Sturges Hall, originally built as the library for the University, has had many different occupants including the original Library, the departments of Chemistry, Home Economics, and now English and Humanities-Classics.
On 11 October 2005, a celebration of the building’s 150 years took place.
Below is the original invitation (as mailed) to the celebration from President E. Thomson in 1855.
Ohio Wesleyan University
Sept. 20th, 1855Respected Sir:
We take pleasure in saying that our “Sturgess Library” will be opened, “Deo volente,” on the 11th of October next when the Rev. Dr. Clark, of Cincinnati, will favor us with an appropriate discourse, and J.G. Saxe Esq. of New England with a pertinent Poem.
It will be a fitting occasion for the friends of Learning in general, and of this Institution in particular, to meet and mingle their congratulations. We invite you specially; we desire you to mark our progress, behold our order, and observe our esprit du corps; and while, with us, you recount the steps of our past and survey the acquisitions of our present, give us your counsel concerning the triumphs of our future.
The Ladies will spread a table of domestic dainties, and good fruit, which they will uncover with hearty welcomes; and whilst the sugar dissolves, and the apples blush, and the grapes draw close to each other upon the stem, we hope to enjoy with our beautiful hosts a “feast of reason and a flow of soul.”
Come then, Dear Sir, break the mononotony of worldly duties; take a walk in the sacred groves of Academus; hear a Plato reason and an Aristophanes sing; encourage weary educators on their hard earned chairs and counsel considerate curators planning for generations unborn. Come, and we trust that as a citizen of our glorious State, a friend of youth, a patron of the liberal arts, and a sagacious consellor in financial interests, you will be able both to receive and impart some spiritual gift. At least, you will join us in devout thanksgivings and supplications to Him in whom we trust.
With sincere wishes for your health, happiness, and salvation,
In behalf of the Faculty, Yours, &c.
E. THOMSON, Pres.
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