In response to the recommendation made to the Greenville College board of trustees at their spring board meeting May 15-17, Greenville College has release the following statement:
“With considerable regret and sadness, along with recognition of the profound historic impact this building has had upon Almira College and Greenville College students over the past 150 years, the Greenville College Board of Trustees recommends that the president and his duly appointed agents undertake to plan and implement the removal of this landmark building, identify funds for its replacement, and rebuild a structure that is both practical for current College purposes and architecturally sensitive to the legacy of this building.”
The college has convened two committees, one to oversee demolition of the current structure and another to focus on programming needs for the new building. We will provide additional information regarding decommissioning of the building, demolition, fundraising and rebuilding as soon as this information is available.
7 Comments
I am no one to this college but an alumni. One that can not give to the college like many others but I still have an opinion. I think this is dead wrong. Such an historic building should have qualified for funding to preserve a piece of Illinois history.
Recently it has come to my attention the difficulty Hogue Hall is presenting for the College. For a word of encouragement I would like to say..that if it takes longer..maybe God can work through that!! You know..G.C. always wanted a better relationship with the community. Having to use other buildings..and I assume rent from other people..will help the overall economy for the community of Greenville!! As a former business owner I know my landlord was always thrilled just to get the building occupied and some rent money coming in. So,..God can use this in a positive and different way too. Everyone knows the State of Illinois is broke. That was happening even before the present Govenor. It’s certainly no one’s fault at G.C.!! I can see how frustrating it would be though…for trustees etc.and for any President.
I would like to thank all who have been involved with making this difficult decision. I appreciate how this issue has been handled in a timely way with much care.
I am a great-great grandson of the Rev. John Brown White, the founding president of Almira College (1855).
I, of course, regret the decision to demolish this grand old structure, known earlier as Old Main, and since 1932 as Hogue Hall.
However, I believe that Rev. White would be tickled pink to know that his college building provided useful service as a college building for 150 years, first for Almira College and then for Greenville College.
Greenville College I am sure appreciates the valuable service the structure provided to the college for 116 years.
Rev. White, I am sure, would appreciate the fact that GC maintained the building for all these many years.
To Hogue Hall/Old Main we can simply say –
Farewell, good and faithful servant!
A few of us have started a Facebook group to lobby for a LEED Certified, or in general a new Hogue Hall that is built using Green Design.
Look for us on facebook and join in the conversation. We are just starting to get things a bit organized.
It is too bad the Board made the decision to demolish Hogue Hall this summer, when the money to start a new building may not be acquired for years yet. The building can and will stand for many more years, and so long as people are kept out of it, it isn’t an immediate danger to anyone. What would be a travesty is if we in Greenville have to look at a big blank space where beautiful Hogue Hall once stood.
It is the most significant historic structure in Bond County. Very few alumni will make it to the June 7 decommissioning service. It would be nice if the building could stand for at least another year (if not to when the college is ready to start the new building), so alumni and community people have a chance to come see it one more time and say “good bye.” Allan Keith put it better than anyone I have yet read or heard: “Farewell, good and faithful servant”!
How ironic that notice of the decision to raze the icon of GC was in our mailbox upon our return from a trip to Spain. There we stayed in old monasteries, castles and other buildings that had been converted to paradores. In Rhonda, we stayed in what once was the city hall, next to a gorge with “The New Bridge”, as they called it, which was inaugurated the year George Washington was running for president.
How sad that the building that symbolized GC for so long has been relegated to the dust bin.
I hope some really forward thinking has been done about what will be worthy of replacing it.
Jerry Smith
1964
p.s. I remember fondly traipsing down to the lower level of Hogue Hall in my pajamas to refill my coffee pot with water at 5 a.m., after studying all night, and encountering Dr. Stan Walters coming out of his study. He smiled and said “You’re too early for class.”