Saturday, June 18, 2011

Pokagon Tipi at EMU

Today during volunteer time at the Archives I found this much better 1916 photo of the onetime Pokagon tipi at EMU. Wow. This is very similar to the photo that, cropped, appears in my copy of the 1918 EMU "Aurora" yearbook (and in the post below). I'm definitely putting this photo into my book "Hidden Ypsilanti." One chapter of "Hidden" deals with the splintery edges of immigrant assimilation or cultural clashes between peoples, and this definitely speaks to that theme. At any rate, you can see that the tipi once stood on the eastern edge of the modern-day Sherzer Hall, which was nearly lost to a fire in the late 80s. To its credit, EMU rebuilt this venerable old 1903 (?) lady instead of wrecking it. Second oldest building on today's campus I believe. Props to EMU!
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1 comment:

  1. cmadlerJuly 9, 2011 at 7:06 AM

    I think Sherzer is the third oldest building still standing. The oldest is Starkweather Hall, which opened just a few days before Welch Hall, both in 1895. Sherzer didn't open until 1903.

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