#ThrowbackThursday: Reunion Hall

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This summer — like most — is a busy season for construction and maintenance across campus, stretching from the Arts and Transit Project to the Lake Carnegie dam. Fifty years ago, one building’s demolition was the “principal event” of the summer, at least in PAW’s telling. Reunion Hall, a 95-year-old former dormitory used for administrative offices, was torn down. Alan Richards captured this cover image of the work in progress, including a “Funeral, No Parking” sign in the foreground. Built in 1870 and named to commemorate the reunion of the Old and New Schools of the Presbyterian Church, the dormitory was situated between Nassau Hall and Alexander Hall. While one University official quipped that its passing “would not leave a wet eye in the house,” the building had one claim to fame: In the fall of 1935, it was home to freshman John Fitzgerald Kennedy during his lone semester at Princeton. READ MORE: Demolishing Dorms: A Delicate Decision (Rally ’Round the Cannon archives)