Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania: Centennial Gymnasium – Bloomsburg PA

Description

Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Centennial Gymnasium building at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in Bloomsburg PA.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, then known as the Bloomsburg State Teachers College, benefited during the Great Depression from a large construction project enabled by the PWA. The agency provided a $184,604 grant for the project, whose final cost was $584,097. Construction occurred between January 1938 and July 1939. (PWA Docket No. [W]1866.)

Four buildings were constructed on the campus, including a gymnasium and shop/storage building.

According to the Bloomsburg University Archives, “During the Depression the only money available for campus construction was from the Federal Government, and in 1937 funding was finally approved.  The groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 19, 1938 and by the fall of 1939 the gym, designed by the architectural firm of Gondos & Gondos, was almost ready for the state teachers college’s 100th anniversary celebration, all but the building’s electrical system.  It took over two years, but finally on February 27, 1942 the first event took place […] […] the building now houses the College of Liberal Arts, the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and the departments of Anthropology, Audiology and Speech Pathology, and Exercise Science and Athletics, as well as the School of Health Sciences Wellness Institute, an adult fitness studio, and the Speech, Hearing & Language Clinic.”