Baseball Practice behind Judd Gymnasia, c. 1920s

An image of a baseball practice taking place behind Judd Gymnasia. A handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads, " The 1920s: A Practice Session on Old South Field".Judd Gymnasia was the first building erected on the new land purchased for the YMCA Training School, now Springfield College, along Massasoit Lake in Springfield, Massachusetts. Morrissey and Shea’s Corporation completed construction on the building in September of 1894 and it was formally opened on October 26, 1894. The original gymnasium, known today as East Gymnasium, was where James Naismith taught classes and coached the school’s basketball team however it is not the gymnasium where basketball was invented. In 1910, trustees authorized the addition of a second gymnasium and swimming pool. The new gymnasium, completed in February of 1912, was designed by architect Edward Lippincott Tilton and known as West Gymnasium. Through the years it has undergone several name changes. The gymnasium was known as west gymnasium until 1953, when the trustees voted that it be named “The Judd Gymnasium”. In 1998 the Gymnasium was renamed the Ruth Evans Gymnasium and in 2010, the Gymnasium received its current name as the Student Union West. The McCurdy Natatorium, a gift of Standard Oil President Herbert Pratt, who requested the pool be named after physical education department head Dr. McCurdy, was completed in April 1913. It was closed on March 18, 1968 and the swimming pool was replaced by Linkletter Natatorium. The Natatorium was remodeled and has served as a dance studio, weight room, the college bookstore and finally, in the spring of 2011, as the Springfield College History Museum which also includes the YMCA Hall of Fame.Series were added to this collection, changing the file name. File names of the uploaded files contain the old name