Before I heard John Schroeder’s talk on the history of campus and Collegetown housing, I never really understood why housing was built the way it was on both campus and in Collegetown. But when Mr. Schroeder passed around a map from the late 1880s of Cornell and Collegetown and discussed the historical context of these areas, I was very intrigued. One of the points he mentioned that surprised me was that the only way to get to campus from Collegetown was through the path behind Cascadilla Hall since College Avenue did not connect to campus. Every day I walk from Collegetown back to campus through College Avenue. Now when I take this path, I will have an appreciation for what this part of Collegetown used to be like.

Additionally, I learned from the portrait of Ithaca Mr. Schroeder passed around how undeveloped central campus was. On what is the Arts Quad today, there were only a few buildings compared to the plethora of buildings that surround the quad now. This gave me an appreciation for how much we have grown as a community from only a few buildings, to the hundreds of campus structures and thousands of students that make up the school today. This appreciation also extends to how much development has occurred with regard to housing. Back in the late 1880s, Mr. Schroeder described that many students lived in the downtown area as opposed to living in Collegetown, which is far different from now where a large population of students do live in Collegetown and not many students live downtown. Also, the portrait showed how North Campus did not have any buildings. This is completely different from the thousands of students that populate that area today. Thus, it is amazing to me how much Cornell and Collegetown’s layout regarding both buildings and housing has changed over time.