Historical Society Funds Additional Bemis Restorations

By ANDREA LUCARD
senior development officer for capital gifts

Take this entry from the October 1924 issue of The Tiger:

The first all college serenade in the history of the college was given Friday night. The serenade took place in the [Bemis] quadrangle, and was well received by the CC coeds.

Art Gow’s orchestra furnished the music for the affair. A few of the latest jazz numbers were given by the orchestra. This was followed by “Colorado C. Men.” All of the fraternities sang one song each.

The following fraternity songs were given: “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi;” “Dream Girl of Pi Kappa Alpha;” “Phi Delta Theta for Aye;” “Kappa Sigma, Queen of Friendship;” “Fiji Honeymoon;” and “The Loving Cup.” The Betas did better than the others and managed to produce good harmony.

In addition to the fraternity songs, all the men sang, “The Black and Gold” and “Our Colorado.” (Tiger, 10/21/24)

While the days of all-college serenades of “Fiji Honeymoon” (do any Fijis remember that one?) may be long gone, Bemis Hall itself remains one of the preeminent women’s dorms on the CC campus. Two recent grants from the State Historical Fund, a division of the Colorado Historical Society, will help to guarantee that the building remains intact for future generations of women students, and whoever chooses to serenade them.

The first grant of $150,000, awarded last spring, helped to offset the cost of repairing and restoring the Vermont slate roof. This roof project was particularly difficult because of the height of the building and the steep slope of the roof. In keeping with good preservation practices, many of the original slates were reused, while those that were too badly damaged were replaced by slate from the same quarry as the original tiles. Approximately 50 percent of the slate tiles were reused, which is double the 25 percent reuse that is usually expected for such a project. For this, George Eckhardt, assistant director of Facilities Services and project director, credits the careful work of “some of the best slate and tile roofers in the state of Colorado.”

A more recent grant of $150,000, awarded this January, will be used for repairing and restoring the windows and woodwork around the building’s exterior. Again, as much as possible, the work will include restoration of the original materials. The work is scheduled to begin after graduation and be completed by fall 2002. 

“The college is fortunate to have people with the foresight and commitment to preserve the legacy of its fine architecture for future, past, and present generations.” Eckhardt says. “We have taken advantage of the opportunity to compete for the Colorado State Historical grant funds to do costly restoration repairs that could not otherwise be done, or at the least, we would have to settle for less costly and lower quality substitute materials that would have to be used to accomplish some of these repairs. Further, without the college’s own funding commitment in light of competing resource needs, we might actually lose some of these defining assets due to deterioration beyond economical repair, as may have been the case with Coburn Library, Perkins Hall, and Hagerman Hall.”

The college has received a number of important grants from the State Historical Fund, including several planning grants and funds for restoration of the Cutler Hall roof and cupola. The fund receives its money from revenue generated by legalized gambling in Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek. 

Bemis Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.  

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