Marksmen Bid Adieu To Davis Hall
Attention fellow Marksmen (I know nobody else will care, so you can save your comments): St. Mark’s will have a special tribute to Davis Hall starting in about 20 minutes. The building has fond memories for many of us, I’m sure, as it was the main building on campus for more than 60 years. It had classrooms, administration offices, the teachers’ lounge where the only vending machines were before the student commons got ‘em (and you risked the wrath of Coach Reese to sneak in for a Coke), the bookstore where you could buy things on credit that made it seem free, the third-floor study hall, the bathroom where Steve Miller planted the cherry bomb that got him expelled (or so legend had it), the flimsy doors that anyone could unlock on weekends with that secret trick that wasn’t so secret (push in a little bit and then yank like all get out), and so much more. Davis is being retired and replaced by Centennial Hall and the Robert K. Hoffman Center.
My fondest, Davis Hall-related memory: Shortly after the school decided to implement a Suggestion Box, Student Council President Patrick Barta (’90) decided to read the best suggestions at general assembly on Fridays. I forget all of them except this one: “Please move Davis Hall three inches to the right. Thank you.” Barta said there would be crews working on it and it’d be done by the following Monday. Sure enough, it was.
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ALSO there’s a Highland Park event tonight at the Lakewood Theatre thanks to Buddy Boren Class of ‘61 featuring Billy Joe SHine adn the Nightcaps (Wine, Wine, Wine), Jimmy Velvet, Gene Summers and Floyd Dakil. Steve Miller is here also, wish they were all at the same place. Would be a great reunion, oh Boz Scaggs!!
There’s a lot of history in that building. Because it was put to so many different uses, every generation has different memories tied to it. During the early ’70s it was administration offices (I got chewed out by Mr. Connolly in his office once, which was enough to last me a lifetime), classrooms, a print shop, Faculty Lounge, Senior Lounge, Remarker offices, KRSM radio studio (which at least once served the same function as the back of a “Funtime Van” for a Hockadaisy and lucky Marksman), Upper & Middle School art classrooms, student bookstore, and college counseling office. Before my time, it had served as a dormitory. If a building can be the heart of a school, Davis Hall was it for St. Mark’s. It’s a little 1984-ish for the school to say it’s being “retired.” It’s being torn down, which is sad. But it’s probably time for it to go, and the new buildings and campus layout look like they’ll be great.
preppie talk … Boring
Goodbye, D307. I remember doing all my 5th grade sex-ed reading in study hall there for I was too embarrassed to open the book at home.
Funny stuff, Poco McGill. I somwehat fondly recall an apocalyptic brawl pitting Andy Hull and Antonio Washington in one of the gabled, third-floor window ‘nooks’ back in 5th grade.
At least twice, Jim
I remember that suggestion. And the classic poem, “Today is a Chocolate Milk Day.”
Man.
I might have to go run up those stairwells a few times - and go visit that mural in the back.
Ahh, Davis Hall. The memories flood back (at least the ones still in there. Several were lost when Shane Keller bashed my skull into a bench within sight of the building).
I think my favorite was John Gurke locking himself out during his 7AM - 9AM KRSM shift on a Sunday morning. Everyone within a 4 block radius was treated to the sounds of a needle skipping at the end of a Haircut 100 album…
There’s also the time Sr. Egues called me in to discuss my little attendance problem…
Good times…
Good memories, Adam. To add to your list: the murals in the stairwells were pretty cool, and I remember one time where we replaced a work of art in Dr. Ploegstra’s classroom with velvet painting…it took a while for him to notice, and it ended up staying there the rest of the year…
For the record, that a-hole had it coming.
I fondly recall being taught sex education by Mr. Baird on the third floor of Davis as a fifth grader. And I’m still kicking myself, nearly 20 years later, for only scoring a 99% on the final exam because I spelled “epididymis” incorrectly.
The bulldozers are taking down the building right now.