Thanks to the IUP Alumni Association for the use of their
historic yearbooks for this project!
1888-1925 1926-1950 1951-1965 1966-1975 1976-2001 Addendum
IUP
Jane Leonard Hall
I, II, III
Three successive buildings on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania have been named after Jane E. Leonard. The first two of them were the homes of the biology faculty and courses.
Jane Leonard in the 1912 yearbook.
Jane Leonard "was one of the original staff members at IUP (then Indiana Normal School) when it opened on May 17, 1875, with 150 students and one building. Leonard outlasted all other faculty who began work with her on that opening day, serving IUP for 46 years through financially challenging times." (Source)
Jane Leonard was "a towering figure at INS, serving as preceptress—analogous to a dean of women—and teaching, at various times, English literature, history, and geography." She died in 1924, and "the Reverend Elliott S. White, Leonard's pastor at the Methodist Episcopal Church of Indiana, wrote in the July 1924 Normal Herald, the school’s alumni publication, 'They learned to respect and love her, for she did not confine her teaching to the books but taught those principles which turned their thinking upward towards life’s higher ideals. They found her a true woman and a good friend and went away after their graduation feeling that her life had been an inspiration to them.' Leonard had long since become the embodiment of all that was good about the school. Having shaped the character of her students and the institution they attended, she left an indelible mark in her nearly half-century on campus." (Source)
I. The first
Jane E. Leonard Hall
The first Jane E. Leonard Hall was built in 1903 and was destroyed by fire April 14, 1952.
Note Leonard Hall from the 1920 yearbook.
Note Leonard Hall from the 1951 yearbook.
Jane Leonard Hall in 1943 yearbook.
Transition from
Leonard Hall I
to Leonard Hall
II
Leonard Hall (I), the home of the Department of Science and the Department of English, burned in 1952. The cornerstone of new Leonard Hall (II) was laid in 1953, and Science professors and classes were scattered across campus until the new Leonard Hall (II) was completed. Construction of the new, three-story building is shown below in its early two-story stage. (1954 Yearbook)
See Dedication Ceremony for Leonard Hall II, May 22, 1954, for more detailed information.
II. The second
Jane E. Leonard Hall
The second Jane E. Leonard Hall was built in 1953, dedicated May 22, 1954, and then razed in 2017.
Leonard Hall II contained "seven laboratories, twenty-two classrooms, twenty-three faculty offices, the Indiana State Teachers College film library, a broadcasting studio, and ample provisions for storage space." The first floor contained an audio-visual education classroom, a film library, two chemistry labs, a general science lecture room, three biology labs, faculty offices, space for secretarial workers, and storage areas. The second floor contained two physics labs, a darkroom, six English classrooms, a language classroom, two mathematics classrooms, a broadcasting studio, secretarial space, and faculty offices. The third floor contained four social studies classrooms, two geography classrooms, a seminar room, four education classrooms, secretarial space, and faculty offices. (Source)
Note Jane Leonard Hall in 1966 yearbook.
1955 yearbook: Biology Lab in Leonard Hall
1957 yearbook:
Dr. Sollberger instructs biology students
in Leonard Hall
1961 yearbook: Biology Lab in Leonard Hall
1963 yearbook:
Dr. Art Shields in Biology Lab in
Leonard Hall
January 20, 1986 on the IUP campus. Directly to the right are the entrance steps
into Jane Leonard Hall II (now demolished) - and Wilson Hall is in the background
right. Sutton Hall is behind me, and the Oak Grove is on the left. (Photo by Ray
Winstead)
The second Leonard Hall housed the sciences until Weyandt Hall was dedicated in 1966. Weyandt Hall is now being demolished (2024-2025) - with the sciences having moved into the new Kopchick Hall (Ribbon Cutting, November 2, 2023) - partly located where the first two Leonard Halls had been.
III. The third
Jane E. Leonard Hall
Ground breaking for the Leonard Hall III building took place on November 1, 2013 at a new location on campus. The building was originally named the Humanities and Social Sciences Building - with the Ribbon Cutting January 22, 2016.
Leonard Hall III was renamed and dedicated November 28, 2022 as Jane E. Leonard Hall, primarily brought about by the encouragement and efforts of retired IUP history professor Dr. Charles Cashdollar and his wife Donna Cashdollar. You can buy Dr. Cashdollar's book The IUP Story: From Normal School to University in the IUP Co-op Store or online.
"Leonard Hall is home to several departments in the new College of Arts and Humanities*, developed as part of the IUP NextGen restructuring plan. Those departments are English, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Political Science." Source. (* Note the photos below showing that the building was labeled College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The College is now called the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs. The Art Department is housed in Sprowls Hall.)
1888-1925 1926-1950 1951-1965 1966-1975 1976-2001 Addendum