Dartmouth College's Alumni Gymnasium, located in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, in the United States, is the center of

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

's athletic life and hosts venues for many of Dartmouth's 34 varsity sports. After its completion in 1910, it was considered to be one of the most complete athletic facilities in the Eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The gymnasium contains two swimming pools, intramural basketball courts, championship basketball courts, two weight rooms, squash courts, 1/13 of a mile jogging track, two saunas, fencing lanes, and a rowing tank for crew training. Alumni Gymnasium was designed by Charles Rich and Fredrick Mathesius. Construction began in 1909 under College President

Ernest Fox Nichols Ernest Fox Nichols (June 1, 1869 – April 29, 1924) was an American educator and physicist. He served as the 10th President of Dartmouth College. Early life Nichols was born in Leavenworth County, Kansas, and received his undergraduate degr ...

. The cornerstone of the gymnasium contains several historical objects, including a file of the "New Gymnasium News", copies of the student newspaper ''

The Dartmouth ''The Dartmouth'' is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College and America's oldest college newspaper. Originally named the ''Dartmouth Gazette'', the first issue was published on August 27, 1799, under the motto "Here range the world—e ...

'', the Dartmouth humor magazine the '' Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern'', and the yearbook, the ''Aegis''. The building cost approximately $190,000. In 1938, engineers from the

Thayer School of Engineering Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from C ...

constructed a springy board track of Canadian

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around the inside of the gym which was used by

Glenn Cunningham Glenn Cunningham may refer to: *Glenn Cunningham (athlete) (1909–1988), American runner, Olympic Games medalist * Glenn Cunningham (Nebraska politician) (1912–2003), American politician, mayor of Omaha, and congressman for Nebraska * Glenn Cunn ...

to break the American mile record that year. The record was disallowed because Cunningham had been aided by pacing runners. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the gymnasium was converted into barracks, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, was used as an armory and lounge. In 1962-1963 the gym was extensively remodeled to include a new

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

court and added to the Dartmouth College aquatic facilities with the addition of the Karl B. Michael Pool. In 1972, the year the college went coed, a two-story women's locker room was added to the southeast corner. Alumni Gymnasium completed a $12 million renovation in the spring of 2006. As part of the renovation efforts, Alumni Gym now features a fitness center built into the second floor, 8 new multi-purpose fitness rooms that together add roughly of new usable space, structural enhancements to the Karl Michael Pool, new entrances, an elevator servicing all floors of the gym, and handicap accessible upgrades.

References

{{Dartmouth College Defunct college basketball venues in the United States Dartmouth Big Green men's basketball Dartmouth College facilities Indoor arenas in New Hampshire Basketball venues in New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Grafton County, New Hampshire 1910 establishments in New Hampshire Sports venues completed in 1910