Markers on The Green completed

5:05 p.m., Oct. 25, 2005--Begun in the summer of 2004, the project of historical markers placed near major buildings on The Green has been completed with recent installations at Robinson, Warner, Laurel and Hartshorn halls. The buildings are named for persons and places, which were important in shaping the University from its earliest days as an 18th-Century boys’ academy to its present role as an outstanding 21st-Century research university.

The buildings with new markers honor Winifred R. Robinson, the first dean of the Women’s College; Emalea Pusey Warner, who played a major role in founding the Women’s College; Laurel, the hometown of Mary Wooten Carpenter, wife of Walter S. Carpenter Jr., who was president of the Board of Trustees and supported the erection of the building; and Beatrice Hartshorn, the director of women’s athletics for 37 years.

Designed by UD’s award-winning landscape engineer Thomas Taylor, the markers consist of a bronze plaque mounted on a brick column and give a brief history of the person or place honored by the building and the building itself.

For example, the plaque in front of Robinson Hall reads:

“Winifred J. Robinson (1867-1962)

When Winifred J. Robinson became the first Dean of the Women’s College in 1914, the school consisted of a muddy field and two buildings under construction on what is now the south lawn of The Green.

Dr. Robinson visited every Delaware high school to attract students to the fledgling college. By September 1914, Warner Hall, originally known as Residence Hall, was completed and the first class of 48 women arrived. The second building, originally named Science Hall, was completed in 1914. In 1940, this building was renamed in Dean Robinson’s honor.

Though small in stature, Dean Robinson was formidable in her support of the school, which she led for 24 years.”

Photo by Tyler Jacobson, AS ‘06

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