Davidson College issued the following announcement on Nov. 22.
College union—the name says it all. It’s more than a building; it’s a buzzing hive of activity for students looking to study, meet up with friends, grab a bite to eat, reflect on local and global events, or organize around a cause.
The vision for Davidson College’s Knobloch Campus Center expanded upon the college’s dedicated union space to create vibrant spaces where students and members of the community could enjoy the best entertainment and make the most of serendipitous encounters. The center’s 122,000-square-feet include the Alvarez College Union and the Duke Family Performance Hall.
The college celebrated the center’s 20th anniversary of the Knobloch Campus Center this week with food, live music and fun, capturing the spirit of togetherness and community the center has embodied for two decades.
Take a stroll down memory lane in photos, through campus gathering spaces past and present.
David Ovens College Union
The David Ovens College Union opened in 1952. The Union included a cafeteria, snack bar, book store, game room, meeting rooms, offices, TV lounge, info desk, and multipurpose room. The Union Board hosted the Coffeehouse Circuit, a series featuring many of the northeast’s best folk musicians, from 1962 through the early 1970s.
During the late 1960s, like Unions all over the country, the Union at Davidson served as a site for dialogue about and protest of the Vietnam War.
Lester Strong became the first black president of the Union in 1970.
Grey College Union
The Union moved to the Guest House in 1973 to make way for the new E.H. Little Library.
The previous library building was renovated and opened as the College Union in 1975.
The original 900 Room in the Grey College Union was named for the 900 section of books (the history section in the Dewey Decimal system) that were originally housed on that floor, then the Grey Library. The space in the "new" union retained the original name, but also honors C. Shaw Smith '39. The gift was made by family and friends of Smith, the college's first college union director and lifelong friend.
The 1980s
In the early 1980s, the program of the Union Board broadened. The Board also continued to sponsor major concerts, including the Police, REM, The Thompson Twins and The Fixx.
C. Shaw Smith ’39 left his longtime position as the College Union’s first director in 1983. It was his imagination and creative spark that brought an incredibly wide-ranging program, from major concerts with big name artists to off-the-wall activities, such as watching the tomato rot.
Original source can be found here.
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