1907 - Russ Hall - Pittsburg, Ks. - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

Russ Hall is the main Administration Building on the Pittsburg State University campus. I found nothing on the actual building, but this is an interesting story involving the building of Russ Hall.

From Wikipedia:
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Back in 1907, a small delegation from the Pittsburg area lobbied the state legislature to give the newly established university an appropriation that would pay for the construction of the school’s first building. But one of the delegate members, Pittsburg mayor Clarence Price, apparently broke the rules by not exiting the floor before the session began (in some versions of the story, it was the namesake of Russ Hall, R.S. Russ, who performed the gaffe). The legislators good-naturedly fined the Pittsburg delegation a barrel of apples before awarding them the appropriation. And when the men returned to Pittsburg, the students were so amused by the story that they decided university administrators and faculty who had missed work and class in order to lobby in Topeka should have to pay the same fine. In those days students were penalized for truancy. Because members of the faculty left their classrooms in order to attend the legislative session in Topeka, the students reasoned that faculty members should be penalized for their absence.

Twelve months later, on March 6, 1908, classes were dismissed for the entire day in honor of the first Apple Day (officially titled Commemoration Day). During an afternoon program in the assembly room of the Central School building, the students once again fined the faculty a barrel of apples. Thus began the unique, annual, tradition at Pittsburg State of the teachers bringing apples for their students.

Inscription on the building:

1907
State Manual Normal Training School
Russ Hall

Year of construction: 1907 Full inscription: 1907 State Manual Normal Training School Russ Hall Cross-listed waymark: Not listed

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