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1900-1922

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Coxe Memorial Hall, ca. 1900.

Coxe Memorial Hall

In 1900 Hobart College built Coxe Memorial Hall, the first college building on Pulteney Street. The building contained classrooms, administrative offices, and the College's first auditorium. Built concurrently with Medbery Hall, the construction also coincided with the grading of the land between Main Street and Pulteney Street, creating the quad.

Warren Hunting Smith writes in his Hobart and William Smith: The History of Two Colleges, "Now, for the first time, the College dared to regard the entire area down to Pulteney Street as its campus."

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Smith Hall, ca. 1913.

Smith Hall & William Smith College

In 1906, local nurseryman William Smith donated the funds for the creation of the College which bears his name. The College purchased the 24 acres extending from Pulteney Street west to what is now Blackwell House from J. D. Patterson.

The first building built for William Smith College was Smith Hall in 1907. Originally housing science courses for both male and female students, with its construction students first began to regularly cross Pulteney Street.

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Williams Hall, ca. 1918.

Williams Hall

In 1918 Williams Hall was built as the new Hobart gymnasium. It contained a swimming pool, basketball court, and suspended running track.

The building was also used for dances and larger social gatherings which included both Hobart and William Smith students.

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Daisy Weeks '12, Junia Ohart '13, and Ella Conger '14 on Pulteney Street near Coxe Hall, ca. 1911-1912.

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 Streetcar #3 at Lehigh Valley Depot, ca. 1897. Sign in window reads, "This car for Jay Street."

The Geneva and Waterloo Railway Company

In 1893 the Geneva and Waterloo Railway Company began operating four electric streetcars within the town of Geneva. One of the lines began at the Lehigh Valley Depot and made its way down Pulteney Street to Jay Street. South of Hamilton Street, the tracks left the center of the street and ran parallel to Pulteney on the east side of the street. The tracks can be seen in the above photograph passing Coxe Hall.

In 1924, the section of the route south of St. Clair Street was abandoned and in 1925 local service was ended entirely. A local bus service soon replaced it, and a Hobart student wrote to the Hobart Herald lamenting the loss of "the old trolley, which paraded up and down Pulteney St. in an amusing, unobtrusive way." 

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W. F. Humphrey Press, ca. 1956.

W. F. Humphrey Press

In 1914, the W. F. Humphrey Press moved from Linden Street to the west side of Pulteney Street north of the Chase Nursery property. It remained a prominent presence of Pulteney Street for the next 70 years.

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View from Smith Hall, ca. 1912-1913. South Field can be seen on the right.

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Postcard of the Quad and South Field, ca. 1906.

South Field

In the summer of 1901, the property on the corner of Pulteney and St. Clair was graded and turned into an athletic field, commonly referred to as South Field. A football game on South Field can be seen on the postcard to the left.

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Football Game on Boswell Field, ca. 1946-1949.

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Boswell Field

In the summer of 1907, the College's Board of Trustees approved the purchase of the property on Pulteney Street between the William Smith green and the R. G. Chase property for the purpose of constructing a new athletic field. A small street named Nellis, led to the field from Pulteney Street.

The Boswell Bowl, as it was commonly called, became the primary athletic field on campus until it was moved further west in 1976 to make room for the Warren Hunting Smith Library.

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St. Clair Heights

In 1902, the property on the southwest corner of Pulteney and St. Clair was divided into residential lots. Three new streets were created: Verplanck, College, and Hammond, though Hammond did not last.

For much of its history, the section of Pulteney Street between St. Clair and Jay was largely residential. In fact, the current location of the Environmental Studies office is the oldest building on Pulteney Street south of Hamilton, built in 1850.