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Building Name
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Snow Health Center
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Description
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Snow Health Center replaced the old building in the context of a rapidly expanding university. The building cost $750,000 and was financed through funds the University borrowed against student fees. Architects designed it to facilitate the practice of preventative medicine on campus. Snow Health Center contained three times the number of beds as the old health center. In normal circumstances, it could house 30 patients in quarters on the third floor but it had space for up to 150 in a disaster situation. A brightly colored abstract mosaic decorates the entryway of the otherwise sober International style exterior. In 1958, the school held a competition in which it invited fine and industrial arts faculty to present ideas for a mosaic. The winning mosaic decorates the wall outside the main entrance to the health center and adds color to the stark international style building.
After 60 years in operation, Snow Health Center officially closed on November 1, 2019. The same year, a private health center, IHA Health Center @ EMU, opened on November 4th.
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Namesake Biography
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Glenadine C. Snow, born in Glenwood, New York, 1878 was the first Medical Director of Health Services at Michigan State Normal School, 1915-1947. Snow earned degrees from Kalamazoo College, Michigan State Normal College, and her medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1921. In 1921 snow also earned her Michigan Certificate of Medical Registration. Dr. Snow had experience as an elementary school teacher, physical education teacher, and was a visiting student doctor from Ann Arbor. She had success in organizing the instructional program in Health Education; the Children's Fund of Michigan offered to employ her to complete a study already underway, on which to frame a program of health instruction for teachers in the four Teachers' Colleges of Michigan. Dr. Snow gave a leave of absence to participate in this study. Dr. Snow is credited as an organizer of the Health program adopted in Michigan's four teacher colleges; and also as an organizer of the Health Services at Michigan State Normal College. She planned the Health Service Building that was constructed in 1939. Dr. Snow is remembered as a dynamic person, with genuine interest in her students who placed emphasis on preventative medicine. Due to ill health, Dr. Snow retired from M.S.N.C. in 1945 and passed away after a heart attack in 1953.
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Building Namesake
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Glenadine C. Snow, Director of Health Services, 1917-1947
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Year Constructed
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1958
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Date Dedicated
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21 November 1959
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Building Functions
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Student Health Care, Mental Health, and Child Care
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Architect
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Swanson and Associates, Bloomfield Hills, MI
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Builder
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A.Z. Shmina and Songs Company, Ann Arbor and Dearborn, MI
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Original Cost
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$725,000
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Architectural Style
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International
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Square Footage
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28,963
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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).
