Penn State Intercom......October 4 , 2001
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Building on the Behrend tradition
Community initiative and a
generous gift brought Penn State to Erie
Editor's note: Most people know the history of Penn State as that of a school chartered in 1855 at the request of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society to apply scientific principles to farming. Since that time, Penn State has grown from that one campus at University Park to 24 locations statewide, and each of those other locations has its own special history. Throughout this academic year, Intercom plans to highlight those histories, as told by experts at each of those campus locations.
By Loretta Brandon
Penn State Erie
The
beautiful wooded campus of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is
a gift to the community from Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who
founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrends lived on
the grounds of the mill along Lake Erie until 1928, when they moved two
miles south to the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which overlooks the city of
Erie. Today, the Glenhill Farm forms the core of Penn State Erie's 725
acres.
| Erie at a glance |
Ernst and Mary farmed
their land, raising horses, sheep and dogs and entertaining neighbors,
friends and travelers from around the world. Ernst died in 1940, but Mary
kept the Glenhill Farm until 1948, when a small committee of Erie businessmen
including J. Elmer Reed, Edwin Nick, John Zurn and Pier Wright met with
her to discuss
the possibility of obtaining the land as a site for a Penn State
center in Erie.
Mary Behrend was impressed that Penn State thought so well of the location that they were willing to raise money to purchase it. She said to her daughter, Harriet, "I think this is something that would be a wonderful memorial to Father -- something he almost could have planned himself. I think I should give it all to the college."
On June 28, 1948,
she officially donated the property to Penn State, and the Glenhill Farm
became the Behrend Center of the Pennsylvania State College. 
By mid-July 1948, T. Reed Ferguson was named to lead the Behrend Center. With two months until the fall semester began, he faced the daunting and immediate task of turning the nine separate structures on the farm into a college, complete with dormitory space and food service. He accomplished his goal, turning the Glenhill Farmhouse into a women's dormitory and dining facilities, turning the lower level of the barn into physics and biology laboratories and classrooms, and the upper level of the barn into the bookstore. The Behrends' garage became the first chemistry lab. That fall, 146 students enrolled for freshman courses.
In December 1948 Ferguson originated Behrend's first tradition, the "Hanging of the Greens," a brief holiday candlelight ceremony continued today by students and college leaders in honor of the Behrend family.
The people of Erie supported Behrend Center in 1952 by raising $75,000 to erect a building to accommodate a growing range of academic and co-curricular activities. In addition to being used as a gymnasium, the new Erie Hall (named for the people of Erie) served as an assembly hall, a theatre for dramatic and musical productions, and an armory for ROTC.
In 1954 Irvin H. Kochel, former administrator of the Harrisburg Center, was appointed administrative head of the Behrend Center. During his 27 years of leadership, enrollment grew, new buildings were added and in 1973 Behrend Center became a four-year, degree-granting college of Penn State.
The rich history of the Behrend family and Penn State Erie is preserved in the historic circle at the center of the campus, but the edges of the college have pushed outward with new academic buildings, a new library, a new engineering complex, and more recently with Knowledge Park, the Junker Center athletic complex and the Larry and Kathryn Smith Chapel. The new chapel soon will include the 48-bell Floyd and Juanita Smith Carillon and a pipe organ built by the Martin Ott Co. of St. Louis. Plans for a $30 million Research and Economic Development Center now are being developed, and construction is expected to begin next year.
Loretta Brandon can be reached at lzb6@psu.edu.
Erie at a glance
* Jack D. Burke, interim provost and dean
* Robert W. Light, associate dean
* 725-acre campus in suburban Harborcreek Township
* Student enrollment of about 3,800
* 178 full-time and 75 part-time faculty
* Twenty-nine baccalaureate majors, six associate degrees, two graduate degrees
* Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, a 200-acre site for knowledge-based companies
* Twenty-one varsity sports
* 70 student clubs and organizations