Anderson Hall is the central administration building for

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public insti ...

in the city of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

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. Designed by Erasmus T. Carr, it was originally called the Practical Agriculture Building when the first wing (now the north wing) was completed in 1879. In 1902, it was renamed "Anderson Hall" in honor of

John Alexander Anderson John Alexander Anderson (June 26, 1834 – May 18, 1892) was a six-term U.S. Representative from Kansas (1879–1891), and the second President of Kansas State Agricultural College (1873–1879). Anderson was born in Washington County, Penns ...

, the second president of

Kansas State Agricultural College Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

(now Kansas State University). The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Over time, this building has housed a diverse set of facilities, including a

canteen {{Primary sources, date=February 2007 Canteen is an Australian national support organisation for young people (aged 12–25) living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people with parents or primary carers ...

, a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

shop, and a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common typ ...

. An electronic

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmon ...

was installed in 1965 to sound the hours.

History

The building was constructed in three phases starting with the north wing, followed by the central section, and finished with the south wing. The construction was first financed by the state in 1877 with construction starting in 1878. The final wing was finished in 1884. The building's purpose has changed much over the years and it has been altered many times in its history.

Construction

The construction of Anderson Hall began in 1877 with an appropriation of $12,500 by the Kansas legislature for its north wing. Excavation began in March 1878 and the building was initially occupied a year later in 1879. The building initially housed classrooms for

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drawing Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more mod ...

, mathematics, and practical

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

. It also housed the president's office, and the library from 1879 until 1894. In 1880, the Kansas legislature made a new appropriation of $30,000 to build the central structure including the tower. The north wing of the building was also retrofitted at this time to make this building the first on campus to be equipped with steam heating. A

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics date ...

was also embedded in the new foundation, which included some campus records, commencement speech transcripts, some copies of the school newspaper (''The Industrialist''), and other documents. A story in the newspaper in the June 4, 1981, issue stated, "incased in solid masonry, it will remain until resurrected by some curious antiquary, a thousand years hence." The new central section contained a new office for the president, a fire-proof vault (under which the time capsule was buried), the main hall, and in the back (west) of the central section was the chapel. The main hall featured a large dome-like stained glass window at the top. The chapel had a sloped floor with 16-tiers of wooden folding chairs. Anderson Hall 1912

The south wing began construction in 1883 with an appropriation of $20,000 by the state legislature. It was completed in 1884. Two east facing porches were also added to the front of the building between the central section and the ends of the north and south wings at this time. The new wing featured a model kitchen and dairy, a sewing room, the Lady Superintendent's office, study rooms, and classrooms.

Remodeling

Here is a timeline illustrating modifications that have been made to Anderson Hall since its initial construction. * 1887 - The chapel was extended and the attic of the building was finished. * 1892 - The archway was opened from the secretary's office to the main hall. * 1893 - A hall well on the second floor was closed. * 1896 - A cement floor was added to the basement hall. * 1897 - The president's office was moved to the south side of the main hall. * 1903 - The porches were rebuilt and painted. * 1904 - The literary society room was converted into four offices. * 1908 - The chapel was split to make room for more architecture classrooms. * 1919 - A canteen and barbershop were installed into the basement. * 1920 - The chapel was turned into a recreation center. * 1924 - The canteen and barbershop closed. * 1933 - The east wall of the building was repaired from moisture damage caused by vines. * 1939 - An office for the dean of women was added. * 1945 - The wooden porches were converted into office space. * 1961 - The east wall of the south wing was reinforced with steel pipes for a time and then removed when the wall was rebuilt. * 1965 - An electric 98-bell

was installed in the tower as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Ralf Hockins of

Arrington Arrington may refer to: Places *Arrington, Cambridgeshire, a village in England * Arrington, Kansas *Arrington, Virginia * Arrington Township, Wayne County, Illinois *Arrington, Tennessee *Arrington Ice Arena, arena on the campus of Adrian Colleg ...

. * 1989 - The central tower of Anderson was repaired. * 1993 - On August 20, the tower was struck by lightning causing $1.25 million in damage to the building.

Current uses

This building now contains many of the administrative offices for

. This includes the office of the president, some of the vice presidents and deans, the provost's office, and several offices related to legal, public relations, human resources, and student administration.

Sources

External links