History
Academic Hall burned on 9 January 1892, leaving only the famous six columns that now stand in the center of Francis Quadrangle. The fire was ignited by an electric chandelier in the meeting room, the forerunner of Jesse Auditorium, during a debate.
The "New Academic Hall", just south of the columns, was completed in 1895 at a cost of $250,000. In 1922, the hall was renamed in honor of retiring University president, Richard Henry Jesse.
In 1932, a tornado ripped through Columbia and caused significant damage to the building. In 1982, a severe storm damaged Jesse Hall, resulting in renovations that included a new ball and new slate on the dome, tempered windows, reinforced beams, and a new paint job. The renovations cost roughly $390,000 and were paid for by state funds. On April 23, 1991, an arson fire caused $350,000-$500,000 in damage to the building.
Read more about this topic: Jesse Hall
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)