Anderson Library dome

Replies

Donaldo Muniz March 20, 2010 at 10:45am

WOW... saw my WOW Siter Celia Kujawski there. Anyone heard how she's doin?
Michael Kasiak November 26, 2009 at 11:00am

Thanks for posting, Steven. It's sad, but not surprising. I'm with you in remembering the place as we left it.
Steven Budlong November 26, 2009 at 4:44am

The Library is still there. It is owned by the local State College and used for document storage. In decent shape though. My daughter and I passed through Emporia, in September of 2008. Kipp and Emporia Halls were gone, torn down and replaced with some pre-fab buildings cutting in-half the full circle drive. The dining hall is now offices for the Kansas Department of Transportation. Owens Hall is a Daycare. Uncle Harry has been turned into industrial type offices for heating and cooling type companies. The back forty was developed into expensive housing with the pond being a part of that property. Totally 0vergrown and wild, no gazebo. The gym is gone. Kenyon Hall was really tragic -- some church group had had it for years and just walked away. The chairs in the auditorium were gone, the stained glass beginning to come loose, the curtains we (the 12th Corps) put up had fallen across the stage and were rotting. The roof was caving in on the third floor and full of birds and bats. Room after room looked like something out of a horror film. Books, Bibles, tapes just left there. A very sad visit. I took photos but chose not to post them. I prefer to remember the place as it was under our stewardship.

Steve Budlong
John Richeson November 20, 2009 at 5:59pm

Esther please write or email to HEather at the information I posted above. You can also call her. It is amazing you found your name. I am sure they wwill add your name. It's not that hard to edit that web site page.

Please read here reply emil to me. She says at the very end, quote:

"PS I forgot to mention that if anyone finds misspelled names or missing information in the database, please let me know so we can correct the problems."
John Richeson November 18, 2009 at 5:55am

Here is a video of some former Way C of E guys who were students there 36 ago. They apparently met for a reunion. Looks like they had a great time. If I am ever in Emporia I would like to go up there again. I'll make a second signature.

Find more videos like this on Way Corps Site

http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=200911161616
Esther J. (Cabrera) Pabon October 13, 2009 at 1:22pm

My name wasn't on the list but I found my signature. It was great to see it. What a wonderful opportunity we had to be part of this experience.
Dome1_108.jpg

https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8331113292?profile=original
John Richeson October 11, 2008 at 12:56pm

Heather replied accordingly:

Dear Mr. Richeson,

Thank you very much for your message! I've passed along your feedback to Nick Gronseth, who has since graduated from ESU and is now the site manager at one of Kansas' historic house museums, William Allen White's Red Rocks here in Emporia.

My staff and I have enjoyed working in the Anderson Memorial Library, and we are grateful for the work that you guys did to restore the building and have it listed on the National Register. I rely on a thesis by one of The Way's students, Mr. Zika, who documented the efforts to restore the Anderson Memorial Library between 1974 and 1981.

We would love to hear from your alumni; if you ever want to share your memories of the campus with us, we would love to listen.

Best wishes,

Heather

Heather A. Wade, M.A., C. A.
Assistant Professor
University Archivist
University Libraries and Archives
Emporia State University
1200 Commercial Street
Campus Box 4051
Emporia, KS 66801
620-341-5034
hwade@emporia.edu
http://library.emporia.edu

PS I forgot to mention that if anyone finds misspelled names or missing information in the database, please let me know so we can correct the problems.

Heather
John Richeson October 11, 2008 at 12:54pm

On their web site it says "Please contact Heather A. Wade, University Archivist, Emporia State University at hwade@emporia.edu to share your thoughts and memories of the dome."

I did so. Here is our email exchange in this post and the next one. I wrote to Heather:

"Dear Ms. Wade:

I was in The Way College for a few years along with hundreds of my friends.
Most of us signed the dome at the Anderson Library which we (The Way) meticulously restored to its former glory.

Many subsequent Way groups followed mine after I graduated from The Way Corps. Hundreds of us have signed the dome. The Way of course, since sold their college but during those Emporia days, we were a group of kids with inspiration to change the world. We had great fun wile living and working on that campus. We actually lived and worked together almost
24/7 year round. It was a special time for us.

Today it is over 30 years later. I started a web site called The Way Corps which now has over 1,100 members. Many of us former Way College Alumni have reconnected and rekindled our friendships. Seeing the work that Nicholas M. Gronseth did in cataloging all the signatures has been very special to us. We have a whole thread on our website devoted to this subject. What fun it has been to find our little signatures and remember our time in the glorious days of The Way College when we were there in a most unusual program called The Way Corps.

I want to thank Nicholas and any others who are responsible for putting this all together. Please leave that website up forever! And if you ever want some rich history about what happened with The Way and The Way College just let me know. My wife and I were on the inside of The Way for over 25 years and attended The Way College when it was first purchased by The Way for a mere $750,000 back in 1975. I gotta say, the campus never looked as good as when The Way owned it. But then again, there were as many as 300-400 workers on hand each day who worked 4 hours shifts 5 days a week in maintaining lots of details on every inch of that place. Not a blade of grass was out of place. But that's another story for another time.

Please forward this as needed and pass along our sincerest thanks to those responsible. Contact us back at any time as needed.

John Richeson

Tampa, FL"
Greg Backes September 17, 2008 at 3:34am

Michael.....great find!

Thanks!
DonnaJo (Langford) Dembinski September 9, 2008 at 6:10am

Thanks for sharing this. What a blessing to have this reminder. And at least one photo got the amazing carpet.