Rockland Community College - Campus

Campus

Located on the crest of a sloping rise in a former farm community known as Mechanicsville, renamed Viola when a post office was established in 1882, the original property included:

• A wooden barn that was converted into a theater and assembly room in the second semester.
• Fields leased to local farmers that yielded tomatoes and cabbage. The college later acquired 150 acres (0.6 km2) of farmland—100 to the south from the Hurschle Brothers Farm, and 50 to the west from the Springsteen Farm—for its current 175-acre (0.7 km2) campus. The barn was used for registration, physical education classes, sports team practices, large classes and final exams, dance classes, student-faculty talent shows, worship services, films, guest lecture series, concert series, even war protest rallies. It also served as the College Barn Theater. The Barn burned in January 1979; in 1983 it was replaced by the Cultural Arts Center.
• A "potter’s field" cemetery, the burial grounds for many of the Almshouse residents. Shortly after the college was founded, the county deeded a tract of land in the northern section for establishing a veterans' cemetery, which remains today.
• A small square building with barred windows that served as the first Rockland County jail, later the Ramapo town police headquarters, and still later a police radio station. It was converted into offices and men’s locker rooms for the physical education program in the second semester.
• A narrow, tree-lined country lane known as Almshouse Road, which became an interior access road when the current College Road was built.
• The three-story, colonial design Almshouse. In front of the Almshouse is a wooden gazebo that still stands.

The current campus evolved with these milestones:

• 1959 – Almshouse – Daniel T Brucker Hall.
• 1964 – Fall semester opening of the Academic I.
• 1972 – Academic II.
• 1972 – Physical Education Building.
• 1972 – The Student Union.
• 1972 – Utility Plant.
• 1973 – Amphitheater.
• 1973 – Library.
  • The library's collection contains over 120,000 books, more than 23,000 current periodical titles, and approximately 3,000 audio-visual items, all in diverse formats and the college's rapidly growing electronic resources cover all the disciplines offered at Rockland Community College.
• 1974 – Eugene Levy Fieldhouse – Athletic facility. This 2-acre (8,100 m2), 90,000 sq ft (8,000 m2) indoor multi-purpose facility with synthetic athletic surface is considered the largest of its type in the northeast.
  • Most Physical Education classes are held in the Fieldhouse that includes a regulation basketball court, four indoor tennis courts, volleyball courts, indoor track and other teaching areas within the arena. Also within the complex is four squash courts (that are used for racquetball), an Olympic sized pool, two gyms for aerobic activities, a weight room and an athletic training room.
  • The department also utilizes outdoor facilities that includes a lighted baseball stadium, six Outdoor Tennis Courts, two soccer fields anoval track and a softball field.
  • Bowling is held at three different bowlings alleys namely New City Bowling Lanes, Pearl River Lanes and Haverstraw Lanes. Golf is held at Spook Rock Golf Course.
  • The fieldhouse is also used as a community building for showcase trade shows, concerts, graduations, and sporting events.

• 1983 – Cultural Arts Center. Site of the Inauguration of the first Rockland County Executive John T. Grant on January 1, 1986.
• 1987 – Spring Valley Extension Center opens
• 1993 – Vehicle Maintenance Facility.
• 2004 – Groundbreaking of 103,000 square feet (9,600 m2) Technology Center.
• 2006 – Grand opening of new Haverstraw Extension Center
• 2006 – Student Union renovated.
• 2006 – Grand opening of new Technology Center – Rockland’s first LEED certified "Green Building".
• 2007 – Rockland County Department of Transportation increased and enhanced all bus service to the college.
• 2008 – Theresa Morahan Simmons Center for Children and Families – Named in memory of Senator Thomas Morahan's daughter, a dedicated first-grade teacher who taught seven years at Richard P. Connor Elementary School in Suffern. Groundbreaking for new 7,000 square feet (700 m2) center took place on July 27, 2008.
• 2009 – Grand Opening Theresa Morahan Simmons Center for Children and Families – June 14, 2009 – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. In attendance; The Morahan family, representatives from the five Rockland townships, school administrators, staff members, volunteers and most important Children and Families.
• 2011 – Rockland Community College received the 2011 Rockland Business Association’s (RBA) Green Council Award in the Government/Education category at the RBA luncheon on October 20, 2011 at the Paramount Country Club in New City.