1955-56
Faculty Apartments
310,000
1956-58
Hill Dormitory
2,350,000
1956-60
Snell Hall
350,000
Total $5,695,000
Funding for this expansion came from large, generous gifts from such dedicated men as
Harry Lewis, Frank Burnap, Bertrand Snell, Bernard Peyton, Robert Clarkson; from private
corporations and businesses who recognized Clarkson's needs; and from generous alumni.
Clarkson Hall.
With the completion of the new Engineering-Sciences Laboratory building
downtown, later named Robert L. Clarkson Hall, the College could use its buildings fully, as
each was intended. Clarkson Hall's three floors, plus special purpose rooms in its basement,
brought into use 60,000 square-feet of usable space for laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls,
reading rooms, and offices, and thereby ended the use of post-war temporary classroom
buildings.
This new building allowed the mechanical engineering department to recombine its
facilities in its own building (Old Main) by using the space vacated by the electrical
engineering department as it moved into its new quarters on the second floor of Clarkson Hall.
Chemistry moved to the third floor, and civil and environmental engineering to the first floor.
Its new 300-seat auditorium served as a regular classroom and as an independent auditorium for
use during summers, recesses, and evenings for any educational group needing such a facility.
The total cost of the building was expected to be around $1,500,000.
Delta Upsilon.
Lambda Iota fraternity became Delta Upsilon on Saturday afternoon, March 18,
at a ceremony in the Presbyterian Church in which all active, alumni, and honorary members of
Lambda became members of Delta Upsilon. (See p. 332)
Fraternity Houses.
Zeta Nu purchased the home at 27 Main Street, known to many students as
Reynolds Hall, from Director of Student Affairs, William King, and his wife. Its 14 rooms, five
baths, two kitchens, sun porch, and large two-story garage served the fraternity well. Several
outstanding architectural features on the house included an impressive Victorian front, high
ceilings, handsome plaster moldings, marble fireplaces, wide-plank hardwood floors, and a
center hall with a winding staircase and curved wall.
Phi Delta, a newly formed local fraternity, rented Zeta Nu's previous residence at 74
Elm Street. Housing 20 members, this building's layout proved ideal for fraternity life. Its large
downstairs rooms served as ideal locale for vic parties, and living and dining areas, while the
upstairs was divided into study and bedrooms.
Thatcher Hall.
Even though in February 1961 Potsdam State dedicated a large dining hall to
his memory, Dr. Harvey Dexter Thatcher also had close connections with Clarkson, serving on
its Board of Trustees from 1896 until his death in 1925. Most famous as the inventor of the
milk bottle, Thatcher also invented the paper cap to seal and protect the contents of his milk
bottle, as well as 20 other inventions.
Management Simulation.
Clarkson became one of the first colleges in the United States to use
a simulation program in its undergraduate education.
Designed by Dean Lowell Herron, this program called Executive Action Simulation
combined systems analysis with interdisciplinary studies. Student participants were divided into
