The Collegian

Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Mary Petrides

Media Credit: Mary Petrides

Media Credit: Mary Petrides

Media Credit: Mary Petrides

Media Credit: Mary Petrides

Things. They fill closets, clutter shelves and accumulate under beds. Some things are inherently, intrinsically and ontologically trash. Some things are, well, more important. Though perhaps not as thrilling as an after-dark break-in attempt, The Collegian takes a look at an attic, a basement and an old schoolhouse - three places where Hillsdale College stores its things.


Central Hall's Attic
Spray paint graffitis and labels the walls, floor and ceiling in the attic of Central Hall. Two messages in particular stand out: "NO STORAGE" and "SAVE BOXES."

Boxes litter the floor like Legos freshly dumped from a bucket - some stacked, some sideways, all haphazard.

Books, brochures, Christmas trees, a witch's hat, fans, computers, old bookstore merchandise and dead ladybugs nestle in and tumble out of these scattered boxes. In one corner, aberrantly tidy stacks of corrugated cardboard contain Center for Constructive Alternatives files, labeled with the semester and year. Three spray-painted letters mark the ornate ceiling above them: two Cs and an A.

The attic creaks and groans as old buildings do. Telephone conversations from Central Hall's third floor can be overheard clearly; the bells, even when curiously absent from outside, are audible up here. A rickety ladder, maybe four feet tall, provides access to an opening in the wall from which cold, moist air wafts like cave breath. This is the path to the top of Central Hall.

Central Hall originally had a basement and three main floors. The third floor was the college's chapel until College Baptist replaced it in the 1860s, Hillsdale College historian Arlan Gilbert said. The upper level was then used as a "big lecture room and things like that," Gilbert said. In the 1960s, the ceilings were dropped and the third floor divided, creating a fourth floor, he said. "Since they dropped the ceilings, they never used the upper floor," Gilbert said. The fourth floor, now used for storage, retains the original ornate, albeit dirty and spray-painted, chapel ceiling hanging over a dusty plywood floor.


Moss Hall's Basement
Just west of and considerably lower than Central Hall's attic lies the basement of Moss Hall. The basement storage area is tightly packed, neatly organized and clean. A can of Pledge stands on a table.

Nine file drawers here are dedicated to William F. Buckley -five for his articles and books and four for his syndicated columns. Scores of "deceased files" hold receipts, letters and other scraps of information about deceased Hillsdale people, including alumni, donors and faculty, said Nancy Entrikin, director of records.

Several Moss Hall offices have their own storage space in the basement. Shelves labeled "CCA and Shavano," "Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence" and "Academy Marketing" cling to the walls.

President's Club Assistant Cheryl Clawson said the President's Club stores excess stationary, newsletters, gifts - like Hillsdale College mugs and letter openers - certificate frames, envelopes and brochures in the basement storage area.

Clay pots sit on the floor. A bouquet of objects resembling sticks with clothespins stands between shelves. One box is filled with Winston Churchill Dinner envelopes.


Paul Revere School
On the corner of Fayette and West streets, a large brown fortress shelters tables, chairs, shopping carts and rummage.

Hillsdale Public Schools owned the building, then called Paul Revere School, until the college bought it at least fifty years ago, Gilbert said. Initially, it was "kind of the headquarters for maintenance crew" before Fowler Maintenance Building was built, he said. Now the college uses the building for storage.

"It provides a place to serve as organization for a lot of different occasions throughout the year, rather than letting it set empty," Vicky Phetteplace, Superintendent of Custodial Services, said.

Miscellaneous furniture lurks in a handful of former classrooms. The stacked desks and chairs, absence of electrical lighting, and dusty sunlight beaming through the windows give the rooms a lonely after-school feel.

Phetteplace said donations for the annual rummage sale are stored here throughout the year, along with the shopping carts used for transportation.

"The things donated [for the rummage sale] are stored behind lock and key, and I have a key," she said.

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