History
Former Names: University Refectory, University Graduate Center
Constructed: 1912-1913
Opening and Dedication: 1913
This building was the final gift of S.W. Bowne. It was originally used as a dormitory/dining hall and also housed faculty for a short time. The main dining room (Great Hall) is a replica of the famous hall of Christ Church College, Oxford, where John Wesley was a student. The magnificent hall can hold up to 250 people for concerts and lectures. During the 1920-1921 academic year, Bowne Hall was used exclusively as women's housing until a new dorm could be built. During the 1930 commencement, four stained glass windows at the head of Great Hall were dedicated – these were the final gifts of Mrs. S.W. Bowne. In 1940 the dormitory not only housed women students but also a dietitian and a resident nurse. After the university center opened as the main dining hall, Bowne was still used for additional academic facilities. In 1960 the building seemed to have housed four seminar rooms, five faculty offices, a general classroom, and a large colloquium commons room. By 1960-1961 Bowne Hall was called the University Graduate Center and contained a large lecture room, seminar rooms, office for the Graduate School faculty, an archaeological museum, the graduate commons, and a dormitory space for men in the graduate school. In 1967 the building no longer housed students. By 1981-1983 the building contained the humanities department and later was home to the Women's Studies Office (in the basement) and a graduate continuing education center.
Credits
Composed by Anthony D. Rogers, Courtesy of the Drew University Archives.
Text from 'The Samuel W. Bowne Hall' pamphlet, published 1913' Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New Jersey.
The Samuel W. Bowne Hall, the latest addition to an already important group of buildings on the famous campus of Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New Jersey, is the gift of a great and good man whose honored name it bears, who died in Christ October 29th, 1910. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they do rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."
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