SUNY Brockport history

The College at Brockport opened as the Brockport Collegiate Institute in 1841.

In winter 1844, Mortimer organized a special program for a group of women students.

In 1845, Cyrus McCormick came to Brockport and licensed the Backus & Fitch foundry to manufacture 100 of his newly-invented reapers.

The Republican Party came to Brockport with the founding of the Brockport Republic weekly newspaper in 1856.

As an example of the volume of lumbering business, they and several other firms shipped 5.9 million pounds of barrel staves in 1860.

>>The Rose Archives recently came into possession of a rare artifact, a heavy, cast iron stamp, 4.5 inches high, the imprint of which references P.J. Williams, who was head of the school from 1861–63.

In 1866, the institution was renamed Brockport State Normal School.

The campaign was a success, and in 1867 the Brockport Collegiate Institute joined the ranks of a "normal school."

The Democrats founded their own mouthpiece with the Brockport Democrat weekly newspaper in 1870.

Five cemeteries had been founded in the Town of Sweden outside the village limits by 1880.

The Johnston Harvester Co. plant burned in 1882 and the firm rebuilt in Batavia.

In 1894, a 52-foot Soldiers Memorial Tower was erected at that site.

By 1900, it became clear that the canal could not survive in the form it then had.

After initially referring to the colors as olive and yellow, by May 1902 (the first report on Color Day), it was noted that the colors were now prominently displayed on the "green and gold banners."

In 1908, he wrote a short but charming and informative history of the school, now available to read online.

The Brockport section was rebuilt in 1914-15.

The churches reopened Sunday and the schools commenced their sessions Monday.” The outbreak persisted into the new year, however; for instance, the January 9, 1919, issue states that “Miss Alice Yale of the Normal faculty has the influenza.”

In response to the 1927 act, the Brockport Central School District was formed and a junior-senior high school was built.

>>Hartwell Hall is such a familiar name and landmark that it’s hard to imagine that for many years it was simply “the building.” But when it was built in 1938, it replaced the earlier building of what had always been a one-building school.

In the process, the three-year Normal School became a four-year State Teachers College in 1940.

The first class to graduate from the teachers college at Brockport with their bachelors degrees was in 1942.

When Donald Tower became president of the school in 1944, the entire campus was what's now called Hartwell Hall.

>>Rose Strasser, namesake of the performance studio in Hartwell Hall, came to Brockport in 1946, just after World War II, when Brockport was a small teachers college.

Starting as Brockport State Teachers College, the new school was automatically included in the new SUNY system which was established in 1948.

The first graduate degree was awarded in January 1950.

New technologies came in as well; in the fall of 1951, Brockport students saw the World Series on TV in a campus lounge for the first time. (The NY Giants vs. the NY Yankees, the last of the famous “Subway Series.”)

The festival started in 1960 and was held on campus the first few years.

A Stylus article from December 1, 1961, reports on the plans for the two activities.

The building was named Hartwell Hall after he died in 1965.

Over the years, Strasser promoted dance at Brockport, leading to the establishment of the Department of Dance in 1967.

Any sort of information about the history of this club or its members would be greatly appreciated. It was the first-ever LGBTQ club on campus and was started by someone by the name of C.W. Davis in 1972.

The library collections and staff moved into "Drake II" in 1975, and it has been the home of Drake Memorial Library ever since.

In 1978, Doctor Albert W. Brown presented Soviet artist Zurab Tsereteli with an honorary certificate in recognition of his efforts to foster peace and understanding between people of the Soviet Union and the United States.

After accepting the invitation, Tsereteli learned about the Fifth International Summer Special Olympics Games, to be held at The College at Brockport in August 1979.

>>The Friends of Drake Library have done much since their start in 2014 to enhance and expand the library experience for our community.

They have held successful fundraising events, such as the very popular antiques roadshow in 2015.

>>Charlie Cowling, the librarian in charge of The Rose Archives, is retiring from the College on December 6, 2019.