Springfield College Faculty at the Building Site of the Weiser Hall, 1921

The photograph is taken in the summer of 1921 at the building site of the Weiser Hall at Springfield College. In the photograph, from left to right are Elmer Berry, an unidentified man, James McCurdy, and another unidentified man. All our believed to be faculty or administrative staff at Springfield College. In the background in the photograph is what is now Locklin Hall of Springfield College.Elmer Berry was an instructor of Physiology of Exercise and Gymnastics, he was also the coach of varsity baseball and varsity football. James McCurdy was the Director of Natural Science Division at the time, and is a famous exercise physiologist and Springfield College Football coach. In 1920, Clifton A. Crocker, a member of the Executive Board of both Springfield College and Hampden Hospital, presented the need for an infirmary at Springfield College. Meanwhile, the Hampden Hospital was closed, Crocker together with the hospital administrator Walter R. Weiser turned over the hospital’s financial assets, $40,000, to the College for the purpose of constructing the infirmary. The estimated cost of the building was $180,000 with funding coming from the Springfield and college communities. In the summer of 1921, summer school students worked to clear the building site and to raise money for furnishings. The corner stone was laid on September 27, 1922, and the building was opened in January, 1923. The building is brick with granite trimmings and 3-stories high, with the ground floor 3 feet below ground level. It is 93 feet long and 44 feet wide. The building originally extended the height of the lower two floors in the rear of the building to be a large gymnasium for medical gymnastics. Medical gymnastics is the forerunner of the athletic training program at Springfield College. The building also included hydro-therapy facilities, 4 operating rooms, and the entire third floor served as the college infirmary. In 1938, the basement housed the labs and classrooms of Dr. Peter Karpovich, the premier exercise physiologist in the U.S. at the time. In 1971, the student infirmary relocated to the Towne Student Health Center. After 1971, Weiser was refurbished and has been used as home to the Humanities Department, housing offices, classrooms, a TV studio, and the journalism department