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506 EMERSON ST

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Property Record

506 EMERSON ST

Historic Name:
ELISHA D. SMITH GYMNASIUM

Other Name:
SMITH BUILDING / STUDENT UNION

Reference Number:
58046

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Property Location

Location (Address)

506 EMERSON ST

County

Rock

City/Village

Beloit

Township

Unincorporated community

Town

Range

Direction

Section

Quarter Section

Quarter Quarter Section

Property Features

Year Built

1903

Additions

Survey Date

1981

Historic Use

recreational building/gymnasium

Architectural Style

Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival

Structural System

Wall Material

Brick

Architect

Patton And Miller

Other Buildings On Site

Demolished

No

Demolished Date

Additional Comments

Two story plus basement red brick structure with hipped, red tile roof in a Georgian Revival mode, featuring an overscaled frieze and overhanging eaves and exceptionally large windows (probably enlarged); pedimented entrance. Patton Miller predecessor firms also designed three other Beloit College buildings (c.f.): Eaton Chapel (1891-1892) and Emerson Hall (1897-1898; NRHP, 1979), and the Pettibone World Affairs Center (Carnegie Library, 1903-1905). Replacing the wooden gymnasium built in the 1870s, the Smith gym served as the college gymnasium, indoor track, swimming pool, and basketball court until the construction of the college fieldhouse in the later 1940s and the addition of the cage, indoor track and pool thereafter (1950s). The gymnasium was designed by the architectural firm of Patton and Miller of Chicago, and the building was formally opened on Tuesday, June 21, 1904. Initially restricted to men's sports, it was eventually used by the college women as well. With the addition to the fieldhouse of the pool and indoor track, the building was converted into a student union (which function it still serves), the pool filled with debris, and in its place now stands the campus bookstore. The campus mailroom was installed in the basement of the building sometime in the 1960s, and is still there. There are offices at the north and south balconies of the second floor, offices for student organizations, for the Credit Union, the campus newspaper, and for the office of Personnel matters.

Bibliographic References

(A) Historical SItes and Points of Interest in Rock County, Wisconsin, Rock County Tourism Council, 5/1994. (B) Robert H. Irrmann, "Data on Beloit College Vuildings," on file at RCHS Archives. (C) National Register of Historic Places, Nomination form, 1979, Emerson Hall.

National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings

National/State Register Listing Name

Near East Side Historic District

National Register Listing Date

Jan 07, 1983

State Register Listing Date

Jan 01, 1989

Contributing

Yes

recreational building/gymnasium Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival

Rock
County

Beloit
Community

1900-1909
Decade

National and State Register Listing

Unique ID
HI58046

Architecture & History Inventory

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Review and Compliance Rehabilitation Tax Credits State Archaeologist State & National Registers of Historic Places Wisconsin Historic Preservation Database

Attribution

For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier.

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For bibliographic citations please consult the UW-Madison Libraries Citation Research Guide to ensure compliance with appropriate style guidelines.

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National or State Regi...

Beloit College campus

79000109

Located in Beloit, Rock County

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1741 STATE ST

238813

Located in La Crosse, La Crosse County

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Postcards

Gymnasium

January 12, 1911

Text from front reads: "Gymnasium, Beloit College, Beloit, Wis." The brick Georgian Revival building was completed in 1903. It is now a student union.

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Property Record