Throwback Thursday has shared many stories of buildings on the historic campus of Western Kentucky University. One not been told to date is the tale of the Cedar House. Lately, it's made the news as the Faculty House. But we're going much further back in time. With help from WKU archives and Tommy Hines, board member of Landmark Trust, here's the story of the over-a-century-old Cedar House.
At a September 1919 Board of Regents meeting, the Western Kentucky Normal School leaders discussed erecting a senior building from the cedars on Normal Heights, which is part of the "Hill." In fact, the area in what is now the Colonnades, the former stadium of the university in its early days, was full so lush vegetation. They called it a jungle on soil enriched with limestone. It was discovered that its large magnificent cedar trees were dying from a blight. Students from the senior classes of 1920 and 1921 offered a solution - build a senior building using those cedars - using plans created by architects D.X. Murphy & Brothers and approved by the university's first president, Henry Hardin Cherry, whose statue sits atop the Hill welcoming all to Cherry Hall.
The students, with help from faculty members L.Y. Lancaster, George Page, Billy Craig, and Y.M. Yarbrough, set out to harvest those cedars and build the senior center. It was completed and utilized as a social center from 1921 to 1923, then as the university library from 1923 to 1928, then as student center from 1928 to 1959. The Cedar House did not become the Faculty House as we know it until 1959, when faculty member Elizabeth Walz was named its official hostess with an apartment on its second floor until 1960. The College Heights Foundation called the house home until 1967, then it became the credit union from 1974 until 1983.
The house got a remodel in 1987, in layout and a new roof. That is the way the house now sits, closed. This reporter, in 2010, participated in an Honors College talent show at the Faculty House. I jumped rope for a room full of students and am glad I didn't jump through the floor. Most all WKU Alum from a generation ago and beyond have memories of the Faculty House, the Cedar House.
According to Tommy Hines, Landmark Trust board member and WKU Alum, the "Cedar House was a hub for student social life from the 1920s to 1950s, the scene of many parties and gatherings. Dr. Cherry even announced plans for the construction of the Kentucky Building at the Cedar House. It is a reminder of the humble nature of Western's past, a stark juxtaposition with today's massive structures, and a testament to the student body's affection for their campus."
As a typical theme in all our Throwback Thursdays, we strive to the tell histories and legacies of southern Kentucky. The Cedar House's preservation for over a century has been so special to generations of WKU students.
That's it for this week, brought to you by the Kentucky Museum on WKU's campus, whose building's construction was announced in this Cedar House.