{"id":12853,"date":"2023-08-31T15:07:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/08\/31\/the-early-years-of-jonas-clark-hall\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T09:28:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:28:37","slug":"the-early-years-of-jonas-clark-hall","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/08\/31\/the-early-years-of-jonas-clark-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"The early years of Jonas Clark Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Construction of Clark University’s “Main Building,” now Jonas Clark Hall, began in 1888, a year after the University was incorporated by an act of the Massachusetts legislature. Noted Worcester architect Stephen Earle was contracted to design the building, but University founder Jonas Clark put his own stamp on it. In fact, according to William Koelsch’s 1987 history of Clark, “Earle told Amy Tanner in 1908 that he wanted to be put on record in her manuscript history of early Clark ‘as expressly disclaiming any responsibility for the building.’”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n Scaffolding surrounds the under-construction “Main Building,” 1888 or 1889.\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Jonas
Jonas Clark’s original campus plan in January 1887, left, and the amended plan in May of the same year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Site
The site of Clark University, circa 1878.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Clark
The Main Building as seen from Main Street in the 1890s, with the street’s trolley tracks visible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Clark
Clark University’s “Main Building,” now Jonas Clark Hall, in 1893.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Clrk
The Main Building with the second campus structure, a fire-resistant chemistry research laboratory, just beyond.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Aerial
Aerial view of Clark University, 1893<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Construction of Clark University’s “Main Building,” now Jonas Clark Hall, began in 1888, a year after the University was incorporated by an act of the Massachusetts legislature. Noted Worcester architect Stephen Earle was contracted to design the building, but University founder Jonas Clark put his own stamp on it. In fact, according to William Koelsch’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12854,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":12854,"section_label":"Clarkives","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[223],"displayed_author":[224],"featured":[],"topic":[234],"class_list":["post-12853","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clark-community","displayed_author-clarknow-staff","topic-clarkives"],"yoast_head":"\nThe early years of Jonas Clark Hall | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2023\/08\/31\/the-early-years-of-jonas-clark-hall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The early years of Jonas Clark Hall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Construction of Clark University’s “Main Building,” now Jonas Clark Hall, began in 1888, a year after the University was incorporated by an act of the Massachusetts legislature. Noted Worcester architect Stephen Earle was contracted to design the building, but University founder Jonas Clark put his own stamp on it. 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