Not as new...still cool....and in a new home

During the IMC launch last week, the IMC Blog had the chance to sit down and listen to Meredith Jones-Gray share some great stories about presidential houses at Andrews University (the IMC offices are now housed in a “mansion” first built for Percy W. Christian, who was president of Emmanuel Missionary College between 1950 and 1955).

Gray, author of “As We Set Forth,” shared no small number of wondrous stories, ranging from the president who raised chickens to her own personal connection with the first presidential house built on campus, the Sutherland House (it was there that she was first brought home after she was first born by her parents, then faculty members here).

During the presentation, she reflected briefly on the old sign that once welcomed generations of students to Andrews University, a sign first used during Andrews’ very first days as a university in the early 1960s. That sign was designed by then President Floyd O. Rittenhouse (who was occasionally nicknamed "Scribbleshack" by the students then attending Andrews), and until this year, the sign marked the entrance to University Boulevard (once you get to the map, click on street view to see the sign in its original location).

When the new entrance was opened (see below), the original Andrews University sign was moved behind President Christian's old “mansion” (again, home to Integrated Marketing & Communication and world headquarters for the IMC Blog), where it lives on in a sort of outdoor sign museum, with a gallery of one exhibit (as seen in this great shot taken earlier this year by Martin Lee).

posted by Stephen Payne at 5:34 PM