September 23, 1892

Anticipating the largest entering class in Vassar’s history, about 175 new students, the college faced a severe shortage of space. Pending the opening of the new residence hall in December, about 75 students were housed at the Windsor House, a hotel some two miles from the college. A matron and several college staff lived with the students, chapel service was held at the hotel every evening and private conveyances brought the students to and from the campus. While on campus, they used Gymnasium Hall in the Alumnae Gymnasium as a study hall.

A happier innovation for the new school year was the transfer of the dinner hour from noon to six o’clock in the evening, thus facilitating more leisurely and sociable dining. “The fact that the students have been urged,” observed The New York Times, “ to pass an hour at dinner and in social enjoyment is in itself trivial, but shows that the college aims to develop more than one side of woman’s nature.”