By the 1950s, Slippery Rock State Teachers College started to reach the spatial limits of the original campus. The college expanded onto adjacent land over the next few decades as there was more demand for residence halls, dining facilities, and classrooms. [While there was some construction on the upper campus, there was nothing on the scale of the construction in the previous era.]
Patterson Hall was built in 1958 and designed by architects, Allennof and Brown. This men’s dormitory was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Lewis Patterson, who donated the land on which the Normal School was built back in 1889. Today, Patterson is a classroom building for the departments of Parks and Recreation, Exercise and Rehabilitative Science, the Honors College, and the Office of Student Conduct.
(Photograph, black and white, c.1960)
Slippery Rock State College honored Emma Guffey Miller for her dedication to the College in 1958 by naming the new auditorium named after her. This photograph shows Miller (left) with former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt (right). Miller was a prominent member of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and, at the 1924 Democratic National Convention, was the first woman ever nominated for the United States presidency.
(Photograph, black and white, c. 1930s)
Today, Miller Auditorium houses the Theatre Department and serves as a performance space for cultural events open to students, faculty, staff, and the community. Miller Auditorium is currently undergoing renovations to modernize its space to better support the performing arts at Slippery Rock University.
(Photograph, color, c.1970)
By the end of the 1950s, Slippery Rock State Teachers College had used most of its campus space. Later construction projects would see the college expand to meet the need for more facilities for academics, student life, and sports.
(Photograph, black and white, c. 1950s)