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Building Name
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Starkweather Hall
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Description
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The Student Christian Association (SCA) was organized in 1853, the same year EMU opened. Over the next forty years, the SCA continued to grow and by 1892, its members were looking for a building of their own. The students asked local philanthropist Mary Anne Starkweather for financial assistance. Mrs. Starkweather had planned to donate $10,000 to the Michigan State Normal School (MSNS) for a new science facility in her will; however, following the appeal of the SCA, she offered to provide the funds to erect a building for them. The MSNS was the first teachers college in the United States to have a building designated for religious activities. Starkweather Hall, as it came to be known, was fully outfitted for the students. The first floor contained rooms for receptions or dining, a dressing room, a library, and a few classrooms. These rooms were separated by rolling partitions that could be opened to enlarge the space. A kitchen was also installed so that students could cook meals for the dining area. Upstairs, plans called for a large assembly room and a keeper's room rented to a student who looked after the building. All of the hardware was custom made for the building. Today original doorknobs remain in certain parts of the building, bearing the in initials of the Student Christian Association (SCA). The building housed the Honors College until December 2015. Starkweather is the oldest remaining on-campus and is currently (2024) not utilized by EMU in any capacity.
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Namesake Biography
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Mary Ann Theressa Newberry Starkweather (1819-1897), daughter of Elihu Newberry, was born September 22, 1819, in Sangerfield, Oneida County, New York. She married John Starkweather in 1839. From 1839-1841, the Starkweather's lived in Marshall, Michigan, where John served as Assistant Supervisor of Public Instruction under John Davis Pierce. In 1841, the Starkweathers moved to Ypsilanti where they became very active citizens and eventually benefactors of the community. Mary Ann Starkweather was the heiress to her uncle, Walter Loomis Newberry. She was a sister to the Honorable John S. Newberry who gave his name to the town of Newberry in Luce County in the Upper Peninsula. John Newberry was a Detroit entrepreneur and former congressman, who in 1882 joined together several businessmen and formed Vulcan Furnace Company (1882-1945) which turned hardwood into charcoal for iron smelting. During her lifetime, Mary Ann Starkweather gave generously to the city of Ypsilanti. Some of her gifts include, the Starkweather Memorial Chapel at Highland Cemetery, dedicated 1889; a public fountain on Huron Street, the Ladies Library next to St. Luke's Episcopal Church (on North Huron Street, now a restored building housing commercial offices and housing a large Tiffany window, which faces North Huron Street); the Soldiers Monument in Highland Cemetery; and Starkweather Hall on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Starkweather died September 30, 1897, and was buried next to her husband, in the family plot just behind the Starkweather Chapel in Highland Cemetery.
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Building Namesake
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Mary Anne Starkweather, Local Philanthropist
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Year Constructed
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1896
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Date Dedicated
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26 March 1897
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Architect
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Malcomson and Higginbotham, Detroit, MI
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Original Cost
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$10,000
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Architectural Style
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Richardsonian Romanesque
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Square Footage
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6.726
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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).
