1912
New Mexico and Arizona were admitted as the 47th and 48th states. IT In March, the Girl
Guides, later called the Girl Scouts, were organized. In April, the "unsinkable" Titanic struck
an iceberg and sank with a loss of 1,595 lives. Woodrow Wilson was elected president by 49.3
percent of the votes. The first vitamins, A and B, were discovered. American chemist Glenn
Seaborg discovered transuranium elements for nuclear energy. Elihu Root won the Nobel
Peace Prize. New football rules became effective: six instead of five points for a touchdown,
four downs instead of three, field shortened from 110 yards to 100, and kickoff line moved from
midfield to the 40-yard line. The Boston Red Sox beat the NY Giants to win the World Series in
the seventh game.
• New Gymnasium • Starting Salaries
• Class Statistics • Conditional Exam
• Curriculum
New Gymnasium.
The gymnasium was completed in the spring and physical education
became a required course in the fall. Professor Blood of Potsdam Normal became basketball
coach. The Clarkson sisters had bought and donated to Clarkson property on Pierrepont Avenue
for the gymnasium site. In May 1911 the contract was signed, and at 4:00 p.m. on the day
before graduation the cornerstone was laid. The Cushing Band of Potsdam led a gala procession
of the faculty, students, Trustees, alumni, the citizens' committee, and guests to the site.
Into the cornerstone was placed a lead box, soldered closed on the spot, containing
original historical documents and programs from Tech, copies of recent issues of the Clarkson
Bulletin, a Handbook, photographs and book views of Clarkson, the Clarkson pennant and
mounted seal, United States coins and postage stamps of current issue, and copies of issues of
the local papers—the Courier-Freeman and the Herald-Recorder. The box was then tied in
ribbons of old gold and green by Miss Elizabeth Aldrich, daughter of the director of the School,
sealed by her father, William Sleeper Aldrich, and then set into the stone. It was one of
Aldrich's last actions as Director. At the ceremonies which followed, the principal of the
Normal School spoke for the citizens of Potsdam who had raised $3,000 for the gym.
First steps for this building had been taken earlier when on Monday, October 8, 1906,
the Clarkson Assembly first discussed the need for a gymnasium. The following morning, the
initial actions for the addition of a gymnasium to the campus were taken. At a mass meeting of
the students called by the Student Decennial Committee, pledges of $1,500 toward the building
of the new gymnasium were turned in. Additional money was to be raised by publishing and
selling copies of the Decennial Songs, and by fund raising at the first reception and ball in
commemoration of the school's founding at the Decennial Celebration on November 30, 1906.
Misses Elizabeth, Frederica, and Annie Clarkson were honored guests at the ball.
Further steps toward the building of this gym were taken that same day when the
Clarkson Assembly voted to hire Mr. Edgar Josslyn of New York City—the same architect who
designed Old Main—to prepare plans, estimates, and specifications for the new building. His
plans were exhibited on the walls of the Chapel during the ceremonies of unfurling the new
banner on Founder's Day, November 30.
