Washington & Jefferson College is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, which is located in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County, Pennsylvania established by three Presbyterian missionaries to the American frontier in the 1780s: John McMillan, Thaddeus Dod, and Joseph Smith. These early schools eventually grew into two competing academies and colleges, with Canonsburg Academy, later Jefferson College, located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and Washington Academy, later Washington College, in Washington. These two colleges merged in 1865 to form Washington & Jefferson College.
The campus, the historic entrances of which are marked by brick gates, has over 40 buildings. The oldest surviving building is McMillan Hall, which dates to 1793 and is the oldest college building west of the Allegheny Mountains. The main academic building is Old Main, which is topped with two prominent towers. The Old Gym houses a modern exercise facility. McIlvaine Hall, which was originally home to a female seminary, was demolished in 2008 and replaced by the Swanson Science Center. The Olin Fine Arts Center is a 488-seat auditorium. Davis Memorial Hall was once a dormitory and private house. The Swanson Science Center and the Dieter-Porter Life Sciences Building both cater to the scientific curriculum. The Burnett Center and its sister building, the Technology Center, were built in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The first dormitory on campus was Hays Hall. Wade House, Carriage House, and Whitworth House are Victorian homes housing older students. The recently constructed Chestnut Street Housing complex provides housing for the college's Greek organizations. The Presidents' Row is a cluster of ten buildings in the center of campus, several of which are dedicated to theme housing. Two sister dormitories, New Residence Hall and Bica-Ross Hall, feature suite-style living arrangements. Mellon Hall and Upperclass Hall house female and male freshmen, respectively. Other dormitories include Alexander Hall, Cooper Hall, Marshall Hall, North Hall, and Penn House. The college administration utilizes several buildings, including the Admissions House, the Alumni House, and the President's House, which are all modified Victorian homes. The Clark Family Library is the modern library; its predecessor, Thompson Hall, is now used for administrative purposes. The Hub, the Commons, and the Rossin Campus Center provide recreational and dining facilities for students. The athletic and intramural teams utilize Cameron Stadium for football and track. The Henry Memorial Center is used for basketball, wrestling, swimming, and volleyball. Other athletic facilities include Brooks Park, Ross Memorial Park and Alexandre Stadium, and the Janet L. Swanson Tennis Courts.
Campus The modern campus of Washington & Jefferson College is located in the City of Washington and the East Washington Borough, small-town communities about south of Pittsburgh. The 60-acre (0.24 km2) campus is home to more than 40 academic, administrative, recreational, and residential buildings. The northern edge of campus is bound by East Walnut Street, the western edge by South College Street, the southern edge by East Maiden Street, and the eastern edge by South Wade. Portions of the campus extend into the East Washington Historic District.
Four historic gates mark four traditional entrances to campus at East Maiden Street, Wheeling Street, South College Street, and Beau Street. The South College Street gate marks the western entrance to campus, and was built in 1948 by members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the fraternity's founding at Jefferson College in 1848. That brick gate opens to a stone path leading to Old Main. The fraternity refurbished the gate in 1998. The reliefs on the southern gate at East Maiden Street, called the Algeo Gateway, show the roots of the college, with one showing John McMillan and his log college, and the other showing Thaddeus Dod and the founding of Washington Academy.
In 1947, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission installed a historical marker noting the historic importance of the college.
Academic buildings
Old Main
The main academic building on campus is Old Main. It is the predominant building on campus. Its two identical towers, added in 1875, symbolize the union of Washington College and Jefferson College to form Washington & Jefferson College. The towers appear on the college seal, in a stylized version. The college fundraising operation founded "The Old Main Society" in 1996 to recognize individuals who utilize planned giving.
The building's configuration has changed considerably since its construction in 1850, when it became the second building on the campus on Washington Academy. Originally a two-story structure with architecture matching the colonial facade of McMillan Hall, it has since doubled in height, received two towers, and expanded through multiple wing additions. The building currently houses the academic departments of mathematics, history, religious studies, and political science. The office of the College Chaplain, called the "Pastor's Study," is on the ground floor and was used as a main setting for the 1993 George A. Romero film, The Dark Half. Room E contains one of the college's computer labs. The campus' Office of Protection Services is headquartered in Old Main.
McIlvaine Hall
The building later known as McIlvaine Hall was home to the Washington Female Seminary prior to its acquisition by the college in 1940, when the Seminary closed permanently. It was built in 1897 by Pittsburgh-based female architect Elise Mercur Wagner who supervised every facet of its construction. After the college purchased the brick building with a limestone foundation, it was renamed after Judge John Addison McIlvaine, an 1865 graduate of Jefferson College. The John L. Stewart Clock Tower on the northwest corner of the building, named in honor of John L. Stewart, who published of two local newspapers, contained a chime to note the hour. The portico was modeled after the portico of Mount Vernon. The chime room, containing the 26-note Stephen Collins Foster Carillon, was given to the college by the Women's Auxiliary of Allegheny County on Founder's Day in 1937. In the 1980s, the chime system was replaced by a cassette system. The north wing of the building contained a college theater. The tower was topped with a four-faced clock given in memory of David F. McGill, an 1881 alumnus. The building housed classrooms and faculty offices for the Departments of Philosophy, Sociology, and the Environmental Studies Program, as well as some classrooms for English courses. McIlvaine was demolished in summer 2008 to make room for the new Swanson Science Center. Shortly before its demolition, President Tori Haring-Smith took a group of alumni on a tour of the building.
Old Gym
The Old Gym is an historic athletic training center and gymnasium, currently housing the Swanson Wellness Center, a modern exercise facility featuring cardiovascular, resistance, and strength training equipment. The building also features a three-lane indoor track suspended above the main floor. Prior to the construction of the Old Gym, students exercised and engaged in athletics under the grandstands at College Field. The exterior is Cleveland sandstone. In the early years, the interior space was used for basketball and as an auditorium. The basement once held a bowling alley and a swimming pool. Following renovations in 1927, where the interior was re-faced with brick and the swimming pool was expanded, the building was supposed to have been turned into a memorial hall for President James D. Moffat, but those plans never materialized. By 1938, the building was unable to host any intercollegiate athletic events, and during World War II, it was used as the Army Administration School. After the construction of the Henry Memorial Center, the building no longer housed any athletic events. Instead, the Old Gym was used for student activities and maintenance. In 2002, the basketball court area of the Old Gym was renovated and turned into the Swanson Wellness Center.
Davis Memorial Hall Marking the southern border of campus, Davis Memorial Hall abuts U.S. Route 40. The white-painted brick structure was constructed in the American colonial architecture style in 1847 by Alexander Reed, a college trustee, who used it as his residence. It was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. In the early 1930s, it was photographed by Charles M. Stotz in preparation for writing his book, Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania. In 1939, it was acquired by the college and used as a dormitory for 33 students. In the 1940s, it was converted to the Electrical Engineering Building. In 1947, the building was renamed from the Reed Dormitory to Davis Memorial Hall in honor of Harry Hamilton and Tillie Wilkinson Davis, who provided the funds for a major remodeling project. Following that renovation, the building housed offices and classrooms for the Department of English. A duplicate of the original cast-iron fence currently surrounds the building.
Thistle Physics Building The Thistle Physics building was built in 1912 and was named after Dr. Joseph Long Thistle, who donated the funds for its construction. It was home to the Department of Physics until moving to the Swanson Science Center in 2010. The building contained four teaching laboratories, three research labs, lecture rooms, and a fully equipped machine shop. In early May 2018 the college building was in the demolition process, and as of 2024 the land remains vacant.
Lazear Chemistry Hall The Lazear Chemistry Hall was constructed in the Georgian style between 1939 and 1949. It was designed by Frederick Larson and was named after former student Jesse William Lazear, who helped develop the cure for yellow fever. In 2010, the Department of Chemistry moved from Lazear to the new Swanson Science Center. With 50 rooms, including a nationally recognized polymer lab, a darkroom, a 100-seat lecture hall, and a main supply room with an acid room and hazardous chemical vault. The campus chapter of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society produces an annual "Fear at Lazear" haunted house. The door to the Troutman Library on the first floor of Lazear holds the original doorknob from Tara, the main plantation house from the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind. It was donated to the college in May 1940 by the film's producer and Pittsburgh native David O. Selznick, who had family in the Washington area. A faulty heating system and general disrepair spurred the construction of the Swanson Science Center, where the chemistry department moved in 2010.
Dieter-Porter Life Sciences Building