10 SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY
Hi s t o r y o f Ca m p u s Pl a n Slippery Rock <strong>University</strong>, in Slippery Rock Township, Butler County, Pa., commemorates its founding in 1889 when it was accredited as a State of Pennsylvania normal school. This date represents less a beginning than a culmination. In 1887 ef<strong>for</strong>ts began to establish an academy, later a state normal school, in what was then Centerville, Pa. Later, the township, like the school, would be named after the Slippery Rock Creek. Initial fund raising led to the establishment of the Slippery Rock State Normal School Association early in 1888, followed by the acquisition of ten acres <strong>for</strong> a campus. A building committee was established <strong>and</strong> in March of 1888 architect S. W. Foulk of New Castle, Pa., was asked to prepare sketches <strong>for</strong> three buildings. His designs were accepted <strong>and</strong> a contractor was hired in May. 1 Foulk’s firm designed eight buildings <strong>for</strong> Slippery Rock between 1888 <strong>and</strong> 1906. Five are gone: North Hall, 1888-94, enlarged 1894, burned 1937; South Hall I <strong>and</strong> II, 1888-95, burned <strong>and</strong> rebuilt 1896, demolished 1962; <strong>and</strong> the Chapel I <strong>and</strong> II, 1888-1896, burned <strong>and</strong> rebuilt 1897, demolished 1971. 2 Three remain: Old Main (1891-93), West Hall (1902), <strong>and</strong> West Gymnasium (1906). Sidney Winfield Foulk (1848-1932) was born in Ohio, the son of a cabinet maker/carpenter. 3 The family moved to Western Pennsylvania in the 1850s. Nothing is known of Sidney’s architectural apprenticeship, but by 1879 he was a practicing “architect <strong>and</strong> builder” in Greenville, Pa. In 1883, he moved to New Castle. He was known as an accomplished architect of churches, YMCAs, elementary schools, <strong>and</strong> hotels. 4 Art historian Kurt Pitluga observes that Foulk’s buildings demonstrate “a personal style working within the freedom <strong>and</strong> relaxed framework of the popular Queen Anne <strong>and</strong> Richardsonian Romanesque styles, often fusing the two together to produce highly picturesque designs.” 5 Foulk’s sons, Frank <strong>and</strong> Ralph, apprenticed with him, <strong>and</strong> in 1899, Frank, who had studied at the Armour Institute in Chicago, became a partner <strong>and</strong> the firm became S. W. Foulk & Son. In 1907, Sidney retired <strong>and</strong> Frank took charge of the firm; Sidney <strong>and</strong> Ralph traveled to Cali<strong>for</strong>nia <strong>and</strong> Sidney settled in Long Beach where he died in 1932. 6 The three surviving Foulk buildings were designed <strong>and</strong> erected between 1891 <strong>and</strong> 1906 at the request of principal Albert B. Maltby, who served from 1890 to 1915. Old Main (1891-93) was the first. Watson states: Construction of the $75,000 structure began in 1891 <strong>and</strong> was ready <strong>for</strong> use in 1893. Trimmed in Ohio s<strong>and</strong>stone, this majestic red brick building, appropriately called Main Building, quickly became the center of life on the Slippery Rock campus. Dr. Maltby set up his administrative office on the first floor of this new structure. The library was located on the second floor with the gymnasium on the third. 7 “Foulk’s freewheeling designs always have distinguishing details. Here, the façade is a lively arrangement of abstract geometric volumes: a square tower emerges between two projecting bays, one polygonal <strong>and</strong> one circular, dramatically offsetting the cavernous void of the entrance below.” 8 Early in Dr. Maltby’s tenure “key acquisitions of l<strong>and</strong> were made which unified the campus <strong>and</strong> gave the school direct access from the heart of the campus to Main Street. The Long Walk which permitted easy access from the heart of the campus to Main Street, first constructed of plank boards, was later rebuilt of cement. Dr. Maltby, a civil engineer, did much of the surveying of the l<strong>and</strong> which the school acquired.” 9 In 1902 West Hall [now Rizza Hall], designed by Foulk’s elder son <strong>and</strong> partner, Frank H. Foulk (1874-1929), was completed at a cost of $27,000 to house the Model School <strong>and</strong> the Science Department 10 : “Constructed of yellow brick, it continues the Richardsonian Romanesque style with heavy stonework around the doors <strong>and</strong> windows.” 11 Sidney Foulk’s final building <strong>for</strong> Slippery Rock, West Gymnasium [now Stoner West], opened in 1906: “It is a slight departure from the Richardsonian Romanesque styling of the previous buildings. The gym uses a Classical vocabulary in the porticos on the north <strong>and</strong> west elevations, although the massing of the building remains Richardsonian.” 12 The Class of 1908 contributed a pair of stone lions to guard the entrance. 13 The initial building program at Slippery Rock unfolded during the institution’s first nineteen years of development <strong>and</strong> growth <strong>and</strong> the major campus buildings were the work of a single architectural <strong>PRESERVATION</strong> <strong>PLAN</strong> 11