Peabody Hall's 100th Birthday to Be Celebrated April 25

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The curriculum and instruction department in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas invites the campus community to attend a 100^th birthday celebration of Peabody Hall at 2 p.m. Friday, April 25.

Chancellor G. David Gearhart will give remarks outside on the lawn of Peabody Hall, and Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will read a proclamation in honor of the occasion. Timothy Nutt, head of the special collections department of the University Libraries, will be the guest speaker.

A committee of faculty and staff has planned the program, followed by historical re-enactments featuring U of A students inside the building. Historical artifacts will also be on display. Mary Margaret Hui, a doctoral student in the higher education program who has a master’s degree in history, will give a presentation about the history of education in one of the classrooms in Peabody Hall.

Curriculum and instruction department faculty members Erin Casey and Christian Goering will provide music, and Jason Endacott will lead the re-enactment with Master of Arts in Teaching social studies students.

A reception from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Carnall Hall will follow the events at Peabody Hall.

Following the Civil War, philanthropist George Peabody established an education fund that undertook a rebuilding campaign to promote education across the south. The Peabody fund offered a gift of $40,000 to the University of Arkansas. In 1911, the university’s Board of Trustees accepted the gift, and the construction of Peabody Hall was completed in 1913.

That gift was the first private donation to the University of Arkansas.

Peabody Hall has operated with a single, continual purpose since it opened – teacher preparation. The teacher-training program was a part of the university from its beginning in 1871, with the Department of Education moving from Old Main into Peabody Hall once it was finished.

Peabody Hall also made history with its training school – made up of Peabody Elementary School and University High School – that operated for more than 50 years to provide practical teaching experience for university students as well as to expand educational opportunities for children in Northwest Arkansas.

The building was constructed of red brick with Carthage stone trim and a clay tile roof, and it included elements of the Spanish or Mission Revival Style. Along with all of the other buildings on campus at the time, Peabody was painted a light cream color in the 1940s so that it would better blend with the light-colored limestone buildings that were part of the 1925 Master Plan for campus.

Removal of several layers of the white paint was part of the restoration project completed in 2011 and directed by Allison Architects of Fayetteville in partnership with a firm that specializes in historic restorations – Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston. East-Harding of Little Rock was the general contractor.

New windows and doors replicating the original appearance of the building were installed, and the interior was renovated to provide modern academic and office space to accommodate the current and future needs of the college including six general purpose classrooms with Promethean interactive learning technology, a computer lab, a technology education lab, a seminar room, 43 faculty offices and departmental administrative offices, and a café for use by building occupants and the general campus.

The previously dirt-floored basement was converted to a lobby and loading/unloading area. Building systems, such as heating and air, audiovisual, information technology, electrical, plumbing and fire protection were updated to modern standards, and an elevator made the building completely accessible.

The restoration earned an award from the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, recognizing it as a project that retains the “significant historic fabric” of the building.