BrewsterConnections - Brewster Academy

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Campus circa 1980. Note the library, and the tennis courts but the absence of the Wilson Center,
the Pinckney Boathouse, the dorms of Mason Court, and Brown Field.
The 1980s Brought a New Look and
Feel to Campus Students React to Changes
By Bob and Shirley Richardson
As we completed the manuscript for The Brewster Story, we were
frustrated when the final format of the book required that we
trim the manuscript by more than 150 pages. Fortunately, an
unabridged copy of The Brewster Story manuscript soon will be included in
the Brewster Academy archives. Here, in “Writing Brewster’s History,” we
will share material that was omitted due to space limitations. In this issue
we report on the tremendous campus change and growth of the 1980s.
If there is one common experience that students of the 1980s lived
through, it was this observable fact: on campus there was earth-moving
equipment in constant motion; construction workers seemed to be a
permanent fixture across campus; new buildings were erected while others
were moved; and lawns disappeared to be replaced by new pathways.
The norm became ongoing confusion and change, and one was never quite
sure where a new path would lead and where an old path would end.
Headmaster Smith thoroughly understood this dilemma. While observing
the last few inches of snowfall from his office window one afternoon and
noting the various footpaths created by the students, he remarked, “When
it is time to build sidewalks, we will know exactly where they should be
placed for all we have to do is follow the students’ tracks in the snow.”
The Beginning of Major Changes
The addition of the first Kenison Library – as a separate building behind
the Academic Building – in 1978 was the hallmark of what was to come. In
just over a decade, significant improvements and additions were made to
the physical plant and campus, including:
• Enhancements to the main Academic Building to better accommodate
new academic programs and a new front entrance design
• Renovations to The Estabrook: a new bookstore and mail center
with individual student mailboxes; renovation of student and
faculty quarters on the top floor; expansion of the kitchen and
dining facilities; and an addition of a Student Center on the south
side of the building that greatly expanded student services;
• A new master plan for roadways and walkways was developed
and implemented;
• The construction of six new faculty/student residences within the
areas of what is now known as Lamb Court (Harris, Lamb, and
Vaughan houses) and Mason Court (Spencer, Mason, and Hughes
houses)
42 BrewsterConnections – Fall 2011