A Few of Derham Hall's Roles
Derham Hall was home to the first kitchens, cooking up meals for all those residing on campus. This kitchen would later be replaced with the kitchens of St. Joseph Hall and later the Coeur de Catherine. This role of Derham as a kitchen has long been forgotten. This omission changes the memory of Derham Hall and attempts to erase this history as an entire campus in a single building.
The Alumnae parlor and Alumnae office initially began in Derham Hall, this office would later be moved to St. Joseph's Hall. The Alumnae office was moved back to Derham Hall with the construction of the Coeur de Catherine, in the end, there was not enough room for them to remain in the CdC. The proximity then allowed students to develop relationships with the Alumnae office and alumnae before they graduated. Currently the office is on the fourth floor of Derham Hall making the the trip much longer. The change in space for the Alumnae Office has changed the relationship they have with students.
The early classrooms were located in Derham Hall, for the first years of the university students would need very little time to travel between classes. This photograph shows students in a Botany classroom in 1912. The original wood floors are seen here along with the students dressed according to the dress code. Today the dress code is obviously not in effect as can be seen through the students, wearing everything from professional clothing to pajamas. This room is hard to find in Derham Hall today since so many rooms have similar architectural elements to the picture. Since the space it hard to find it makes it harder to remember the place where the first students learned.
This view of Derham Hall shows it without one of the most recognizable features on campus, the Chapel. At the time of this photograph and until 1924 the chapel was located on the fourth floor of Derham. Even though it was tucked away the chapel was still a central part of the young college and the sisters that ran it. At a time when few women attended college, the chapel and sisters helped to encourage Catholic families to send their daughters here for an education. The room where the chapel was has now become an office and conference room. However the memory of the chapel has not disappeared, the last resident of the office speaks about the space as "hallowed" and "sacred."1 Preserving this memory of the space allows the original chapel to live on along with the early sisters and students who prayed here daily.
Registration for classes is always a hassle; today students register at six in the morning at their computers. In the past students would line up on the stairs and register in person and on paper. The registration process has changed over the years, but the stairs have remained a timeless foundation of the building. They're decorative and yet have held up to thousands of students, faculty, and staff traveling up and down. Interestingly the stairs from the first to the second floor are most worn, while those from the fourth floor to attic are almost spotless. The stairs can directly bring us back to the past. These are the steps Sister Antonia walked on and the stairs that students rested on as they waited to register for class. The stairs are a direct connection to the people who have been here before us as their footprints are very real and very present.
Students maintain a correspondence with family and friends even at college, requiring mailboxes for students. The mailroom has been a part of various buildings on campus in Derham, Whitby, St. Joseph's Hall and today in the CdC. In the basement of Derham are old mailboxes where students would have received mail. These old mailboxes preserve the memories of early students traveling far from home for the first time. They serve as a reminder of the adventure of college then and now, and the connections to home students had. Today the mailroom is still a large fixture in the live of students providing a direction between school and home no matter how far they may be apart.
The facade of Derham Hall has changed little in over a hundred and ten years; even the landscaping is similar with crawling vines. The building at the top of the hill has always remained a focal point for the college. Rocking chairs make the porch a relaxing place to sit and enjoy nice weather. Today rocking chairs have been added to the porch of Derham, proving a relaxing place for students, faculty, staff and community members to take in the view from the top of the hill. While the view has changed since Sister Antonia built the college, the space has remained the same.
1 Brian Bruess (Former Vice President and Chief Operating Officer) in discussion with the author, November 2016.
