Planning and construction of Webster Hall In 1893,
College President William Jewett Tucker developed an initiative for the expansion of Dartmouth's campus. Architect
Charles A. Rich, himself a Dartmouth alum, presented the first master plan for the expansion in February 1893. Although no records of this original plan have survived, it was described as featuring "efficiency, beauty and an almost hygienic separation of uses into distinct buildings." At the time, the chosen location was occupied by residential properties. The college began purchasing the properties to make way for the development, and a new area for residential development was made available along Occom Ridge to the north to compensate. Rich published the design for the quadrangle in August 1895. The plan included the first design for what would become Webster Hall at the corner of Wentworth and College Streets. The original design was to serve as a memorial hall for alumni and featured an ornate dome. President Tucker had sent out a brochure to alumni requesting donations to fund the memorial hall. As described by Frank Sherman Streeter, then the chair of the Trustees' building committee, the building was planned to house administrative offices as well as a hall preserving "all that will keep fresh in the general mind the romantic beginnings of the College, her splendid history, and the fine achievements of her more illustrious sons in the work of the world."
Operations as Webster Hall Early use as campus auditorium Webster Hall hosted the opening of Dartmouth's 139th academic year on September 26, 1907. The building had its formal opening ceremony on October 18, 1907, during which President Tucker gave the opening address and dedication in the building's auditorium to an audience of 1,700, including students and alumni. Due to New Hampshire's
first-in-the-nation presidential primary, the hall also held debates among presidential candidates.
George Gershwin, who performed there in January 1926 alongside
Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, and
Robert Frost, who gave a series of lectures and poetry readings at Webster Hall during the 1930s and 1940s. The hall was also the site of a significant student protest when
George Wallace gave a speech there on May 3, 1967. Wallace spoke to a full audience of 1,400 in the hall in addition to 1,000 bystanders listening from outside the hall. During his speech, members of Dartmouth's
Students for a Democratic Society and Afro-American Society began booing and shouting over Wallace before staging a walkout. Shortly after, students listening from outside the hall broke past police barriers and stormed the center aisle. As Wallace was rushed out of the hall, students gathered around his car, pounding it and throwing rocks at it. Even as it continued to host events for much of the 20th century, demand increased by the late 1930s for a larger auditorium to replace Webster Hall. However, in 1939,
The Dartmouth reported that these plans would potentially be delayed as a result of World War II. A new stage was installed in the building in 1941, and, after the Nugget Theater in Hanover burned down in 1944, the hall was renovated to be able to serve as a screening venue for use by the Theater. A projection booth was installed in addition to concrete exit stairs on the east and west sides of the building.
Decline and alternative uses Webster Hall experienced less use as a performance hall after the opening of the
Hopkins Center for the Arts in 1962. By 1988, it was being used as a temporary student center. Dartmouth's special collections had been housed in the northwest corner of
Baker Library for several decades prior to Webster Hall's conversion. The college originally had separate units for the Rare Book collection, the college archives, manuscripts, and the Stefansson Collection on Polar Exploration, but these collections were combined into one special collections unit in the late 1960s. The Treasure Room was dedicated in 1929 as a memorial to
Charles Merrill Hough, a member of the Class of 1879, and the words "Hough's Room" are written on the room's door in brass lettering. The room features stained glass windows with imagery memorializing the college's history. By January 1996, however, construction remained on hold despite initial plans for construction to begin in 1994, as Dartmouth still needed another $5 million for the renovation. Meanwhile, construction of the Berry Library, an extension of Baker Library, was set to begin in 1998, and the Webster Hall conversion needed to secure funding by late 1996 so that Baker's special collections could be moved to Webster Hall before Baker's renovation began. The new library was thus named after them. The plans for the renovation included limited exterior alterations, most notably the addition of a ground-level handicap-accessible entrance to the west of the building's main steps. The large exterior windows were also planned to be reglazed with ultraviolet-shielding glass to protect valuable materials from harmful light exposure. To build the below-grade stacks, a large pit was excavated between Webster Hall and Baker Library during construction. After reviewing each firm's bid, the department chose National Library Relocations, Inc. The library also conducted a complete inventory of its special collections in fall of 1997 to determine their status before the move. The library then appointed a team to create a blueprint documenting the specific locations of the items in the collection as well as where in Rauner they would be moved to. After an internal discussion, the department decided to fully close during the moving process due to concerns about security difficulties and quality of service if the library were to remain open during the move.
Operations as Rauner Library Rauner Library opened on December 15, 1998, two weeks later than planned. The library staff had finished moving the collections on time, but construction needs led to the delayed opening, The library had its formal dedication ceremony in April 1999. It received an Illumination Design Award from the
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America in 2000 and a National Honor Award from the
American Institute of Architects in 2002. The building underwent a series of renovations from 2023 to 2024. As part of a campus-wide initiative to improve energy efficiency, the building's steam heater fueled by oil was replaced with a
heat-recovery chiller in early 2023. The switch was projected to reduce the building's steam consumption by 82%. Work also began in the summer of 2023 on a $6.5 million renovation of the building's exterior, which included a restoration of the building's roof, copper details,
cornices, and
corbels. Damage to the building's exterior details had posed a safety hazard and was exacerbated by more frequent freeze-thaw cycles resulting from climate change. As a result, the cornices and corbels were given more secure, water-resistant attachments to the building. The project was completed in December 2024. ==Design==