Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 224

Institute's training, which was later to be reflected in the responses made by the alumni to appeals for assistance.

Newton Hall, opened in the fall of 1901, did not provide adequate dormitory facilities, but it was a home of a sort for the twenty-five or thirty students who lived there. Some local people, who viewed it as a charitable institution providing quarters for poor boys at low rates, made gifts of discarded furniture and books. A few persons, including Dr. Kinnicutt, Philip W. Moen, and some of the district alumni groups, were more genuinely interested in making the Hall attractive, and they expressed their interest in cash. Dr. Ewell organized a series of smoke talks, many of which were keenly enjoyed. The instructor who served as proctor did not always have an easy time in maintaining order, which accounts for many interesting memories that students carried away. Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of Newton Hall was its distance from the campus. This factor, plus the expense and inconvenience of maintaining a dormitory, influenced the decision of the trustees to abandon the experiment in 1909. For eighteen years thereafter the Institute was without dormitory facilities.

The houses of Phi Gamma Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon provided excellent quarters for the few students who were fortunate enough to belong to those fraternities. Most of the other men from out of town found reasonably good accommodations in private homes within a short distance of the campus, and various long-suffering landladies became Institute personalities. Four new fraternities came into being during this period, and provided quarters for their members. The first was organized in 1903 under the name of the Arm and Hammer Club. In 1906, it was installed as a chapter of Alpha Tau Omega, and in 1910 purchased and moved into a permanent chapter house. The second group, formed at Newton Hall in 1905 by students who were members of athletic teams, took the name of Pi Omega Pi. It was admitted to the national fraternity, Theta Chi, in 1909. A third group, known as Delta Tau, was also started at Newton Hall in 1906.

224

webmaster@wpi.edu

Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999