Fundraising for Alumni Hall surpasses $8 million

Knox College has surpassed the $8-million-mark in its fundraising drive to renovate its historic Alumni Hall as a "gateway" to campus and the full range of student's academic and alumni experience.

"Thanks to the leadership of Trustee Mark Kleine as chair of the Gateway Task Force and the generosity of Knox alumni and friends of the College, gifts and pledges now stand at more than $8-million, toward our estimated goal of $11-million," Knox College President Teresa Amott announced at a reception Friday, October 19, on the Knox campus during the College's Homecoming 2012 festivities

Alumni Hall Renovation Update
In the past six months, Knox has reconstructed the massive curved front drive and rebuilt four of the five large stone stairways on the exterior of the 123-year-old building. The multi-faceted slate roof was restored in the 1990s and the exterior brickwork and windows in the mid-2000s.

The next phase of the project renovates the interior of the 10,000-square-foot building to house several of Knox's signature educational programs, as well as resources for prospective students and alumni, serving both as a gateway to a Knox education and the gateway to life after Knox for the College's graduates.

Alumni Hall to Unite All Facets of a Knox Experience
The vision for a renovated Alumni Hall is one that parallels the pathway of  a student's experience at Knox -- starting with the admission office, and flowing through centers that support and facilitate student research, global studies and community service, and culminating in offices that link students with careers and their fellow alumni.

In addition, visitors to Alumni Hall will learn about the heritage of Knox College and the City of Galesburg, through research and programming at the Lincoln Studies Center Alumni Hall and museum-quality displays housed within the building.

Architects are completing plans and construction documents, Amott said, and work will commence when the $11 million goal in cash and pledges is reached. At Homecoming 2011, Amott announced the kick off of the gateway fundraising with $2 million in gifts.

History of Alumni Hall
Construction of Alumni Hall was launched in 1889 with funding from the Knox College Alumni Association and two student literary societies, which occupied spacious wings on either side of a central auditorium. It was designed by famed architect E.E. Meyers, who also designed the Knox County Courthouse and several state capitols. The cornerstone was laid in 1890 by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison. In his dedicatory remarks, President Harrison praised Knox, then barely 50-years-old, for its "great usefulness," and stated: "Education was early in the thought of the framers of our Constitution as one of the best, if not the only guarantee of their perpetuation."