| From
the Sept 8, 2005, edition of 'Northwest News' Newsletter.
by Dana Ternus
Every fall hundreds of students arrive at
Northwest and move into a University residence hall. For more
than three decades, many of them have unpacked their bags in one
of the four “high-rises” built in the 1960s and early
’70s on the northwest side of campus.
In 1965, President Robert P. Foster recognized
a growing demand for campus housing. In an effort to accommodate
students wishing to live on University grounds, he secured government
loans for the construction of two new residence halls, each seven
stories high. The structures were to include dining areas, recreation
centers and air conditioning, and each would house 330 students.
Both halls were ready for students in fall
1966. The women’s residence was named Franken Hall in honor
of Katherine Franken, a long-time faculty member in the Education
Department. Franken was also instrumental in the establishment
of the Newman Club, a campus organization devoted to the interests
of Catholic students.
The men’s hall, Phillips, was named
after Homer Phillips, another education teacher closely associated
with the growth and development of the Horace Mann Laboratory
School.
Franken and Phillips halls were so well
received by the University community that Foster secured funding
for two more similar structures and made plans to build a total
of eight. Construction began in the summer of 1969 but was delayed
by a construction workers’ strike.
In order to remedy the resulting shortage
in 1970 of housing for women, Northwest installed 25 mobile homes
with room for 200 students.
When finally complete, the third and fourth
high-rise residence halls were named for Herbert Dieterich, who
served Northwest in a number of capacities from 1928 until 1969,
most notably as principal of Horace Mann, and Chloe Millikan,
a lab school faculty member who helped start the kindergarten
program.
For a number of reasons, including declining
student populations as the Baby Boom generation graduated, the
four projected high-rises were never built. But Phillips, Franken,
Millikan and Dieterich continue to provide students with opportunities
for socialization, increasing independence and, above all, a home
away from home.
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