The front of Judd Gymnasia (ca. 1927)

A photograph of the front of Judd Gymnasia shown through the trees. ca. 1927.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. The top two floors of the tower that sits between the “east” and “west” gymnasiums was not completed until June of 1926. The entire building was renovated in 2010, with occupancy beginning in September of 2010. A formal Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to open Judd Gymnasia was held on October 13, 2010. Another ceremony was held on May 19, 2011 as a Dedication of the Stitzer YMCA Center that makes up a part of the facilities in the building, including the use of the East Gymnasium as a conference center for the YMCA and the Office of YMCA Relations and the YMCA Hall of Fame in the Springfield College History Museum