The Effect Of Stairways

Near our home, there is a fitness center located on the first floor of a modest two-story office block. 

One of the personal trainers told me about the time the center decided to expand, and rented a room on the second floor.  They discovered that their clients were not enthusiastic about climbing up a stairway to get to a fitness class.  So, they moved their expansion room to the first floor of a small building behind the two-story office block.

The personal trainer’s story inspired me.  I decided to give a presentation for the Society of Architectural Historians on the effect of stairways.  Specifically: the effect of the stairways in Lewis Hall in Glasgow, Missouri.

Glasgow, on the Missouri River, was a thriving hemp and tobacco port in the mid-nineteenth century.  It was the site of a Civil War battle in October 1864, when Glasgow was attacked by Confederate troops under the command of Sterling Price.  Sterling Price was a former Missouri governor. 

Before the Union troops surrendered, they torched Glasgow City Hall, where their munitions were stored.  The mural at the top of this blog post portrays the burning of City Hall.

After the War, Lewis College was founded in Glasgow, in a lovely two-story building.

Finished in 1867, the first floor of Lewis Hall was used for lectures; the second floor was the library.  The college moved out of the building in 1891, and the city took over.  The first floor was used as a town meeting hall; the second floor was the town library.

As time went by, the librarian noticed that library attendance was dwindling.  The cause: patrons were not enthusiastic about climbing up a stairway to get to a library. 

So, Glasgow decided that they really did not need a town meeting hall, and the first floor became the library.  They did not move the library from the second floor down to the first floor; they simply created a new library on the first floor.  The old library remained --- intact --- on the second floor.

I had a chance to visit Lewis Hall in Glasgow last year.  The library on the first floor was perfectly modern: fluorescent lights, computers, teenagers doing homework or socializing.  I asked the librarian to take me upstairs. 

When I got upstairs, I stood awe-struck.  All the nineteenth-century books were there, sitting in nineteenth-century bookcases with glass doors.  There was a balcony with more bookcases.  The tables were from 1867.  The chairs were also from 1867, and I could barely squeeze into them.  I was in a time capsule 

There was an ironic note.  When Missouri held a convention to decide whether to secede from the Union, the ladies of Glasgow cut up some satin gowns to sew an American flag because they wanted Missouri to stay in the Union.  They went to the convention and presented the flag to none other than the chairman of the convention, former governor Sterling Price.

The flag did not discourage secession; it did not keep war away from Glasgow.  It is displayed in a frame now, and silently looks down on an intact nineteenth-century library. The library is empty of patrons, but it is full of books that once entertained and educated the people of Glasgow.

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com