Carleton College
Carleton College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Cowling Arboretum, which became part of the campus in the 1920s.
The college offers courses from 33 major programs and 39 minor programs, and has the option for students to design their own majors. Carleton's varsity sports compete at the NCAA Division III level in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
History
The school was founded in 1866, when the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches unanimously accepted a resolution to locate a college in Northfield. Two Northfield businessmen, Charles Augustus Wheaton and Charles Moorehouse Goodsell, each donated of land for the first campus. The first students enrolled at the preparatory unit of Northfield College in the fall of 1867. In 1870, the first college president, James Strong, traveled to the East Coast to raise funds for the college. On his way from visiting a potential donor, William Carleton of Charlestown, Massachusetts, Strong was badly injured in a collision between his carriage and a train. Impressed by Strong's survival of the accident, Carleton donated $50,000 to the fledgling institution in 1871. As a result, the Board of Trustees renamed the school to Carleton College in his honor.The first graduating class was in 1874 and consisted of James J. Dow and Myra A. Brown, who married each other later that year. A third student, Bayard T. Holmes, had originally been in the same class, but withdrew before graduating.
On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang, led by outlaw Jesse James, tried to rob the First National Bank of Northfield. Joseph Lee Heywood, Carleton's Treasurer, was acting cashier at the bank that day. He was shot and killed for refusing to open the safe, foiling the attempt. Carleton later named a library fund after Heywood. The Heywood Society is the name for a group of donors who have named Carleton in their wills.
In its early years under the presidency of James Strong, Carleton reflected the theological conservatism of its Minnesota Congregational founders. In 1903, modern religious influences were introduced by William Sallmon, a Yale Divinity School graduate, who was hired as college president. Sallmon was opposed by conservative faculty members and alumni, and left the presidency by 1908. After Sallmon left, the trustees hired Donald J. Cowling, another theologically liberal Yale Divinity School graduate, as his successor. In 1916, under Cowling's leadership, Carleton began an official affiliation with the Minnesota Baptist Convention. It lasted until 1928, when the Baptists severed the relationship as a result of fundamentalist opposition to Carleton's liberalism, including the college's support for teaching evolution. Non-denominational for a number of years, in 1964 Carleton abolished its requirement for weekly attendance at some religious or spiritual meeting.
In 1927, students founded the first student-run pub in the nation, The Cave. Located in the basement of Evans Hall, it continues to host live music shows and other events several times each week. In 1942, Carleton purchased land in Stanton, about east of campus, to use for flight training. During World War II, several classes of male students went through air basic training at the college. Since being sold by the college in 1944, the Stanton Airfield has been operated for commercial use.
The world premiere production of the English translation of Bertolt Brecht's play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, was performed in 1948 at Carleton's Little Nourse Theater.
In 1963, Carleton students founded the Reformed Druids of North America, initially as a means to be excused from attendance of then-mandatory weekly chapel service. Within a few years, the group evolved to engage in legitimate spiritual exploration. Its legacy remains in campus location names such as the Stone Circle and the Hill of the Three Oaks. Meetings continue to be held in the Carleton College Cowling Arboretum.
President Bill Clinton gave the last commencement address of his administration at Carleton, on June 10, 2000, marking the first presidential visit to the college.
Campus
The college campus was created in 1867 with the gifts of two parcels from local businessmen Charles M. Goodsell and Charles Augustus Wheaton. The school campus is on a hill overlooking the Cannon River, at the northeast edge of Northfield. To the north and east is the Cowling Arboretum, which was farm fields in the early years of the college.The Jo Ryo En Japanese Garden is located behind Watson Hall in the center of the campus.
Campus buildings
Several of Carleton's older buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Willis Hall, the first building on campus, was constructed from 1869 to 1872. Originally the hall contained the men's dormitory, classrooms, library, and chapel. The building was gutted by fire in 1879, after which it was entirely rebuilt within the existing stone shell. The original front of the building became the rear entrance with the construction of Severance Hall in 1928. As new buildings were constructed, various academic departments cycled through the building. Beginning in 1954, Willis served as the college student union, until it was replaced in 1979 by the Sayles-Hill Student Center, a converted gymnasium. Willis Hall now houses the Economics, Political Science, and Educational Studies offices.File:Goodsell Observatory.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A brick building with silver domed roof.|Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College is on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently the largest observatory in Minnesota.
Goodsell Observatory, also on the NRHP, was constructed in 1887 and at the time was the largest observatory in the state of Minnesota. It was named for Charles Goodsell, who donated land for the campus. From the late 19th century to the end of World War II, Goodsell Observatory kept the time for every major railroad west of the Mississippi River, including Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad, and the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway.
Scoville Hall, completed in 1896, is on the NRHP. Replaced in function by the Gould Library in the 1950s, Scoville was adapted for administrative space.
Four nineteenth-century buildings have been demolished. Gridley Hall was the main women's dormitory for many years, and was torn down in 1967 for construction of the Music and Drama Center. Williams Hall was the college's first science building, and was demolished in 1961. Seccombe House was used for music instruction until 1914, and was located near the site of the current Skinner Chapel. The first observatory was replaced by Goodsell Observatory in 1887, and the old building was demolished in 1905 to make way for Laird Hall.
Laird Hall was built for science classes in 1905; the classical-revival building now houses the English department and administrative offices, including the president's office. Sayles-Hill was built as the first school gymnasium in 1910, and converted to a student center in 1979.
The eclectic styles of the eight buildings that made up the college in 1914, when Donald Cowling became president, were replaced by a uniform Collegiate Gothic style for the nine buildings erected during his tenure. Skinner Memorial Chapel, completed in 1916, is on the NRHP. Three connected western dorms were built for men: Burton Hall, Davis Hall, and Severance Hall, and two residence halls were built for women: Nourse Hall and Margaret Evans Hall. Evans Hall was notable for decades for its subdivision into adjacent columns of rooms off stairwells, rather than the more typical arrangement of floors of rooms on hallways. In the fall of 2012, Evans was heavily refurbished to modernize the internal layout and increase overall occupancy. Music Hall was built in 1914, and has housed the Political Science and International Relations department as Hasenstab Hall since 2022. Laird Stadium which stands at the site of the football and track field, was built in 1927. Leighton Hall, originally built for the Chemistry department, now houses academic and administrative offices, including the business office.
The Great Depression and World War II essentially ended the construction boom for two decades. Boliou Hall was built in 1949 in a modernist style, using yellow sandstone as a major element. It was enlarged using a similar style and materials in the early 1990s. The Library was built in 1956 in a similar style, but was expanded in a brick-based style in the mid-1980s. It was renamed the Gould Memorial Library in 1995 for former President Larry Gould. Musser and Myers Halls were built in 1958 as men's and women's dorms respectively, in a bare-bones modernist brick style.
Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the Northwestern National Life Building in Minneapolis and of the original New York World Trade Center, designed five buildings at Carleton in the 1960s. Olin Hall of Science has a distinctive "radiator" grill work on the exterior. Goodhue and Watson Halls were built as dormitories. At seven floors, Watson is the tallest building on campus. The West Gym and Cowling Gym were built to replace Sayles-Hill for indoor athletic facilities, originally for men and women respectively.
Carleton's largest athletic facility is the Recreation Center, built in 2000. The 1969 Music and Drama Center's functions were largely taken over by the Weitz Center of Creativity upon its completion in 2012, and it was demolished in 2022. Yamasaki's Olin Hall was significantly expanded by the construction of Evelyn M. Anderson Hall, which was finished in 2020.