Cardboard Alley

The original arts building, nicknamed “Cardboard Alley,” was erected in 1946 as part of the campus response to a shortage of housing and classrooms caused by the postwar spike in enrollment. The L-shaped wing, extending north from Bresee, contained faculty offices, classrooms and a small theater – hence the theater club name, The Cardboard Alley Players.

One of several prefabricated structures formerly used at army and navy bases and repurposed at Hartwick as student living and learning spaces, the ‘alley’ was demolished in 1973 when the Anderson Center for the Arts was built.

Photos are part of the collection in Hartwick College Paul F. Cooper, Jr. Archives.