By Rebbeca Wagner, Senior Reporter
March 1, 1935, is known as Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s most tragic day in history. The legendary Castle on the Hill, the university’s famed main building, burned. But this event led to the second most historic event in Northwestern history.
In 1937, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a part of the dedication of the Jesse Dunn Building, which replaced the castle.
After the castle fire settled and before the ashes cooled, efforts to rebuild were put in place. The damages of the fire cost around $500,000.
State Sen. Charles Albright of Capron drew up a bill to appropriate funds for a new building. It passed in the state House just a few days after it was announced, and thanks to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration, construction got underway.
In October 1936, the Horace Mann building and Jesse Dunn were almost completed, and visitors looked through them during homecoming. The Horace Mann building is now known as the Education Center, which has been home to many different types of schooling.
“The fire opened a way for new building to be built,” said Dr. Eric Schmaltz, chair of the department of social science. “The Works Publics Administrations, or WPA, was one of the programs set up by FDR to get us through the Great Depression.”
Northwestern President Ernest E. Brown announced that Eleanor Roosevelt would be in Alva for the dedication of the new buildings.
Jesse Dunn was named after a state legislator. The dedication of the new buildings took place on March 12, 1937, and attracted thousands of people to Alva.
Roosevelt stayed at the Bell Hotel while in Alva. She was one of the more modern first ladies that America had seen up to that time because she was willing to go out and have lectures with the people. She also had a newspaper column called “My Day.”
The first lady wrote about her experience in Alva and how it was the most crowded of any of her experiences during her lecture tour, according to Wayne Lane’s book “Northwestern Oklahoma State University: A Centennial History.”
When the dedication took place on the morning of March 12, Roosevelt spoke to a crowd of 2,000 that was jammed into the Wyatt Gym, which is now the Student Center. When Roosevelt dedicated Jesse Dunn, she stood in front of the building at a lectern that Northwestern still has today.
The lectern, along with the chair Roosevelt sat in while she was at Northwestern, is kept in a room on the third floor of the Jesse Dunn Building under lock and key.
During Roosevelt’s lectures, she spoke about problems young people were facing. There was a $1 admission charge to hear her lectures. Roosevelt was an honored guest at a luncheon in the new library in Jesse Dunn.
Not only did Roosevelt take part in the dedication, but she also spent time talking with 86 different high schools in the auditorium of Herod Hall. She told them about a “typical day at the White House,” according to Lane’s book.
After one more address from Roosevelt about peace in a lecture program that took place that day in Herod Hall, Roosevelt left town the next day to travel to El Reno.