June 8, 1924

The Alumnae House opened, Hunt & Hunt, architects. Erected on the “rock lot” at the corner of Raymond and College Avenues and given by Blanche Ferry Hooker ’94 and Queene Ferry Coonley ’96, the house was intended, according to the deed of gift, to “establish a center for the activities of the alumnae of the college….”

Harriet Sawyer ’07, former executive secretary to the alumnae association, was appointed the house’s “educational secretary,” in charge of learning from the alumnae, she told The New York Times, “what courses of study we have here, and in what manner those courses will be given…. There will be round table discussions, lectures on current topics &c. Some will want advanced French, others story-telling and so on.”

Student use of the house was limited to seniors, who were allowed have meals in the dining room. In 1937 Gertrude Garnsey ’26, the executive secretary of the alumnae association, worked with the college warden, Eleanor Dodge ’25 to reinterpret the building’s statement of purpose to include all students, their families and friends of the college.