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Building Name
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Goodison Hall
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Description
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Goodison Residence Hall and King Residence Hall were among the first dormitories built on Eastern Michigan's campus. According to a brochure describing the new housing, the buildings had been designed so that students may enjoy not only the modern conveniences, but also the atmosphere of a cultured home and a program of worthwhile activities. Photographs of the work in process show that they were built with Works Progress Administration labor. The WPA was established to bring the unemployed back to work during the Great Depression. Because of his influence, President John M. Munson was able to use WPA labor for a number of the necessary improvements on campus. These architects and laborers were instrumental in developing the brick and stone style popular on the southern side of the campus. These two dormitories, constructed as women's housing were designed in the shape of two opposing Us enclosing a private courtyard for recreation, similar to the one surviving in the Munson-Brown Apartments. According to the floor plans, architects created the first two-room dormitory suites in the state. Each suite included a bedroom with an adjoining study. Furnishings included a twin-sized maple bed for each student with mattress, box spring, and pillow; a built in dresser and closet; a bedside rug; and a dressing table. The study room contained a double desk with a shelf for a typewriter or books, a bookcase, study chair, and easy chair. Halls shared bathrooms that included an electric hairdryer. Other convinces included five date parlors,? and a laundry room with tubs, ironing boards and clothes dryers. The complex included a cafeteria and dining room for meals. Lunch was served cafeteria style but dinner was a more elaborate affair with assigned tables and a student hostess to oversee the meal at each one. The school attempted to create a sense of gentility in their dormitories. For all these amenities, room and board cost $144 per semester, payable in two installments of $72.00 each.
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Namesake Biography
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Berta Goodison (October 8, 1868-October 17, 1937) was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan to John and Harriet (Hawkins) Goodison. Her father was the head of the Michigan State Normal College Art and Geography Departments. Goodison received her education at the Detroit School of Arts, 1890-1892, Michigan Normal School, 1892-1894, studied at Harvard University; Teachers College, Columbia University; completed studio work in Paris and Florence; and was a student of William M. Chase, John Carlson Randell Davey, George William Browne, and Ernest Thrum. From 1894-1896, Goodison was the Perceptress at Michigan High School in Vicksburg, and from 1896-1900, she taught at the Michigan Public Schools in Marquette as the Supervisor of Drawing. She returned to her roots in Ypsilanti in 1900, becoming an instructor in drawing and a supervisor of art at M.S.N.C., until 1917 when she became Head of the Art Department from 1918-1937. In October of 1931, she won a medal at the State Fair for her painting of an African American woman paring apples beside a table, and in February of 1934, Goodison was elected to membership in the Detroit Society of Women Painters and asked to hold a private exhibit in Detroit. She also painted the portraits of Dr. Sherzer and Dr. D'Ooge. Goodison died in 1937.
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Building Namesake
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Bertha Goodison, Head of the Art Department, 1912; taught from 1900 - 1937
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Year Constructed
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1939
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Date Dedicated
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1939
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Building Functions
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Residence Hall for women; office space
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Architect
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R.S. Gerganoff, Ypsilanti, MI
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Original Cost
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707752
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Architectural Style
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WPA Modern
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Square Footage
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65706
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Rights
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the owner, Eastern Michigan University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).
