Mansion To College by Samuel A. King

MANSION TO COLLEGE

An Historical Sketch of the DuBois Center

Written by Samuel A. King

            It was a happy day inn February, 1938, when the faculty and students of the Penn State Center moved into their new classrooms in the remodeled DuBois mansion.  For three years the junior college had struggled along in the cramped quarters of the Hubert Street School.  But through the generosity of the five heirs of John E. and Willie G. DuBois, the old homestead on Fifth Street was leased without charge to the Pennsylvania State College, and with the sole restriction that the property must be used for educational purposes.  Along with the building, the college also acquired one of the stables, a large part of the private collection of books and a little more than four acres of land.  With this new “plant,” the Center was able considerably to expand its enrollment and to enlarge its two-year curricula.  Before long DuBois gained the reputation of being the most beautiful and best equipped of the four undergraduate centers in operation, and soon attracted students from such distant points as Puerto Rico and Brazil.

            The original work of restoration and conversion was performed by the WPA.  As the only surviving members of the staff from that day 14 years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Young fondly recall the problems that had to be met before the college could be moved into the building.  Having been so long vacant, the mansion had fallen victim to vandalism and decay.  Windows were broken, stairways rotten, doors off their hinges, and the furniture in a state of ruin.  Neighborhood boys had broken into the wine cellar, by means of crowbar and pick, and pilfered an expensive stock of pre-prohibition beverages that had been stored there after the bar in the DuBois House was closed.

Building Renovated

            Around the building the shrubbery had grown rampant for years until the tangle of limbs and leaves almost concealed the building.  Because of its bad condition, the arched porch over the front terrace was removed together with the porte-cochere on the east side where the carriages once discharged their passengers.  A new heating system had to be installed, partitions changed, floors re-laid and the interior was painted.  This work was performed during the fall and winter of 1937-38.

            By the time the first classes were held for the Spring Semester, in 1938, the old mansion had begun to resume its former air of dignity.  John DuBois, the namesake of this city and the pioneer lumberman who died in 1886, must have felt proud from his resting place atop monument hill as he spiritually watched the bustle of campus activities.  For a new life prevailed the Tudor manor.  Built in 1873 or 1874, the west part of the building had been the rather plain dwelling of John DuBois until the property passed to his nephew, John E. DuBois.

Remodeling

            Following the marriage of the latter in 1897, a far-reaching scheme of remodeling was undertaken - - - the structure was more than doubled in size; half-timbered, finials and cinquefoils were applied to the exterior; lancet and casement windows were introduced, and a baronial chimney that is a monument of brickwork was reared on the east wall.  Apparently the transformation was completed in 1903 because that date appears over the fireplace in the main hallway together with the DuBois coat-of-arms and motto:  “Honestas est optena politia.”

Adaptable To College

            It is strange that the Tudor manor, with its eccentric ground plan and whimsical interior design, would have proved so adaptable for college purposes.  The Japanese room, for example, was transformed into the office of the Administrative Head, Edwin T.  Zoller.  A business trip to Tokyo by Mr. DuBois and his subsequent collection of Japanese curios was the reason for this touch of the Orient.  Amid the clutter of a modern business office, the coiled dragon on the fireplace, the carved teak molding, the cabineted mantelpiece and the rice paper ceiling survived as evidence of the original room.

            Of indispensible usefulness to the student body for assembly programs and dances was the renovated ballroom with its French tapestries, hand-carved oak woodwork and parquet floor.  Because the pipe organ was beyond repair, the WPA architect removed it and constructed a stage where the conservatory had been.  Hon. John E. DuBois, Jr. remembers the conservatory especially because he liked to play around the fountain with its pool of fish and banks of living plants and flowers.  In the music closet, where the music rolls for the organ were stored, the workmen built a snack bar for college parties.  The balcony, it might be mentioned, has always provided a secluded point of observation for activities in the auditorium, and once was used surrep0titiously by the DuBois children to glimpse the gaiety of their parent’s parties and balls.

The old library, with its glassed shelves and ceiling cornice in the Grecian style, was considered too small for educational purposes and was enlarged by building shelves along the walls of the adjoining banqueting room.  Dozens of expensively bound volumes of Balzac, Ruskin, Cooper, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Parkman bore the DuBois nameplate.  A piece of John Roger’s statuary, “Coming to the Parson,” recalled the charm of bygone days, and a portrait of John E. DuBois, who has been aptly described as the “Philanthropist, pioneer lumber king and benefactor of all DuBois,” smiled from the fireplace.

            In the rear of the building, the college cafeteria was originally established in the mansion kitchen, and the walk-in refrigerator provided working space for Mrs. Young to sell sandwiches, candy and soft drinks.  Members of the faculty worked evenings and on weekends to wainscot and paint this room.

Fond Memories

            For the five DuBois children (John, Sarah, David, Louis and Caroline) the fondest memories are attached to the nursery upstairs which was made into the art studio.  A book entitled “Old Manny Lullaby Songs,” written by Gertrude Manly Jones, furnishes us a peek into the nursery because it is illustrated with photographs of baby John and his Colored nurse, “Manny Frog.”  At one time the nursery staff consisted of another colored nurse, “Mammy Biddy,” the French Governess Victoria and a tutor.  As a modern art studio, the room now appears disarrayed with its assortment of stools, easels, plaster casts and cabinets.  Through the efforts of Edwin Zoller, and later Merle Campbell and George Zoretich, exhibitions were frequently held in this room, and many DuBois adults have taken night classes here.

            For classroom space, the former bedrooms were altered by adding chairs and blackboards.  Nearly every room had a fireplace; no two being alike.  The upstairs dining room, served by a dumb waiter in the hall, became the mathematics room.  The guest bedroom in the front, decorated in bird’s eye maple and coral striped satin, was converted into f faculty office.  The first shower bath in DuBois, a frightening contraption of nozzles and pipes, is still in working order in the tile bathroom adjourning this office.

Original Donald Duck

            The linen room, a tiny windowed cubicle in the upstairs hall, was at first used as a book store, but in more recent times is occupied by a short-wave transmitter belonging to the Radio Club.  Many of the original cut-glass French chandeliers are still in service throughout the halls, but more modern lighting has been installed elsewhere.  Of special interest to many visitors are the semi-circular walls and curved oak doors in the east wing - - - evidence of craftsmanship that has virtually vanished in this region.  Shortly after the college took possession, the students obtained from Walt Disney an original drawing of Donald Duck which they framed as their mascot and it hangs, slightly stained by smoke, on the front stairway.

            On the third floor, in the billiard room, was located the original drafting room although the Air Corps has since preempted this place.  Here Melville Davidson Post once preformed calisthenics with Indian clubs, and the boys were required to do exercises from physical culture charges on the wall.  It will be remembered by the older residents of this city that Mrs. Post was a sister of Mrs. DuBois, and that her husband was a popular short-story writer during the early years of the century.  Two much bedraggled illustrations for one of his stories, “No Defense,” which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1910, are still hiding in a clothes closet.

“Mystery” Room 

            The co-eds, under the guidance of Mrs. Lucille Zoller, confiscated the Post’s sitting room as their lounge and organized a club to govern it.  For years the name “NMA” was a mystery to the male students until the secret was revealed to mean:  “No Men Allowed!”  Next door, the bedroom used by Mr. and Mrs. Post, was made into the college room, and soon Lowell Boorse filled the niches above the fireplace with statuettes of the great composers.  A log slab, thirty-eight inches in diameter, was found in a forgotten recess lettered with the information:  “Last tree cut on John E. DuBois tract, February 1901.”

Air Force Cadets

            In the upper stories of the mansion, relegated in yesteryears to two maids and a cook, were located offices and the headquarters of the various student publications, one of which derived its name, “The Garret,” from the location.  Today, this section is occupied by Capt. Alfred Pelke in charge of the Air Corps Cadets.

            The technical students, in 1938 as in later years, spent most of their time in the chemistry laboratory that was built in the old stable.  Nothing remains to bear witness of the past when pacers and trotters, well-known on the Grand Circuit, stamped in their stalls.  A careful inspection of the modern laboratory and photographic darkroom will neither recall the reknown Jennie Lind, her foal Jennie Direct and the celebrated Rosebud, nor the staff of hostlers and grooms under the supervision of Harry Whitmarsh and including Ed Mix, Hooker Wilson, Homer Edner and Jack Edner.  The Stanley Steamer and the Red Rambler are gone, and in their place are aproned students toiling over fuming retorts and racks of test tubes.

            Eight years later, in 1946, when it became obvious that a large number of veterans would go to college, the DuBois Educational Foundation headed by Pat Swift decided to enlarge the science building by adding a drawing lab and a physics lab.  This new wing, which cost slightly more than $8,000, was financed entirely by the citizens of this community through a fund-raising campaign and private contributions.

            During the high tide of veteran enrollment in the four years after the war, while Merle E. Campbell was Administrative Head, the original facilities of the Center were rapidly being overcrowded.

            To meet these new demands, two additional buildings were acquired.  The first, called the “Field House,” was erected of concrete blocks on the rear of the premises in 1947, partly for recreational reasons and partly for more classroom space.  Designed by the instructor of engineering, Roland Page, and constructed for a large part by faculty help, the Field House proved to be an economical investment of a little more than $4,000 of Student Union funds.  Fashioned around a large fireplace, the spacious men’s lounge is furnished with easy chairs, two ping pong tables, shuffle board decks and other recreational equipment.  A piano and television set were obtained by the students in later years.

Sports Facilities

            Outside, two tennis courts a volley ball court, horseshoe pits, and a softball field provide places for exercise.  Not much of the formal garden remains because the barberry hedge had to be uprooted as a result of old age, and the pool was filled in after repeated efforts to stop the leaks had failed.  However, the sleeping lions, the free-standing Triton, all of which are hand carved Italian marble, are still in their original positions.  The pergola and ornamental balustrade remain intact, but many of the ornamental shrubs and trees suffered badly from the ice storm of 1950.

            In 1948, the college purchased the former residence of Frank Bentley from Sarah and Caroline DuBois.  His spacious home on the corner of Second Avenue and College Place was remodeled at the expense of the Pennsylvania State College.  Up-to-date kitchen equipment was installed to provide meals for the student body, sleeping accommodations made for 12 boys, and a locker room and armory constructed in the basement.

            At the same time, extensive changes were made in the Main Building.  A new entrance was made into the building, so tastefully accomplished that few would recognize the change today, and the old dining room was divided by a hall to create administrative offices and additional library space.  In the rear of the building, an infirmary was set up and the services of a registered nurse, Mrs. Margaret Nelson, were obtained.  Of special benefit to the students was the relocation of the book store to a downstairs location in the rear.  During the summer, Eugene Young and Willard Grubbs enclosed the back porch to serve as a storage place for supplies.

Gets Meadow Land

            Desiring extra space for a football field and a future gymnasium, the DuBois Foundation petitioned the City Council for a grant of land.  In a deed dated January 1, 1950, the Council gave the Pennsylvania State College 21 acres in the meadows for recreational purposes.

            The most recent changes in the college mansion were caused by the fire damage of January 16, 1952.  Because of the speedy arrival of the firemen and their careful methods of extinguishing the blaze, property loss was largely confined to the auditorium and one class room.  In repairing the destruction, Donald Hiller, Administrative Head, carefully sought to compromise the style of the past and the needs of the present.  He recognized the futility of restoring the scorched and cracked ornamental ceiling in the auditorium and the blackened tapestries on the walls.  But he also realized the importance of preserving the parquet floor and of procuring antique light fixtures.  Probably not since the days when the DuBois family lived here has the mansion looked so clean and bright as it does now because the walls were all repainted to cover the smoke stains.

            Today, the plant and equipment of the DuBois Center is conservatively valued at $350,000.  Visitors who are welcome six days a week will be pleased to find some of the original French tapestries in the main hallway.  They will be delighted by the majesty of the grand staircase, the massive carved newels and oaken traceries, and if they should examine the bronze cherubs on the auditorium and irons they might reflect that these unclothed children have silently watched a long pageant of time.

            For time has changed the red slated manor of the DuBois Center, yet there still remains beneath the gloss and varnish a dull warmth of a bygone day, when statesmen like William Jennings Bryan visited here and Tom Mix played as a boy in the stables.  The Center is a happy blending of the old and new in DuBois - - - an institution of transition between youth and adulthood, between what was and what will be.  For to the DuBois Center is found the glory of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow.

NOTE:     

           Found in the Samuel A. King files, in the archives of the DuBois Area Historical Society is this interesting article by Professor King describing the Mansion as it existed at the time of its transformation to a college class room in 1938.  Although photos of the interior of the Mansion seem non existent, Professor King’s description gives us a vicarious picture of its beauty in this article that appeared in the DuBois Courier Express on April 22^nd, 23^rd and 29^th in 1952.   The Historical Society and the DuBois area are ever grateful for the contributions of Professor King in preserving in his writings the history of the DuBois area.  A tribute to Professor King appears elsewhere on this website.  Also the Society has set aside a room in its Museum where his memorabilia is stored and exhibited.

                                             By:  Evo G. Facchine, Historical Society Founder 1982

                                                                    President 2002-2011