1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Dartmouth College
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, Hanover, N.H., U.S.A. (see 7.838), in the period between 1908 and 1921 experienced a great expansion in its plant, endowment and enrolment. Its educational plant in the latter year included 21 buildings devoted to lecture and recitation rooms, laboratories, and administration and similar purposes.
Of these, the extensive alumni gymnasium was erected in 1910, to which was added the Spaulding swimming pool in 1920; the Parkhurst administration building was erected in 1910; Robinson Hall, the home of all undergraduate organizations except athletic, in 1914; and a large chemical laboratory in 1920-1. The plant also included 18 dormitories, of which five were added after 1908, the latest in 1920, capable in all of housing 1,100 students. The value of the plant was over $2,000,000.
In addition to the educational plant the college had 20 single or apartment houses for the use of its faculty. Its productive investment assets nearly doubled in the 12-year period, approximating $5,500,000. In 1920-1 it had 150 officers of administration and instruction, and there were 1,875 enrolled students, of whom 54 were in post-graduate courses. The tuition fee was $250 a year. The constituency of the college, formerly mainly in New England, extended to the whole country. In 1910 62% of the freshmen came from New England. One of the effective influences leading to expansion was the Outing Club, the first college club of its kind, which was open to both faculty and students and had as its object the stimulation of healthful outdoor activities. It owned a chain of seven cabins, extending over 75 m. from Hanover to the White mountains and equipped for the accommodation of its members on their excursions into the country and among the mountains. Its winter activities culminated in a carnival of sports.
Like other American colleges, Dartmouth was greatly affected by the World War. Even before the entrance of the United States, many of its students had joined the Allied armies or served in the ambulance corps in France, and in Feb. 1916 a battalion of 218 men in two companies was formed for military drill. In March 1917, the great majority of the students was enrolled for military training, and in the following fall military training was required of the freshmen. After the United States entered the war, the college became practically a camp, for all able-bodied students between 18 and 21 years of age were inducted into the Students' Army Training Corps and trained under military regulations, and those under 18 were enrolled in the corps, although remaining under college authority. There were also vocational sections of about 550 men who came to the college from outside for instruction in carpentry, cement work, truck driving and repairing, and radio work. All military training came to an end in Dec. following the Armistice, and the college reverted to its former status. In consequence of the war the enrolment fell from more than 1,500 to 761, of whom only 110 were not under military training. Many members of the faculty engaged in war service in the United States or in France, either under the Government or in the organizations supplementary to the military. The total number of undergraduates (from the six classes 1917 to 1922) who entered the war or served in the S.A.T.C. was 1,817 and of the faculty 73. The total number of Dartmouth men, graduates, undergraduates, and faculty, who served in the army, navy or marine corps was 2,603, in the auxiliary service 752.