Creswell Hall is well known to University of Georgia students. Even those that did not live there have at least one story to tell about it. It has earned numerous nicknames through they years, including “Bulldog Hilton,” “the 'Well”, “Cres-Hell”, and “The Green Monster”, named for the unusual and unknown shade of green that adorns the sides of the building. Creswell is currently one of the co-ed freshman dorms at the University of Georgia, nine stories tall, adjacent to Bolton Dining Hall, and home to almost 1000 students (Wikipedia). Each of the upper eight floors house students, and each floor is distributed in four halls or wings, arranged in a “T” shape. The A and B halls for the arms of the “T”, and the C and D halls form the beam (Wikipedia).
The dorm's and the dining hall's construction began in the fall of 1961 at a cost of $3,600,000. The building had a number of features that are different than today: The dorm was an all-girls freshmen dorm, it had no planned central air conditioning system due to a lack of funds (“Girls' Dorm” R+B), and there was also a proposed sunbathing deck on the roof (“Wednesday” 3.8.61). The dorm was completed and used by August 1963 (“Wednesday” 2.28.62).
Notably, the elevator distribution was planned differently than it is currently used. Originally six elevators were used, as opposed to the modern four. Every floor of the building starting from the second floor was to have its own lobby. Each lobby was to be serviced, in turn, by one or two elevators, as opposed to all of the six. (“Girls' Dorm” R+B). The elevator's design caused Carl Stark, a student to be caught on the 5th floor during a panty raid during late sixties enrollment. He said he was caught personally by the Dean, and because of it he got to know the Dean well (Stark Interview).
Creswell was one of the first dorms at UGA to be as large as it was. There were concerns about building a dorm that would house so many students in it; when the board of regents were planning and approved construction, they actually rescinded a provision limiting dorms to four floors and a limited sized. The concerns of some on the board was elaborated by the Atlanta Constitution: anxiety that having 1000 students in one building could cause an “issue”. The “issue”seemed to be worries that admitting even one African-American might “spoil” the experience for the other [white] students (“Skyscraper” Atlanta Const.). In fact, in the 1960s, African-American women did live in Creswell, and did have fairly normal social lives, mixing with whites, but their rooms tended to be grouped together at the very ends of the floors they lived on, and as such they tended to live in segregated conditions (Stark Interview).
The dorm was very well known once completed, and within a year the dorm was open to allow upperclassmen women to live there, as well as freshmen (“Freshmen” R+B). But a major problem encountered in it was vandalism. By 1964, some reports said the paper looked teen years old already. The women had been carving on the elevator walls, writing on room walls, and most notably been using the hallway floors as ash trays for cigarette ashes and butts (“Desecration” R+B). The same article claimed that such behavior was almost expected out of the freshmen men, but not out of the freshmen women.
Women were also treated much differently than men were. In the 1960's, Creswell had a curfew of 11:15 PM. Those who were late were put on social probation and locked down in the dorm for a week. Mr. Stark also told me that it was well-known to not drive around Creswell between 11 and 11:15 PM, because “Guys were driving at 100 mph to get their girlfriends back in time!” Also, when women would leave for the weekend, they would have to sign out with the Dorm Mothers. The Dorm Mothers would then randomly call the home of the signed out girls to see if they actually did go home. Men were not allowed to leave the lobby to go upstairs, either. They could visit only in the lobby, under the supervision of the staff (Stark Interview).
In the 1960s Creswell Hall went from being a new, somewhat controversial, and expensive construction project, to the center of freshman life, especially for females, at the University of Georgia. It since has become even more important to freshmen, having become a co-ed dorm at the center of activity on campus. With more and more freshmen-oriented programs being centered around Creswell, it obvious that the community here will continue to grow and be even more important that it has in the past.
Bibliography:
“Creswell Hall”. Wikipedia 22 October 2007.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creswell_Hall
“University To Get 9-Story Girls' Dorm.” The Red & Black 2 March 1961.
“New 'Skyscraper' Dormitory for University.” Atlanta Constitution 20 March 1961.
“Wednesday.” Wednesday at the University of Georgia Weekly Report 8 March 1961.
“Wednesday.” Wednesday at the University of Georgia Weekly Report 28 February 1962.
“Freshmen to Share New Dorm Next Fall.” The Red & Black 16 January 1964.
“Desecration.” The Red & Black 30 January 1964.
Stark, Carl. Personal Interview. 23 October 2007.
2 comments:
OMG! I was at UGA from 1987-1990 and lived in Crewell. WHAT A HORRIBLE PLACE! It was dirty, it smelled, there were rats and roaches, the tv rooms were ashtrays and the green monster, as it was known, was ugly to look at! But, now that I am older and nostalgic, I long to be young again and would give anything to be able to repeat those days.
I lived in Creswell Hall 1968-1972, and I loved it! Both of my older sisters lived at Creswell, and my fondest memories of of college life center around Creswell and Bolton Hall. I'm so glad that I lived on campus.
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