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New York Military Academy Archives |
The
Vanished Buildings of New York Military Academy
Aerial view of the campus in 1933, looking northeast
In its 120-year history, it is no surprise that New York Military Academy has built, torn down, moved and renovated numerous buildings on its property, not to mention the loss of structures due to fire and the forces of nature. Because the property had been a summer resort for many years in the post-Civil War era, there were already many outbuildings on the grounds near the main hotel building. Over the years, as the academy continued to expand, several other parcels of land — some with buildings — were purchased: the former Clark property, for example, at the end of Faculty Row, the house now gone; and the parcel at the corner of Faculty Row and Academy Avenue by Dingley Hall, the old brick building there razed to make way for the 9W access road in the 1930's.
This online exhibit is an account of some of the vanished buildings of New York Military Academy. All the photographs are from the photographic collections in the Academy Archives.
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Standing just about where the present academic building stands, Jefferson Hall, the Academy's original building, was formerly the Glen Ridge House, a popular summer resort hotel in post-Civil War days when Cornwall was a bustling vacation destination, but the hotel had failed financially and had stood vacant for several years when Charles Jefferson Wright, the school's founder, purchased the property in 1889, renovated the building for school use (classrooms, dormitory rooms, staff quarters and dining room) and open for business on September 17, 1889. The wing at the right (known as Blake Hall), added in 1891, contained classrooms, a chapel, gymnasium and a 20-foot observatory with a revolving dome. Jefferson Hall burned to the ground in an early morning fire on January 10, 1910. This photo shows the old main building as it looked at the time of the fire. Storm King Mountain is just visible in the background. |
Jefferson
Hall
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Located on the edge of the quadrangle about where the chief of staff's house stands today, and at the bottom of the hill adjacent to the parade ground, the old barns and outbuildings served a variety of purposes. Some were used for cavalry stables until the present-day stables were constructed in 1916. The long, low building at the bottom of the hill in the photo, according to early accounts, was the school's first gymnasium in 1890. Later, the building became a science laboratory where the famous and eccentric Dr. Oliver Willis, professor of botany, chemistry and physics, presided. His irascible temper, his trusting simplicity, his chronic despair at the general worthlessness of "Young America" (These were the 1890's!) were long remembered by his students who conspired to make his life miserable. When the laboratory was moved to a new location about 1898, the building became a steam laundry until 1915 when the new service building was completed. Shortly after Troop D and the laundry moved to their new quarters, the old barns were torn down, hastened along by a major snowstorm in December 1915 which caused the roof of the old stables to collapse. This photograph, taken in the 1890's, is looking from the parade field towards the quadrangle. Bard Hall is just visible behind the trees at the right of the picture. Note the small round stone structure framed by the goal posts. That is what generations of cadets have known as the "powderhouse" and still stands on the hill overlooking the parade field. |
Old
Barns and Outbuildings
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Located at the north end of the quadrangle on the site now occupied by Scarborough Hall, the structure that became known as Bard Hall was originally a 14-room Victorian house (the section to the right of the front porch in the photo) dating back to the 1850's, and is referred to in early accounts as "The Cottage." When New York Military Academy first opened, Lieutenant Charles Braden used it to prepare candidates for the entrance exams to West Point and the Naval Academy. In 1895, a large gambrel-roof addition with classrooms and dormitory rooms was added to accommodate the academy's junior department previously located at Worrall Hall in Peekskill, NY, for cadets between the ages of eight and fourteen. Classrooms were located on the first floor to the left of the main entrance. With construction of Dingley Hall to replace it, Bard Hall was torn down in the fall of 1959. This photo shows Bard Hall as it looked after the stucco siding was put on in 1931. |
Bard
Hall
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One of the buildings constructed after the great fire of 1910, the gymnasium, 60 by 100 feet, was completed in 1911 at a cost of $14,000 and featured a suspended running track above the main floor and an indoor rifle range in the basement. An addition between the gym and Jones Barracks built in 1923, an armory, added in 1925, and a two-lane bowling alley were also part of the facility. Named Camp Gymnasium in 1944 in memory of Elisha K. Camp, a trustee of NYMA from 1910-1935, it was later renamed Hade Gymnasium in memory of Floyd R. Hade, Athletic Director from 1931 to 1947. On October 29, 1962, it was destroyed by fire, and replaced with Alumni Memorial Gymnasium located on Faculty Row. (The adjacent indoor swimming pool also burned in the fire but was reconstructed in 1965.) Pattillo Hall (the girls' dormitory), a rifle range, weight room and an outdoor patio now occupy the site of the former gym. |
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Built in 1895, the chapter house was originally located on the main campus, but in order to make room for the new buildings after the school burned down in 1910, it was moved to a new site behind the present-day Scarborough Hall and adjacent to the faculty apartment building. Tradition has it that it was the first scholastic fraternity house built in the United States. With the demise of all NYMA fraternities in 1962, it was torn down shortly thereafter. |
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Established in 1889 only months after the founding of the school, the Chi Sigma Chi (XEX) fraternity originally had a room in the old main building (Jefferson Hall) until it burned down in 1910, whereupon the fraternity purchased a cottage across the street from the parade ground next to the present Donaldson Lodge (the old AXE fraternity house). Finding it too small for their needs, they built a new fraternity house on the same location in 1919. After a series of fires in 1930, 1941 and on May 17, 1942, when the building was gutted, the second story was removed and the first floor renovated. No longer needed after the school fraternities were disbanded, the building, shown here in 1947, was finally demolished in August 1970. Only the steps leading up from the curb remain. |
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The laundry building, located on Faculty Row behind Jones Barracks and originally called the service building, was constructed in 1915, and contained a laundry, linen room and tailor shop on the first floor. The second floor consisted of 19 bedrooms for male employees, which in more recent years housed cadets in Headquarters Co. (the mess hall waiters) and was known as section nine. Once the tailor shop was moved and the laundry service contracted out about 1970, the building was used for storage for several years until it was finally demolished in 1998. A parking lot occupies the space now. |
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