But some alumni and professors are riled about the decision to tear down Patterson Place, which for years housed the presidents of the former Western College for Women, a women’s university in Oxford from 1855 to 1974.
The building, which was erected in 1898, is currently a museum and serves as the home of the Western College’s Alumnae Association. The association reaches out to roughly 2,700 alumnae every year and hosts a gathering on the campus annually.
“It’s so unreal,” said retired Miami professor and Oxford resident Jerome Stanley. “There’s such disbelief. Who would ever imagine this would be done? It’s just as if it’s being ramrodded through without any discussion.”
Miami took over the Western College for Women campus, including Patterson Place, in 1974. The college then became the Western College Program until 2004, and that area of Miami’s campus is now known as Western Campus.
The Western College for Women is noted in history books for its role in the Civil Rights Movement. During the summer of 1964, the college was used as the training grounds for roughly 800 people who assisted in the civil rights initiative, the Mississippi Freedom Project.
“It’s a landmark of local history,” Curtis Ellison, a part-time administrator at Miami University Hamilton and a former dean for the Western College Program, said of Patterson Place. The building is listed as part of a historical district on the National Register of Historic Places.
Last week, the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, a nonprofit in Columbus, sent a letter to the Miami University Board of Trustees urging college officials to reconsider the demolition. Several concerned Oxford residents have reached out to the office, said Amanda Schraner Terrell, the agency’s director.
“We encourage the Miami administration to seek alternatives…” Schraner Terrell wrote in her two-page letter. She also encouraged the university to seek more input from the Oxford and Miami community.
In a statement Monday, Miami University’s Vice President of Finance David Creamer said the university has considered alternatives — such as leasing off-campus apartments to house students instead of tearing down Patterson Place and building new — but that option wouldn’t create a “high-quality student residential experience,” he said in the memo. Miami, which requires both first-year and sophomore students to live on campus, is anticipating a housing shortage of 300 beds in coming years.
Besides, Patterson Place also needs roughly $1 million to $2 million in repairs, Creamer said in an email to the Journal-News. The new dorm will be named after Patterson Place once it is constructed, he added.
Mary Lyon Hall, another building once used by Western College of Women’s students and professors, will also be deconstructed in coming years. Mary Lyon is currently used as a co-ed dorm for students.
Contents of Patterson Place will be moved into a new historic building on campus called the Stillman-Kelley Studio, Creamer said. The move is expected to occur in November, said Mackenzie Rice, the director for the Western College of Women Alumnae Association.
Trustees for the alumnae association were initially upset about the demolition but warmed up to the idea after hearing contents from the museum would be relocated, Rice said.
“They’re at a place now where they understand and respect the decision,” Rice said.
Miami University trustees still need to approve the plan, which will come before the board in June.
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