Massasoit Hall
On November 26th, 1956, a proposal for a new men’s dormitory was submitted to the trustees. The dormitory was the first of a tri-pod of Resident Halls built between 1955 and 1960. A loan of $450,000 was secured in 1957, and in the fall of 1958 construction began.
The new dormitory was completed and opened for residents in September 1959. The dormitory remained undedicated and simply known as “South Hall” because of its location just south of Alumni Hall. The Springfield College Student said; “South Hall is nice- even luxurious- and as the general consensus has it, the biggest step Springfield College has made since the recent addition of the Beveridge Center.” Students said the furniture was modern and the new rooms “look almost too much like home” (October 2 1959).
On April 22nd, 1961, the Hall was to be named Dr. Allen Reed Hall, but on June 10th 1961, the college decided that the last dorm in the cultivation of this tri-pod should be named after the College’s founder, and so it was decided that South Hall be named Massasoit Hall, after the lake that it sits on.
Massasoit Hall originally functioned as an all-male dormitory, but in 1969 it was the first dormitory to change from a single sex hall to a co-educational dormitory. Separate floors were designated for men and women. Today, though students might not say that it “looks too much like home,” it houses all freshmen students, feeling and becoming like their home throughout the year. Massasoit retains its new and modern spirit with the many new first years residing in it each fall.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
This collection documents the planning, construction, and completion of Massasoit Hall. The collection includes general information, floor plans and newspaper articles regarding the dormitory’s construction. Visual images of the dormitory include construction photographs, including a photograph of Springfield College Alum Thomas Waddell, class of 1959, inspecting an unfinished room, undated exterior photographs of the front, and rear-views of the completed dormitory. In addition there is a proposed drawing of Massasoit Hall signed by Valentino, which looks to have been part of the original Architect sketches of the building.
