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Eastern Michigan University! |
1. Parking for this tour is most easily accessible in the visitor's lot just west of McKenny Union on Cross Street. There are entrances on Cross Street and just off Oakwood Street. From this lot, go directly east. The first building you come to is McKenny Union, named for Charles McKenny. McKenny was president of EMU from 1912-1933 and thought the students should have a proper student union building. Built in 1931 as a social center for students, it is a Revival style, which some call "Collegiate" style. Built to look like traditional European university buildings in stone and brick, it also has strong vertical lines in the central stone section, which are Art Deco Style elements. Art Deco was a popular modern geometric style in the 1920s and 30s. The union was added onto in 1963, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. A new Student Union building is being built on the West side of the main campus. McKenny Union will be turned into offices and meeting space. |  |
2. As you are standing in front of the McKenny Union, on the south side of the building, take the sidewalk east to the traffic light and go across Cross St. This will bring you to a triangular shaped piece of land where the famed Ypsilanti Water Tower stands, the next stop on the tour.
The Water Tower, while not officially on campus, is hard to miss, and has won national civil engineering landmark awards. Built at the highest point in the city in 1889-90, it is still functional today. Made of limestone with a wood shingle roof, it is 147 feet high with four round windows about halfway up and a catwalk around the outside. It used to have an octagonal cupola on top, but it was taken down due to fears that high winds would blow it over. The water tower is occasionally opened to visitors, who can climb the stairs and go out on the catwalk for excellent views of the city.
Also on this site, you can view the bust of General Demetrius Ypsilanti, (sometimes spelled Ypsilantis) a Greek hero in their war for independence in 1829, and the namesake of the city.
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3. Now go back across Cross St. to campus. The building immediately in front of you is the next stop, Welch Hall. Named for Adonijah Welch, first principal of the Normal School, this is the oldest building on campus and is Georgian Revival in style. The central part of the building dates to 1896. As more money was available, the wings on the sides were added, around 1900. A large extension on the northwest side of the building was demolished for expansion of McKenny Union. Initially a training school for new teachers, it has housed many departments over the years and is now used for administrative offices and meeting space, including the office of the President.
The building was designed by architects Malcolmson & Higginbotham from Detroit. Note the elliptical fan light over the main door with sidelights, ("lights" are windows in this sense) a balustrade above the front portico (small porch with roof), Ionic columns, cupolas, overall symmetry of the building, and the large pediment above the main entrance.
Listed on the National Register in 1984, Welch Hall was almost torn down in the late 1980s, but a group of EMU historic preservation students, alumni, staff, and faculty rallied to save it. A listing on the National Register does not provide protection against demolition; it is largely a symbolic designation.
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