Hanby Hall, 1961

I hope many of you were able to hear archivist Stephen Grinch and his presentation on Sanders Frye on March 27.  One of the many buildings on the Otterbein campus that Frye oversaw was Hanby Hall.  A student postcard from June 1962 survives and gives hints as to its origin:

The place [Otterbein College] is beautiful especially Hanby, a new dorm, that’s where I’m staying (4th floor).  Everyone is grand and as friendly as back home.[1]

 The card was mailed to Byesville in Guernsey County. The recipients were members of a prominent Otterbein family; the sender does not give her full name, and I will leave her to her anonymity.

 Hanby Hall was “new,” but not, as they used to say, “brand spanking” new.  The new dorm had been planned and financed by Sanders Frye, with help from the Community Facilities Administration.  The federal agency provided half a million dollars to match Otterbein’s $75K.  Thus, the private school received federal help in building a new dorm that could house 132 female students.[2]  

 Built during 1961, the dorm was formally dedicated on November 4th of that year.  Former president, and now bishop J. Gordon Howe presided at the “Service of Dedication.”  Davis, Sanders, Garst, and Scott halls were also dedicated that day, but it was to Hanby Hall that the audience went for tea and a reception.  The public was invited to see the new building from 3 to 5 pm that same day.[3]

 Surprisingly, perhaps, the new building was named not for tunesmith Benjamin Hanby, but for his wife, Mary Kate Winter Hanby (class of 1857). Mrs. Hanby was one of two women that made up the first graduating class of the brave little frontier college.  Her husband died young in 1867; she lived on and on, finally dying in 1930![4]

 Hanby Hall has had its share of moments.  In 1972, a suspected deer broke in through a lounge window, although there was no positive identification (just blood-soaked fur).  On November 1, 1980, a co-ed was assaulted by someone wearing a ski mask.  The student was not seriously injured, but the community closed ranks; four hour shifts staffed by fraternity men kept watch on Hanby Hall and its residents for the rest of the term.[5]  

 Evidently, goodwill is a facet of Otterbein University.  Whether it was the “grand and friendly” campus of our 1962 postcard writer or the fraternity men keeping the hall residents safe in 1980, Otterbein looks after her own. 

Alan Borer

[1] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42095795/mary_kathryn-hanby

[2] Vertical File.

[3] Author’s collection.

 [4] Unidentified newspaper clipping, circa 1985.  Otterbein University Archives, Vertical File.

[5] Service of Dedication program, November 4, 1961.  Otterbein University Archives, Vertical File.