halls

Inside the garden’s hedges sits a fountain and a stone with G N & I College 1907 inscribed on it. The stone was part of the original Chappell Hall, which was torn down in the 1960s. The entrance to the garden holds the cornerstone (see inset), which was still preserved from the 1890s, listing the board of directors and the architect who designed the building.

Russell Auditorium

One of the first events held there when it was built in 1926 was the memorial service for the president, Marvin Parks, who had died suddenly.

“Some people claim to have seen a figure in one of the upstairs windows of a woman dressed in Victorian clothes,” Wilson said. “One time in my musings about this, I thought, ‘Well, if there is a female ghost of Russell, maybe that’s Cookie too, because she was in so many plays. Maybe she haunts two places.’”

Saga

Technically, the dining hall is called Sodexo, but students have called it Saga for years. The name Saga is derived from the previous company that ran the dining hall, which passed into Sodexo’s hands in the 1990s.

“It’s one of those things that just gets passed on down among students. It’s not a consciously shaped tradition, it’s just a tradition that has survived on a student level,” Wilson said.

Herty memorial

Between two pine trees on Front Campus sits a stone commemorating Charles Holmes Herty, whose childhood home once sat on the campus grounds.

“It would have been an odd place to grow up, because in those years the penitentiary was still there, so it was in the front yard of the penitentiary – not your prime piece of real estate,” Wilson said.

Herty was a well-known chemist, whose main contribution was the Herty cup, which allowed people to harvest turpentine from pine trees without killing the tree. He also developed methods of using pine trees to make newsprint.

Outside the scientific realm, he also had an interest in athletics. He taught at the University of Georgia, and helped found the Georgia Bulldogs. In 1954, GCSU built Herty Hall, which is named after him.

The ghost of Sanford

A ghost is rumored to haunt Sanford Hall. In 1952, Betty Jean Cook, affectionately known as “Cookie,” lived there. She was a senior biology major, and was active in theatre. She was found in the third floor of Sanford, and taken to the hospital, where she later died.

“Ever since, there have been stories about phenomena in Sanford, people who lived underneath her room hear sounds, people talked about cold spots. A girl who lived there . said she saw a ghost outside the window,” Wilson said.

Here Dr. Bob shares the story of Harrison House.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Aug 7 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry