HISTORY
continued. fro* peg* 6
twenty-four students were reg
istered. In the face of these
difficulties, the Hazleton Ndu
ucational Council made it pee-
Bible for the Center to con
tinue its collegiate work and
to serve as a hub of war
trailing aotivites.
In the post-war years,
the Hazleton Centered wit
nessed a need for education
'Malmo until that date
unkilown to the Center. The
end of the war and the return
of the veterans to the class
room eased the problem of low
enrollment, but, at the same
time, the Center was faced
with - this equally perplexing
problem: where to put the hun
dreds of students who were
clamoring for admission.
By mid-Semester of 1946
the G.I. influx began, and
the problem grew worse. To
accomodate the new students,
rooms of the A.D. Thomas Mo
mentary School, in the north
western section of Hazleton,
were used to augment facili
ties of the West Broad Street
School. However, the G.I.
en
rollment kept growing, and
more rooms were again needed.
At this time, rooms in the Wal
nut Street School, on the op
posite end of Hazleton from
the West Broad Street School,
were used to assist in the
accomodation of the 475 stu
dents, of whom 300 were Gl's.
By the end of 1947 the
facilities of the Hazleton
Center of the Pennsylvania •
State University were spread
over the entire city of Haz
leton. llpilities were be
coming antiquated and inade
quate. New, large, modern
buildings were needed to go
along with this huge post
war enrollment. The class
rooms had to be brought to
gether and placed in a perman
ent home. Several, sites were
to be inspected before a final
choice was made as to which
site would become the new home
of the Center. Among the sites
considered were Hazle Park, e
plot of land in West Hazleton
previously used as an amuse
ment park; an estate at the
corner of Vine and Diamond
Hie*acres Collegian, December 8, 1974 - NW Semen
Groundbreaking for the Library
Avenue in Hazleton; and the
Markle Estate, which was on
the picturesque crest of the
Conynghan Pass, three Hiles
vest of Hazleton.
. On Decembea 14, 1948, Eck
ley B. Markle offered his six
ty-six acre mountain estate to
the Education Council for pur.
obese. The Markle Estate vas
purchased, and the Hazleton Un
dergraduate Center was finally
located at its present site
overlooking the Complemmilal
ley.
The Main building of the
)brkle Estate, which now houses
the administrative offices,
classrooms, instructor's of.-
flees, the infirmary, and the
physical education office, was
built in the 1920 1 5. The ar
chitect was Mr. Eggar, founder
of the New York firm of Eggar
and Higgins.
The campus has now grown
to a sire that was probably
never even imagined in the wil
dest dreams of those far-sight
ed who first felt the need for
a campus in Hazleton. The Mem.
oriel Building, which now hous
es classrooms and faculty of
fices, was once the Markle
garage and the apartment's of
the estate staff. The South
Building, Which was once the
estate greenhouse, now con
tains a large classroom, Which
is also used for the Chorus
rehearsals. It was also ones
used as the R.O.T.C. head-
'motes on Gamins, as one
can readily tell by a look at
the huge map on Mr. Junpeter's
office wall. The present cus
todial residence was once the
butler's quartos's. The Student
Union Building, which was built
in 1958, at a cost of $200,000,
contains a cafeteria, a student
conference room, a student
lounge, a gum* room, the Stu
dent Government Association
office, and the Publications
Office, which publishes the
Nigbacres COLLEGIAN, the New
Literamr Magazine,
and the "Can I Help Ta?" news- -
letter.
The new buildings in
clude a Library with an ex»
tensive collection of books
and other informational Bours
es for students and faculty
members; a Book Store; a Class
room Building, which houses
most of the classrooms, the
Chemistry and Physics and Biol.-
logy Labs, the Computer Ter
minal, a huge lecture hall,
and a number of faculty offices;
a large and modern dormitory,
and an elegant dining hall.
And, within a few years, a new
physical education building
will be added to the excel
lence of the Hazleton Campus
of the Pennsylvania State lei
versity.
In 1958, by action of the
Board of Trustees, the Hazleton
Center was designated as the
Hazleton Campus of the Penn
sylvania State University. The
present student enrollmmite now
numbers over SOO students.
The administration of the
campus is now headed by Dr.
William David, who replaced
Prank Costos as director of
the campus in 1973.
History until 1964 taken from
"Our Thirty Years" printed by
the Belles-Lettres Society and
the Student Government Astro-