Harkness Hall in 1955

Admiral William Harkness	Harkness Hall in 1963 with new third floor

Pictures from the NROTC Armory in Harness Hall

The University explored hosting military training in 1862 at the request of the Regents of the State University, but nothing came of it.  Many students enlisted in the Army, including William C. Morey. 

During World War I the University participated in the Student Army Training Corps, which began operating on campus on October 1, 1918.   Sixty soldiers were housed in Kendrick Hall and another ninety-two in a temporary wooden barracks.  The program was discontinued after the Armistice on November 11th and the barracks was torn down and sold for scrap.  Colleges participating in S.A.T.C  were given the opportunity to apply for a new Reserve Office Training Corps program, but the University administration felt that "We do not at present see how, in times of peace, military training and academic work can be carried on simultaneously with advantage.". 

A proposal to develop an ROTC program on campus was suggested in 1935, but did not secure much support.

The onset of World War II resulted in a large demand for Navy and Marine Corps officers, and the V-12 Navy College Training Program was developed in December 1942.  The Army had a similar program, but the Navy was preferable for many colleges as it allowed V-12 students to attend classes with civilian students and also participate in athletics.  Programs were established at 131 colleges, most of which were smaller, private institutions.  The program began on July 1, 1943 and the students were housed in Burton, Crosby, Alumni Gym, Fauver Stadium, and fraternity houses. Enrollment reached a peak of 640 in mid-1944, after which the program began to wind down.  As was the case in World War I, institutions were given the opportunity to host a Navy ROTC unit, and this time the University became one of 25 campuses that were approved to host Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps units in 1945.

The NROTC program began in September 1945 and a dedicated building was opened in June 1946 and named after Admiral William Harkness, a well-known Navy astronomer who was an 1858 graduate of the University. The building was the first such building on a civilian campus.  The two-story building housed classrooms, offices, a Naval library, a target range, and a two-story armory on the south side with ten high windows.  The armory equipment included a Mark 12 5"/38 caliber gun with a dual-purpose mount, a Mark 37 gun director, and a navigational bridge.

In 1953 the University hired noted photographer Ansel Adams to take pictures of the campus for a promotional book. One picture was of the 5-inch gun in the Harkness armory (middle picture in the top row above). 

An Air Force ROTC program was established in 1951 in basement of Rush Rhees Library where the Art & Music Library is now located.  The reunion of the colleges in 1955 resulted in the Air Force program also moving into Harkness.   

The removal of the obsolete 5-inch gun in September 1961 allowed the University to remodel the building by dividing the armory space into two floors and adding a third floor.  The ten high windows can still be seen on the south side of the building, with panels installed where the new floor was built.    

The Vietnam era saw a lot of anti-war protests on American college campuses and anger was often directed to campus ROTC programs.  Some faculty in Harkness took their research home every night due to their fear that the building would be burned, as some ROTC buildings were after the Cambodia incursion and Kent State shootings in May 1970.  Declining enrollment during the Vietnam era led to the discontinuance of the Air Force ROTC Program on campus in 1970, and declining Navy enrollments resulted in the Navy ROTC moving to Fauver Stadium in the Fall of 1970.  The program then moved to Morey Hall in the Fall of 1975 and from there to Todd Union before moving back to Morey in 1987.

References
1862 Report of the Regents of the University on Military Instruction in the College and Higher Institutions of Learning, in the State, in Response to the Resolution of the Assembly of January 24th, 1862.  March 7, 1862.
Pages 16-19:  University of Rochester

1862 "Military Instruction in Colleges - The University of Rochester," Rochester Union & Advertiser, March 26, 1862, Page 2.

1885 Historical and Statistical Record of the University of the State of New York: During the Century from 1784 to 1884, by Franklin Benjamin Hough
Pages 433-438:  Military Instruction in Academies

1903 Adm William Harkness (1837-1903) Grave in Fishkill Road Cemetery, Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York

1903 "Astronomer Harkness Dead, Retired Rear Admiral of the United States, Who Had Charge of the Observatory in Washington," The New York Times, March 1, 1903, Page 7.

1903 "William Harkness. 1837–1903," by R. S. Woodward, Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences 5:381-383 (1903)

1913 "Military Training Camps for College Students," Buffalo Commercial, April 21, 1913, Page 1.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Presidio of Monterey, California.

1914 "Uncle Sam Plans Two More Camps," The Campus, May 12, 1914, Page 5
Rochester Men to be Sent to One of Military Instruction Camps at Burlington, Vermont or Monterey, California

1914 "Uncle Sam Training Students in Science of War," Buffalo Sunday Morning News, August 15, 1914, Page 17.
Burlington, Vermont

1915 "Rochester Men at Student Army Camp," The Campus, January 21, 1915, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1915 "Students Respond to Military Call," The Campus, May 6, 1915, Page 1 | Part 2 |
Rochester First College to Form Voluntary Organization

1916 "Plattsburg Boosted," The Campus, May 11, 1916, Page 3

1916 "Sixteen Rochester Men Attend Various Encampments at Plattsburgh," The Campus, September 21, 1916, Page 2

1916 "Typhoid Fever Inoculation Holds No Pleasure," The Campus, November 16, 1916, Page 2
Live at Plattsburgh Camp

1919 "University of Rochester in the World War," by President Rush Rhees, from Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, June 5, 1919

1935 "Proposal of University ROTC Unit Draws Censure and Commendation," The Campus, May 10, 1935, Page 3

1935 "An ROTC Unit At Rochester?" The Campus, May 10, 1935, Page 6

1937 "Centenary of William Harkness, 1837–1903," Nature 140: 1004 (1937)

1942-1945 Newsletter to University of Rochester Men in the Service

1944 "Civilians to get Campus Rooms," Democrat and Chronicle, September 23, 1944, Page 10.

1945 "Rochester Selected for Naval ROTC Unit," The Campus, May 4, 1945, Page 1.

1945 "329 Enrolled Under NROTC, Naval Science Department Begins," Rochester Review 23(6):15 (November-December 1945)
Quietly and without ceremony, the Men's College underwent a major change with the beginning of the November term.
That occasion marked the full-scale introduction of the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit at the River Campus, the first military organization at the University during peacetime since its founding.
There are 329 students in the NROTC, all formerly in the Navy V -12. Of these, 212 are men who were previously in V-12 at the Men's College, and the others are transfers from V-12 units at Colgate, Bucknell, Middlebury, Trinity, and Stevens Institute. In addition, there are 33 V -12 engineers who are remaining to finish their eight terms, and 18 V-12 students at the Medical School, for a total of 380 Navy students in the University.
The Rochester NROTC unit is one of 52 in colleges and universities throughout the country, and is one of 27 new units authorized by the Navy Department some months ago.
The University has set up a new Department of Naval Science, headed by Capt. George C. Towner, USN, as professor of naval science. On Captain Towner's staff are 12 officers, ranging from lieutenants (j. g. ) to commander, and about 20 enlisted men. Six of the officers are instructors in naval science and tactics. Others include instructors in gunnery, supply officers, disbursing personnel, drill officers, and so on.
Work is being rushed on the new naval science building near the Engineering Building to have it completed early in 1946. It will contain an armory, shooting gallery, classrooms, offices and other facilities for the naval students and staff. A five-inch gun and a three-inch gun to be placed in the armory already have arrived on the campus, along with quantities of other ordnance with an estimated value of around a million dollars.
The normal size of the NROTC unit will be about 300. The present set-up, under which the trainees receive tuition and monthly base pay, will continue until next July. What changes will be made then will be determined by Congressional action.
Some hint of what the Navy Department has in mind was given in recent news reports on a far-reaching plan to educate thousands of officers for the powerful post-war Navy which has been approved by Navy Secretary Forrestal. Legislation to carry it out was expected to be introduced shortly.
The plan calls for putting officer procurement on as broad a base as possible, drawing candidates from the Naval Academy, Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps colleges and other accredited institution.,. It would double the present output of the Naval Academy, although overall, the post-war Navy officers' strength would comprise not more than 50 per cent academy graduates, Navy officials said.

1946 "UR to Name New Hall for Adm. Harkness," Democrat and Chronicle, February 6, 1946, Page 15.

1946 "Naval Dignitaries to be present at Dedication of Harkness Hall, The Campus, May 10, 1946, Page 4.
High-ranking representatives the U. S. Navy Department will come to the University of Rochester on Saturday, June 1, for the dedication of the University's new naval science building on the River Campus.
The building will be named Harkness Hall in memory of Rear Admiral William Harkness, USN, a graduate of the University in the class of 1858 who served as astronomical director of the U. S. Naval Observatory and was an international authority on naval astronomy. A plaque paying tribute to him will be placed in the building.
The edifice is said to be the first of its kind to be built at any of the colleges and universities throughout the country designated as NROTC center to provide officers for the peacetime U.S. Navy, and the occasion will serve to introduce the Navy's program to encourage college students to enroll in the NROTC.
Officers of other NROTC units in the Third Naval District, which includes Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell and Rensselaer, and of the District headquarters in New York City also have been invited to attend the dedication.
A review will be staged by the Rochester unit and its band for the visiting dignitaries in exercises in Eastman Quadrangle at the River Campus preceding the dedication address at Harkness Hall.
The public is invited to attend, snd open house will be conducted in Harkness Hall following the rites to permit inspection of the building and its facilities for instruction in naval science and tactics.
Ordnance equipment will include a navigational bridge, a five-inch .38 caliber dual purpose surface and anti-aircraft gun, many other pieces in the armory.
The building also houses classrooms for naval instruction, small stores room, offices for instructors, a target range, and a Naval reference library.
George C. Towner, USN, is professor of naval science and tactics for the Rochester NROTC and Comdr. Wendell H. Froling, USN, is executive officer.

1946 "Navy Praises New UR Hall in Dedication," Democrat and Chronicle, June 2, 1946, Page 1B | Part 2 |
Only the scheduled drone of planes overhead was missing as smartly-uniformed NROTC and V-12 students, their band, color guard, honor guard and side boys, along with staff and visiting officers, formed in the Eastman Quadrangle at precisely 2 p. m. to wait  the arrival of the visiting dignitaries. A heavy overcast, providing a ceiling of only 800 feet, prevented the squadron, of 24 Navy bomber fighters from staging the half-hour exhibition of intricate maneuvers that had been planned over the campus.

1946 "Asst. Sec. of Navy Dedicates Harkness Hall," The Campus, June 7, 1946, Page 1. | Part 2 |

1946 "'Navy at Rochester to Stay,' says Admiral in Dedicating University's Harkness Hall," Rochester Review 23(9):16-17 (June-July 1946)

1951 "UR to apply for Air Fortc ROTC if student vote approves plan," The Campus, March 2, 1951, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1951 "U of R Selected to be AFROTC Training Center," Campus Times, April 27, 1951, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1951 "154 Join AFROTC for 4-year Course," Campus Times, September 28, 1951, Page 2.

1952 "Air and Navy ROTC Units Play Large Part on Campus," The Campus, September 26, 1952, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1953 Creative Change – for the University Rochester and the Community, Text by Andrew D. Wolf, Photography by Ansel Adams.
Page 19:  Picture of 5-inch gun in Harkness Hall.

1955 "Officer Training Now Regarded as Integral Part of College Life," Rochester Review 16(3):12 (January 1955) | Cover |

1955 "ROTC Brings Both Benefits, Educational Problems," by Dr. J. Edward Hoffmeister, Dean of the College of Arts and Science, Rochester Review 16(3):13-15 (January 1955) | Cover |

1955 "Moving Nears Close; Began Last April 7," Campus Times, November 15, 1955, Page 2.
Material needed by the fine arts classes of the Arts College was moved from Memorial Art Gallery into space vacated by the ARROTC unit in Rush Rhee Library.  In Harkness Hall, the NROTC offices had to move into other quarters in that building to make room for the AFROTC staff which was shifted from the basement of Rush Rhees.

1955 "Air Force ROTC Unit to Disband; Economy Move Closes UR Program," Campus Times, December 9, 1955, Page 1.

1955 "Students Offer Comment on ROTC Disbandment," Campus Times, December 13, 1955, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1956 "Air ROTC Remains," Rochester Review 17(4):7 (March 1956)

1957 "Color Girl Spices ROTC Ceremony," Campus Times, May 3, 1957, Page 3.

1961 "UR Exchanges Big Navy gun for Class Space," Democrat and Chronicle, September 1, 1961, Page 16.

1962 "$665,000 Expansion for Harkness Hall," University Record. 2(2):1 (February 1962)

1962 "UR to Renovate Harkness to Add Offices, Classrooms," Campus Times, February 20, 1962, Page 2.
The UR this spring will undertake a $665,000 remodeling and expansion project at Harkness Hall, naval and air science building on the River Campus, Dr. McCrea Hazlett, University Provost, announced last week.
The project, which has been in the planning stage since the fall of 1960, will include major renovation of the two-story building and addition of a third story.
Dr. Hazlett said that the new Harkness Hall facilities will help to meet the need for additional classrooms and offices for the University's expanding programs in anthropology and sociology, economics, and political science, and will make it possible for the first time to house these related departments in the same building. Dr. Hazlett noted that facilities for the social sciences are among the high priority needs of the $9.9 million Greater University Program initiated in the fall of 1959 to meet the University's requirements as projected through 1965.
The new areas of the building are expected to be ready for occupancy next fall, Dr. Hazlett stated.  The Hall will continue to house the University's Navy and Air Force ROTC units.
Navy Gun Removed
Dr. Hazlett explained that renovation of Harkness Hall was made possible by the removal of an outmoded World War II gun which, until this fall, had occupied a two-story area of the building known as the Armory. The gun, which was no longer needed for the University's naval science program, was removed by the Navy last September.
According to Roger Austin, the University's architect, some 4,000 square feet of the first floor of the former Armory will be converted into classroom space for the Naval and Air Force Reserve Training programs and for general University use, and will also provide service and storage facilities for the air and naval units. The remaining first-floor area will continue to be used for offices by the Naval and Air Force ROTC units.
The addition of some 4,000 square feet of floor space to the upper area of the former Armory will provide undergraduate classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty offices, and graduate student rooms for the Department of Economics.
Third Floor
The new third floor, providing some 12,000 square feet of floor area, will house undergraduate classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty and graduate student offices, laboratory and conference facilities for the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and the Department of Political Science.
Austin said that working drawings for the project will be made by Waasdorp, Northrup and Kaelbee.
Completed in 1946, Harkness Hall at that time was the first building of its kind (except for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis) devoted entirely to naval science and tactics.

1962 Rochester Review 24(3):16 (February-March 1962)
Harkness Hall, long devoted to the military sciences, will assume a partially civilian air next fall following extensive remodeling and expansion of the two-story building.
Renovation of the hall will provide needed space for additional classrooms and offices for the University's expanding programs in anthropology and sociology, economics, and political science, and will, for the first time, permit these related departments to be housed in the same building. The Navy and Air Force ROTC units will continue to use the hall.
The $665,000 remodeling project will include the addition of a third story and renovation of a two-story area within the building formerly occupied by an outmoded gun no longer needed in the naval science program.

1966 "NROTC Program Added at UR," Democrat and Chronicle, March 7, 1966, Page 4C.
University of Rochester's department of naval science has added a two-year contract Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program leading to a reserved commission in the Navy or Marine Corps. Students in the program are classified as students taking military training. Prior to the junior year those in the advanced program will take six weeks of training at a university. Costs plus a stipend are paid during the study of naval history and weapons. Obligation after commissioning is three years active duty.

1967 "NROTC Dedicates Wardroom to King," Campus Times, November 17, 1967, Page 1 | Part 2 |
2nd Lt. Thomas G. King, USMC, Class of 1966, died in action in Viet Nam on July 2, 1967.

1969 "Contract Plan Aids UR AFROTC; NROTC in Downward Trend," Campus Times, January 17, 1969, Page 2.

1969 "Colleges to Decide on ROTC," Democrat and Chronicle, August 2, 1969, Page 2B.
86-page report released yesterday.

1970 "UR to Drop Air Force ROTC," Campus Times, March 24, 1970, Page 1
Two-year training course for upperclassmen presently has only nine seniors and eight juniors, and nine of these seventeen cadets are St. John Fisher college students.

1970 "Thompson Announces Revised Construction Schedule for Major Building and Renovation Projects," Currents, October 15, 1970.
Renovation of areas of Fauver Stadium for the Dept. of Fine Arts and for NROTC--to be completed in November, 1970.

1973 "NROTC Enrollment Rises," Campus Times, February 14, 1973, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1974 "NROTC Interest Increases," Campus Times, November 7, 1974, Page 1 | Part 2 |
The University of Rochester will commission its first woman this May.

1975 "UR May Raze Morey Annex This Summer," Campus Times, April 15, 1975, Page 1. | Page 2 |
First and second floors of Morey are empty

1975 "Energy Cuts Generate Savings," Campus Times, September 16, 1975, Page 1.
As part of this program, Fauver Stadium is being vacated, with the Naval Science department moving to Morey.

1976 "Student Acceptance Achieved by ROTC," Campus Times, February 5, 1976, Page 6

1977 History of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962, by Arthur J. May.  Expanded edition with notes
Chapter 30, Education for Victory
When it was learned that the Navy intended to discontinue the V-12 on July 1, 1945--later extended to June 30, 1946--the University authorities assiduously sought a substitute in the form of a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). The board of trustees authorized the construction of a building for this purpose at a cost of $200,000, three-eighths of which, it was erroneously imagined, would be borne by the federal government.
The prospect of a special building along with the excellent record of the U. of R. in operating the V-12 were important factors in obtaining an NROTC.
Scores of institutions put in bids for a NROTC unit, and early in May of 1945 news came that twenty-five colleges and universities across the country had been selected, Rochester among them, though having the smallest student body of the lot. It was understood that the NROTC would contain approximately 300 men, about half of them initially transferred from the V-12.
The NROTC program, it may be pointed out, involved a permanent scheme of instruction in basic naval subjects coupled, with conventional academic disciplines. From the standpoint of the Navy, the fundamental objective was to turn out men as junior officers for the fleet or the marine corps. As a navy official put the matter, the NROTC would not "upset the [traditional] educational program, but [would] rather work with it. We look to the colleges for academic leadership," he explained, "and while the Navy has a particular interest in the teaching of naval science, it seeks the support and counsel of university faculties in making that department educationally successful. "
A department of naval science and tactics, manned by professional officers, would be established and a course on "The Foundations of National Power" would be introduced to the curriculum. Navy enrollees, who would receive stipends and uniforms from the government, might obtain a bachelor's degree and commissions as ensigns, to be followed by a term of sea duty. In November of 1945 the NROTC at Rochester, which became a lasting feature of the River Campus landscape, came into being.
Chapter 33, The First Century Ends
The post-war years witnessed the biggest University construction enterprises and real estate transactions since the occupation of the River Campus in 1930. First in line was a naval science building, erected to the south of Rhees Library and called Harkness Hall in memory of Rear-Admiral William Harkness of the famous University class of 1858. On the exterior the three-storied structure conformed to standard River Campus architecture. Laid out like a ship, the hall contained offices and classrooms, a naval library, a practice range, navigation instruments, and in the basement equipment to teach naval tactics; the top floor was not put to immediate use. Rising prices pushed the cost of the building and equipment to fifty percent above the original estimates, and despite prolonged negotiations the Navy Department refused to bear part of the expense. As the climax of the dedicatory exercises in June of 1946, the NROTC staged a gala military ball.
When the U.S. Air Force broached the question of establishing a reserve corps at Rochester, the administration, feeling that the NROTC was as much as could be handled properly, replied in the negative. Presently, however, the attitude changed, and, supported by overwhelmingly favorable polls of the college faculty and the undergraduates, application for a unit was made. Early in 1951, an AFROTC unit was officially authorized to commence operations in the autumn of that year; technical training would about equal that required of the NROTC.
Chapter 35, Reunion of the Colleges
Harkness Hall, hitherto the private preserve of the NROTC, was now shared with the AROTC.
Chapter 36, River Campus Panorama
The NROTC and AFROTC continued as integral parts of the College of Arts and Science, and men who enrolled were eligible for draft deferment. The NROTC was made up of two types of students: first, regulars, who received tuition, books, uniforms and a stipend of $600 each year, from the U.S. Navy, and who were committed to three cruises or periods of summer training, lasting six to eight weeks. On completion of work for the baccalaureate degree, they were commissioned Naval ensigns, or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps, and went on active duty for four years. The second group, contract students, were given uniforms, naval science textbooks and, as upperclassmen, subsistence allowances. In return, they spent part of one summer on a training cruise and served, if so ordered, as officers for two years in the Naval Reserve or three years in the Marine Corps Reserve; alternatively, if summoned, they had to spend two years on active duty. The class of 1962, for instance, had twenty regular and thirty-two contract students. (Civilians might pursue courses in naval science and would then become eligible to enter the NROTC as contract students.) Stand-By , the NROTC student paper, published items of technical importance or social interest, and on the 100th anniversary of the graduation of Admiral William Harkness, 1858, patron saint of the unit, as it were, a biographical tribute was printed.
Major NROTC social functions (including reviews and springtime military ball) were shared with the AFROTC, whose enrollment hovered just over the hundred mark. The program was divided into two parts: underclass or basic training, for which students were issued uniforms, and underclass or advanced work. Men in this group had one summer training period, received complete uniforms and $600; upon satisfactory fulfillment of academic and air force requirements, they were commissioned second lieutenants in the Air Force Reserve. From Washington came word that the AROTC would be discontinued in 1957, but the order was soon revoked.

1983 "NROTC Provides Military, Academic Alternative," Campus Times, February 11, 1983, Page 7

1987 The Navy V-12 Program: leadership for a lifetime, by James G. Schneider | also here |
Pages 399-400:  University of Rochester

1988 "NROTC hazing and frat hazing:  Is there a difference?" Campus Times, April 28, 1988, Page 9A

1992 "Discrimination may put ROTC at risk," Campus Times, April 9, 1992, Page 1

1998 "Not just early mornings," Campus Times, April 2, 1998, Page 11 | Part 2 |

2018 "‘I’ve Got to Do Something for Uncle Sam’," Rochester Review 81(1) (Fall 2018)

2020 "Salute to NROTC," by Jim Mandelaro, Rochester Review 82(2):24-29 (Winter 2020)
One of the longest-running, continuous programs in the country, the University’s Naval ROTC unit celebrates 75 years of leadership.

© 2021 Morris A. Pierce