1928 - Westminster College Gymnasium - Fulton, Mo.
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N 38° 50.894 W 091° 57.359
15S E 590597 N 4300452
This is the historic gymnasium where Winston Churchill delivered the "Iron Curtain" speech - March 5, 1946.
Waymark Code: WMH44W
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 05/19/2013
Views: 3
The cornerstone is located on the northeast corner of the building and simply reads A.D 1928.
From the Nation Register application:
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visit link)
""The Westminster College Gymnasium was built in 1928-29. It is a flemish bond brick structure 80 ft. wide and 155 ft. long containing offices in the front wings and a basketball court in the main body of the building. The central three bays project slightly and are decorated with four fluted pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals and with a box cornice under the parapet. The entrance is set between plain pilasters with Corinthian capitals, topped by a plain entablature and a pediment recessed at the base. The windows of the first floor have flat stone lintels with keystones, 8/8. The second floor windows have rounded arches.
The flanking office wings are stepped back with windows on both floors above the water course matching the stone lintels of the first floor of the central pavilion, the first floor 6/6, the second, 3/3. There is a projecting belt course and a cornice with recessed panels decorated with carved stone swags. The panels are centered over the windows. This treatment continues for one bay on the long side of the building, and then the roof breaks into the semicircular form traditional for field houses. Tall curved arch windows match the smaller ones on the second story of the central pavilion.
The gymnasium is located between the administration building and a private residence on the crown of a small hill. The building is unchanged since Churchill's speech.
Winston S. Churchill's speech at Westminster College on March 5, 1946, which introduced the term "iron curtain" into public usage, marks a turning point in international relations. It was the first step toward recognition that the "cold war" had begun and that existing policies of the Soviet Union constituted a threat to the West. As former President Truman once commented, "It was one of the greatest speeches I ever listened to...and part of the policy of the free world ever since." The college gymnasium where Churchill delivered the speech remains unchanged."
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