Building
The New York State Drill Hall was designed by the official State Architect of New York, Lewis Pilcher. It was built to provide military instruction to Cornell students, as required by Cornell's status as a land-grant institution. Its drill shed originally contained 362 x 228 feet of open floor space, large enough to accommodate 1,000 men. The building is made of local limestone with double trusses spaced 40 feet apart to support the roof. TheHistory
It was built in 1914 and 1915 and was originally designed as a drill hall for the Department of Military Science. Upon its completion it was often referred to as the "New Armory", as opposed to the Old Armory, a building on the now Engineering Quadrangle that has since been demolished and replaced by Hollister Hall. In January 1940, it was named for Col. Frank A. Barton, Class of 1891. Colonel Barton was one of the first two Cornell students to receive an army commission in Cornell's Military Science Program, and was the first ROTC commandant at Cornell from 1904 to 1908. During World War I, Barton Hall functioned as an airplane hangar and it served the ROTC as an armory during World War II. Barton Hall was well known to all Cornellians. In the days prior to online course registration, each student would come to Barton Hall at the start of the semester to register for classes. This process would involve placing punched cards into bins for each class positioned on tables throughout the hall. Student organizations would also recruit members at these events. In the first part of the 20th century, "drill" was mandatory for all male students, and it would be conducted in Barton Hall. Also, until 1974, graduation was conducted in Barton Hall, until it was moved outdoors to Schoellkopf Field. For many years, it also hosted graduation ceremonies for Ithaca High School. Barton Hall was home to Cornell Basketball between 1919 and 1990 when the new field house, later named Bartels Hall, was completed. In 1995, Barton received another major change with the construction of the H. Hunt Bradley Track Center under the south bleachers. The center includes a Hall of Fame/meeting room/study facility for track, an office, a library and a weight room. For many decades, a small room in Barton served as the home of the Cornell Big Red Marching Band and the Cornell Big Red Pep Band. The cramped space was lacking in ventilation and instrument storage space, and the bands were relocated to the purpose-built Fischell Band Center in 2013.Occupations and protests
In the Spring of 1969 members of the Afro-American Society (AAS) occupied Willard Straight Hall, the Cornell Student Union, in protest against judicial sanctions against several black students and to demand a black studies program. Two days after the students left Willard Straight Hall, a Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) meeting became a "student takeover of Barton Hall" and the Barton Hall Community was formed. On May 11, 1972, Barton Hall was again the site of anti-war protests, and one protester threw a rock through a window. The rock thrower was mistakenly identified as physics major James R. Bean, who was later suspended and placed on trial for first degree riot, a class E felony. Bean was acquitted after a four-day trial. Before the end of the trial, the District Attorney subpoenaed the defense witnesses to appear before the grand jury to further investigate the protest. The Bean trial was a high point in political tensions between the town and the campus and marked an end to efforts to prosecute anti-war protesters off-campus.ROTC training
For many years, Barton Hall had a non-operational deck gun used in Navy ROTC Training which was fenced off from the general public. On May 1, 1969, as a protest against theConcerts
Barton Hall also serves as a concert venue for the Cornell Campus, with concerts produced by the Cornell Concert Commission. It has hosted acts such asRenovation
In 2009–2011, Barton Hall underwent an $8 million renovation, including structural repairs, work on the gutters and masonry, and replacement of the roof and windows.Current uses
Barton Hall now contains a 200 m track, basketball courts, the Hart Memorial Library, and the Wortham Museum. After the opening of Newman Arena, the building was remodeled into a premier indoor track facility. The Recaflex track features eight 42-inch lanes, one of the few indoor 200-meter tracks in the country with eight such lanes. Barton also contains a throwing cage with a cement circle and crusher dust landing sector surrounded by a high chain link fence. The interior of the track has a Recaflex runway for the pole vault, two long and triple jump pits and multiple high jump areas. The track itself has a raised aluminum curb and a common finish line. Barton Hall is also home to the three ROTC Detachments on campus: Army, Navy, and Air Force. Each branch has a dedicated corner of the building where classes are held in their respective fields. Lead labs and drill labs also occur in Barton Hall whether on the track floor or within the detachment buildings themselves.References
{{Authority control College basketball venues in New York (state) Indoor track and field venues in New York (state) College indoor track and field venues in the United States Defunct college basketball venues in the United States Cornell Big Red sports venues Cornell Big Red basketball 1915 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1915 Drill halls