Maple Hall
Maple Hall in 1915
For much of the campus's history, Maple Hall has served the dance program. The hall, built in 1913 and dedicated in February of 1914, served as the gymnasium for the campus from 1914-1936. The building cost $8,500.
An April 1914 edition of The Norm, the student newspaper at the time, reported the opening like so:
The new gym (Maple Hall) opened February 27th 1914. After the Maple dedication by President Ackerman, Miss Laura Taylor, the head of the Physical Education Training Department, presented a program that consisted of "marching, club swinging, exercises and a pantomime interpretation of the beautiful old tale, 'Cinderella'."
Maple Hall became the Student Center when the “new” gym, now known as Old PE, was completed in 1936, then became a gym once again for the campus elementary school in the 1960s.
The dance program and the ROTC shared the space from 1988 until 1996 when Maple Hall became a full-time dance studio and performance space.
In the spring of 2014, Dance major Courtney Martin recreated the May Pole and Garland Dances for Maple Hall’s Centennial Celebration.
May Day dancers
The May Day dancers outside Todd Hall
May Day dancers in Maple Hall
The May Day queen and her attendants around the maypole
Acknowledgements
The primary research for this information was prepared by Courtney Martin (class of 2014) as an Independent Study and by Sharon Oberst, Professor of Dance.
Scanning of the poster images was completed by Marta Herring, WOU Archives student employee.