Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection
Scope and Contents
The Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection includes text materials (correspondence, documents, ephemera, publications), images (illustrations, photographs), and architectural plans relating to buildings and grounds owned by, used by, or associated with Butler University, circa 1855–present.
These buildings and grounds were or are associated with one of Butler University’s historical—and present—campuses, including its first location at College Avenue on the near-north side of Indianapolis from circa 1855–1878 (13th Street and College Avenue), its second in the small town of Irvington just east of Indianapolis from 1878–1928 (approximately Emerson Avenue, Butler Avenue, and two railroads), and its current campus on the northwest side of Indianapolis (approximately Hampton Drive, Sunset Avenue, 52nd Street, and the Central Canal).
The materials in this collection were collected and compiled by the department of Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives at Butler University and include secondary and primary sources such as research files, correspondence on building construction and dedication planning, ephemera related to building ceremonies and events, building specification documents, preliminary campus plans and surveys, photographs and depictions of construction and changes to buildings over time, and select architectural plans.
This artificial collection is in an active state of processing: materials are actively being received and added into the collection, and this collection guide will be updated to reflect such additions. Revisions to this collection guide are to be expected in the near future. Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives holds materials that are currently a part of the collection but decided that the priority was to publish a collection guide with the majority of the original collection for research purposes. The main additions to be added to this collection guide include: oversized text materials; oversized photographs; negatives; and slides.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1855 - 2021
Creator
- Butler University (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The majority of the collection is open for research. Some restrictions are in place regarding specific materials as determined by the head of Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives (e.g. certain exterior and interior architectural plans and building specifications for buildings still in use by Butler University). Restrictions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Conditions Governing Use
Butler University owns the rights to materials and content published by and for Butler University and containing licensed and trademarked Butler University symbols and designs. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder. Please contact the head of Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives at Butler University for more information.
Historical Note
Butler University was founded in 1855 as North Western Christian University. Its first campus was located on the near-north side of Indianapolis near 13th Street and College Avenue and is historically known as the College Avenue campus. North Western Christian University resided on this campus from approximately 1855 to 1878. The primary buildings and grounds of the College Avenue Campus included:
- University Building; William Tinsley; 1855; Demolished: 1910
North Western Christian University moved to a new campus in the fall of 1875. The new campus was located in a recently incorporated town located east of Indianapolis: Irvington. This second campus was approximately bounded by Emerson Avenue, Butler Avenue, and two railroads. Shortly after moving, the University was renamed Butler University in honor of its major financial supporter and founder Ovid Butler in 1877. Butler University—also known as Butler College during this period—resided on this campus from approximately 1875 to 1928. The primary buildings and grounds of the Irvington Campus included:
- Main (Administration) Building; Edwin May; 1875; Demolished: March 1939
- Women’s Residence; John H. and/or Allen H. Stem; 1882; Demolished: July 1946
- Observatory; Charles Franklin Sparrell; 1889; Demolished: date unknown
- Burgess Hall; Thurtle, Fleming, and Company; 1889; Demolished: circa 1938
- Power Plant and Gymnasium; John G. Thurtle; 1892; Demolished: circa 1938
- Irwin Field; circa 1905; Demolished: date unknown
- Bona Thompson Memorial Library; Jesse Johnson of Dupont and Johnson; 1904; Survives
In 1928, after years of fundraising and planning, Butler University officially moved to its third—and present—campus located on the northwest side of Indianapolis. The site had previously been Fairview Park, a trolley park owned by Indianapolis Street Railway Company. Today, the Fairview Campus is approximately bounded by Hampton Drive, Sunset Avenue, 52nd Street, and the Central Canal. The primary buildings and grounds of the Fairview Campus include:
- Hinkle Fieldhouse (formerly known as Butler Fieldhouse); Fermor Spencer Cannon; 1928
- Butler Bowl (Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl); Fermor Spencer Cannon; 1928
- Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall; Robert Frost Daggett and Thomas Hibben; 1928
- Robertson Hall (formerly the College of Religion Building); Burns and James; 1942
- Atherton Union; McGuire and Shook; 1950
- Holcomb Gardens; J. I. Holcomb and Arthur F. Lindberg; 1950; Originally established as the Botanical Gardens by the Butler University Department of Botany in 1928
- Pharmacy Building; Robert Frost Daggett and Associates; 1952
- Ross Residence Hall (formerly known as Men’s Residence Hall); McGuire and Shook; 1954
- Holcomb Observatory; Arthur F. Lindberg and Robert Frost Daggett (planetarium designed by Armand N. Spitz); 1954
- Hilton U. Brown Theatre (formerly the Hilton U. Brown Theatron, also unofficially referred to as “Starlight Theatre”); Lennox and Matthews; 1955; Demolished: 2005
- Schwitzer Hall (formerly known as Women’s Residence Hall); McGuire and Shook; 1956; Demolished: 2017
- Holcomb Memorial Carillon; Arthur F. Lindberg (bells designed and patented by Schulmerich Carillons, Inc.); 1959
- Lilly Hall; McGuire and Shook, Compton, Richey, and Associates; 1962
- Clowes Memorial Hall; Evans Woollen (Indianapolis) and John Johansen (New Canaan, Connecticut); 1963
- Irwin Library; Minoru Yamasaki; 1963
- Science Complex (including Gallahue Hall and Holcomb Building, formerly the Holcomb Research Institute); Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri); 1973
- Service/Facilities Building; circa 1988-89
- Residential College (ResCo); James Architects and Engineers, Inc.; 1989 (Phase 1)-1990 (Phase 2)
- Richard M. Fairbanks Center for Communication and Technology; Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, Inc.; 2001
- Apartment Village; RATIO Architects; 2006
- Health and Recreation Complex; RATIO Architects; 2006
- Howard L. Schrott Center for the Arts; Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects; 2013
- Parking Garage; CSO Architects; 2015
- Fairview House (known during planning and construction stages as Sunset Student Residences); Solomon Cordwell Buenz; 2016
- South Campus; Edward Larrabee Barnes; 1966; Butler University purchased the main academic building and most of the grounds from Christian Theological Seminary (CTS; formerly the University’s School of Religion) in 2017, leasing back portions of the building to CTS
- Irvington House; Solomon Cordwell Buenz; 2018
- Dugan Hall (formerly known as the Andre B. Lacy School of Business Building); CSO Architects; 2019
Institutional Names
Butler University has been known and referenced by different names throughout its history. The following is a chronological list of its historical names:
- North Western Christian University (1855-1875)
- Butler University (1875-1896): The institution was renamed in honor of its primary founder and active financial contributor Ovid Butler.
- Butler College (1896-1923): Beginning in 1896, Butler University participated in a chartered partnership of academic institutions known as the University of Indianapolis (unassociated with the current University of Indianapolis, which was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University). Changing its name to Butler College, it remained independent while serving as the liberal arts and sciences college. Other participating schools included the Indianapolis professional schools of dentistry, law, and medicine. Students could take classes and earn degrees from multiple schools within the group. Butler University participated in this agreement until 1906, the year the partnership ended. The name of the institution reverted to Butler University several years after the partnership ended.
- Butler University (1923-Present)
Colleges and Predecessor Institutions
Today, Butler University has six colleges—and schools—under its institutional helm. Some of these colleges were founded at Butler University while others existed as separate institutions before merging with Butler University; in one specific case, a college separated from Butler University. The following is a chronological list of the colleges with any prior historical names:
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (circa 1855): This College was originally established as the College of Literature and Science.
- College of Religion (1924-1958): This College—also referred to as the School of Religion—became independent in 1958, and today, it is known as the Christian Theological Seminary (CTS).
- College of Education (1930): This College was originally known as the Teachers College of Indianapolis (TCI) prior to its merger with Butler University (combining with the University’s Department of Education) in 1930; TCI had an affiliation with the University beginning in 1926. TCI was founded in 1882 by Eliza A. Blaker, a kindergarten and education advocate.
- Lacy School of Business (1937): This College was originally known as the College of Business Administration and was established at Butler University in 1937. Its name was shortened to the College of Business around 2009. The College was renamed the Andre B. Lacy School of Business in 2016 in honor of a $25-million donation to the University by Andre B. Lacy, an Indianapolis businessman and philanthropist, and Julia B. Lacy.
- College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (1945): This College was originally known as the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy prior to its merger with Butler University in 1945. In 1995, the College’s name was updated from the College of Pharmacy to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
- Jordan College of the Arts (1951): This College was originally known as the Jordan College of Music (JCM) prior to its merger with Butler University in 1951. Prior to this, JCM had been associated with Butler University for 23 years. JCM was previously known as the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music (AJCM); the AJCM was established in 1928 following the purchase and merger of the Metropolitan School of Music (established in 1895) and the College of Musical Arts (established in 1907) by Arthur Jordan, and it was renamed JCM in 1949. In 1979, JCM became the Jordan College of the Fine Arts, and the name changed to the Jordan College of the Arts (JCA) in 2012.
- College of Communications (2010): This College was officially formed in 2010. Prior to this, the departments of Communications and Journalism resided under the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. During the early-to-mid-twentieth century, there was a School of Journalism.
Extent
134.34 Linear Feet (35 manuscript boxes, 1 legal-manuscript box, 2 ½-manuscript boxes, 3 flat oversized boxes (approximately 12.5” x 15” x 4”), 3 negative boxes (3” x 4” x 10”), 3 flat-file drawers (30” x 40” x 2.5”), 25 XL flat-file drawers (44” x 50” x 2.5”))
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection documents the history and development of Butler University's campuses, buildings, and exterior spaces, spanning from around 1855 to 2021. It includes photographs, document files, blueprints and architectural renderings.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into three series based upon material type: Text and Documents (TXT); Photographs and Visual Images (PHO); and Architectural Plans (ARC). Each series is divided into three subseries, with each subseries being associated with a historical—or present—Butler University campus: College Avenue; Irvington; and Fairview.
Each subseries includes materials for specific buildings and grounds. The buildings and grounds included are the major buildings or landscaping that faculty, staff, and students use for academic purposes, daily campus activities, or extracurricular events (e.g. academic buildings, residence halls and dormitories, facility and service buildings, landscaped malls, etc.). The building and grounds within the College Avenue and Irvington subseries are arranged alphabetically while those within the Fairview subseries are arranged in a chronological timeline based upon the building or grounds year of initial construction and completion. Before the materials of the first building within each subseries, there are materials filed as Campus; Campus includes information about the entire grounds of each specific campus, overall changes that have occurred over time, and campus planning initiatives.
Buildings and grounds not fitting this description are included following these primary buildings and labeled as Associated Properties. Associated Properties includes other structures and places that may or may not have been owned by Butler University but were used by the institution or associated faculty, staff, and students for secondary activities (e.g. faculty and staff houses, fraternity and sorority houses, athletic fields, etc.) or buildings that no longer exist (e.g. Campus Club). Predecessor Institutions and their associated buildings—such as the Teachers College of Indianapolis or the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music—are included under Associated Properties subseries. Associated Properties are arranged based upon when specific materials were most recently added.
Bibliography
Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection (UA00.01), University Archives, Irwin Library, Butler University. Butler University Course Catalogs and Bulletins, University Archives, Irwin Library, Butler University.
Eaton, Jack L. Butler University Jordan College of Fine Arts: A Chronological History of the Development of the College (1995). Butler University Books: 2.
Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives, Irwin Library, Butler University.
Waller, George. Butler University: A Sesquicentennial History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
- Title
- Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection
- Author
- By Evan N. Miller and Megan McKee, August 2020
- Date
- 2022
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- February 2022: Revised
Repository Details
Part of the Butler University Special Collections and University Archives Repository
4600 Sunset Avenue
Irwin Library 345
Indianapolis Indiana 46208 United States
specialcollections@butler.edu