Barton Hall

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Barton Hall|

location = Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
coordinates = coord|42.4460|-76.4808|type:edu_region:US-NY|display=title,inline | broke_ground = 1914
opened = 1915
owner = Cornell University
operator = Cornell University
surface = Recaflex track surface
construction_cost=
architect = Lewis F. Pilcher
former_names = New York State Armory and Drill Hall (to 1940)
tenants = Cornell University Big Red (indoor track & field), Cornell ROTC, Cornell Police
seating_capacity = 4,800 Barton Hall is an on-campus field house on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is the site of the school's indoor track facilities, ROTC offices and classes, and Cornell Police. It's also the location of the band room, used by the Cornell Big Red Marching Band and the Cornell Big Red Pep Band. For a long time, Barton Hall was the largest unpillared room in existence. The interior of the building covers almost convert|2|acre|m2, and includes a 1/8 mile (200m) indoor track.cite web | title = Barton Hall | publisher = Cornell University | date = 2004-02-19 | url = http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Campus/Infobase/Infobase.php?kindex=54 | accessdate = 2006-09-05 ]

It was built in 1914 and 1915 and was originally designed as a drill hall for the Department of Military Science. It was named for Col. Frank A. Barton, Class of 1891. Colonel Barton was one of the first two Cornell students to receive an army commission in Cornell's Military Science Program , and was the first ROTC commandant at Cornell from 1904 to 1908.cite web | title = Barton Hall | publisher = Cornell University | date = 2006 | url = http://cornellbigred.cstv.com/facilities/barton.html | accessdate = 2006-09-05 ] During WWI, Barton Hall functioned as an airplane hangar and it served the ROTC as an armory during World War II.

Barton Hall now contains a 200 m track, basketball courts, the Hart Memorial Library, and the Wortham Museum. [cite web | title = The Cornell Naval ROTC Program | publisher = Cornell NROTC | date = 2006-08 | url = http://navy.cornell.edu/cornell.html | accessdate = 2006-09-05 ] After the opening of Newman Arena, the building was remodeled into a premier indoor track facility. The Recaflex track features eight 42-inch lanes, one of the few indoor 200-meter tracks in the country with eight such lanes. Barton also contains a throwing cage with a cement circle and crusher dust landing sector surrounded by a convert|25|ft|m|sing=on high chain link fence. The interior of the track has a Recaflex runway for the pole vault, two long and triple jump pits and multiple high jump areas. The track itself has a raised aluminum curb and a common finish line.

In 1995, Barton received another major change with the addition of the H. Hunt Bradley Track Center. The center includes a Hall of Fame/meeting room/study facility for track, an office, a library and a convert|1500|sqft|m2|sing=on weight room.

Barton Hall has also served as a concert venue for the Cornell Campus. It has hosted acts such as The Grateful Dead [cite web | title = Grateful Dead Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University on 1977-05-08 | url = http://www.archive.org/details/gd77-05-08.maizner.hicks.5002.sbeok.shnf | accessdate = 2006-09-05 ] and Bob Dylan.

In the Spring of 1969 members of the Afro-American Society (AAS) occupied Willard Straight Hall, the Cornell Student Union, in protest against judicial sanctions against several black students and to demand a black studies program. Two days after the students left Willard Straight Hall an SDS meeting became a "student takeover of Barton Hall" and the Barton Hall Community was formed. [cite web | title = 1969: The Awakening of Cornell | publisher = Cornell University | date = 2006 | url = http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/dsoc375/studentproj/Website/chronology.html | accessdate = 2006-09-05 ]

References