Sangren Hall History Pictures

Sangren Hall : History in Pictures

In the early 1960's Western Michigan University, like most other institutions in the United States, was experiencing unprecedented enrollment growth. The number of students increased from 7,000 in 1957 to 11,000 in 1962, and projections indicated a possible doubling of that in ten years. (In fact, enrollment reached 21,000 students in 1972.) WMU embarked on an ambitious cycle of classroom building construction starting with the completion of Wood Hall in 1962, followed by Sangren Hall in 1964, Kohrman Hall in 1966, Brown Hall in 1967, and Rood, Dunbar, and Knauss Halls in 1971.
	The image on the left is a detail from a planning map from 1962. The footprint of the completed Wood Hall is shown in black in the lower left. Future building #8 is the proposed Education Building (the final shape of Sangren Hall would be very different!). Proposed science building #7 would be built and named Rood Hall.
The 1964 campus map showed the new Sangren Hall at the corner of Gilkison and West Michigan Avenues.
This photo shows Sangren Hall during construction. The exterior concrete shell of the building appears to be substantially complete.
(From top right to bottom right) Sangren Hall, Kanley Chapel, and Maybee Music Hall can be seen in this 1968 photo. Pass the pointer over the photo to identify the buildings and roads.
	In the early 70s, a portion of W. Michigan Ave. was ceded to WMU under an agreement between the university, the city of Kalamazoo, and the state of Michigan, and Vande Giessen Road was being converted into the Pedestrian Promenade.
1984 aerial photo of campus; pass pointer over image to see building names
1999 aerial photo of campus; Sangren Hall in center, Sindecuse Health Center in upper right corner
South exterior of Sangren Hall	North entrance addition to Sangren Hall, 1998