Have you ever walked through Mary Graydon Center and wondered who Mary Graydon is? The Eagle went to AU Archivist Susan McElrath to find out "who's who" in regard to some prominent AU buildings.
Eric Friedheim Quadrangle DEDICATED: 1991 AU Alum Eric A. Friedheim was a journalist and publisher. His name is also on the School of Communication's Journalism Center. The quad was dedicated in 1991, 11 years before Friedheim's death.
Hurst Hall PREVIOUS NAME: College of History building GROUNDBREAKING: March 9, 1896 COMPLETED: February 1, 1898 John Fletcher Hurst, a Methodist bishop of D.C., founded AU and served as its first chancellor.
Katzen Arts Center GROUNDBREAKING: November 14, 2002 OPENED: 2005 Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen donated $15 million in money and art to the AU Arts Center, according to the Washington Post. Myrtle had previously taken art classes at AU.
McKinley Building PREVIOUS NAMES: Ohio College of Government, McKinley Memorial Building, McKinley Hall CORNERSTONE: May 14, 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt COMPLETED: 1917 President William McKinley was a friend of John Fletcher Hurst.
Kay Spiritual Life Center GROUNDBREAKING: June 9, 1963 DEDICATION: October 3, 1965 Abraham S. Kay, donor and AU Trustee (1954-63), was also a Washington civic leader, businessman and philanthropist. Kay, a Jew, was originally worried that his donation for a spiritual center to a Methodist campus might cause some problems, but then-AU president Hurst Anderson convinced him it would only add to the school's diversity, according to AU records.
Mary Graydon Center PREVIOUS NAMES: University Hall (1925), Women’s Residence Hall (1926), Mary Graydon Hall (1946) COMPLETED: 1925 Mary E. Graydon donated money to AU in 1894 that would be solely used for women's education, with the stipulation that she not be associated with her gift and that "no publicity be given to [her] name.” Her gift has become the Patrick Clendenen Fund for Women's and Gender History in the Department of History, named after her grandfather, according to AU records. Since then, the building, which was formerly a women’s residence hall has become a student center, bearing her name.
Battelle-Tompkins CONSTRUCTION: Central core (1926), West Wing (1957), North Wing (1964) The central core of the Battelle-Tompkins building was built as a memorial to the Battelle family. John Gordon Battelle, Jr. was an AU Trustee from 1920 to 1923. The building’s wings were named in honor of the Charles H. & Lida R. Tompkins Foundation.
Kogod School of Business PREVIOUS NAMES: John Sherman Myers Law Building and New Lecture Hall (separate buildings) GROUNDBREAKING: 1963 DEDICATION: 1964 The main building was constructed to serve as the home of the Washington College of Law, which merged with AU in 1949 and was named in honor of John Sherman Myers, the dean of WCL from 1956 to 1967. The New Lecture Hall opened in September 1968 and connected to Kogod in 2009. Business mogul Robert Kogod and his wife Arlene donated a "generous gift" to the university, according to AU records.
Bender Library GROUNDBREAKING: May 14, 1977 OPENED: January 15, 1979 DEDICATED: April 21, 1979 Named in honor of Jack I. and Dorothy G. Bender (Bender Family Foundation).
Bender Arena GROUNDBREAKING: 1985 OPENED: 1988 Howard Bender and his wife Sondra, then an AU trustee, funded the arena, named for Howard's father Jack. However, the arena is sometimes known as the Phil Bender Arena, although no Phil Bender actually exists. In 2006, some students made up "Phil" – a short, chubby, bald man, according to the Washington Post.
Butler Pavilion OPENED: 1987 AU alum and Trustee Abbey Joel Butler donated $1 million to AU, according to the New York Times. The combined Bender Arena-Butler Pavilion complex was known as the Adnan Khashoggi Sports and Convocation Center when built, named after Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian arms dealer who was a member of AU's board of trustees. Khashoggi was later tied to the Iran-Contra affair, and his name was subsequently removed from the building.
Ward Circle Building OPENED: February 1969 This building is bordered by Ward Circle, named for Revolutionary War Major General Artemas Ward, George Washington's second-in-command.
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