Bowman-Carter Hall

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Then I recall the many facets of my work-study job at the Bowman reception desk. It was a great place to keep up with what was going on. We buzzed the girls for vistors, took phone calls and yelled up the “tube”, gave out the mail, chatted with waiters and kitchen help, knew who was out with whom, and those last in from the porch or entry at night!

– Pauline Green ’42, Bowman Hall Reminiscences

Three decades after the founding of Cornell College, founder George Bowman felt the college was lacking in having a boarding hall built specifically for women, despite the rooms available to them in Old Sem. In 1884, Bowman urged the Board of Trustees to build such a hall, offering to cover a fourth of the cost of the building himself. Construction on the hall began in the summer of 1885, and by November 10, the first 100 women moved into Bowman Hall.¹

Bowman Hall was the most luxurious and advanced building for female undergraduates at that time. Unlike other boarding halls, Bowman Hall boasted “steam heat and a bathroom with hot and cold water on each floor,” as well as steam heating throughout the building, and furnished rooms.² The building was designed by Chicago architect Cass Chapman, who also designed King Chapel in 1876. Bowman Hall also had a dining hall capable of seating up to 200 persons, which served as the primary dining space on campus until the construction of Pfeiffer Hall, when the space in Bowman doubled to serve half the student body. When The Commons was constructed in 1965, Bowman’s dining hall ceased to function.³

Because of Rev. Bowman’s generous donation, the Board of Trustees voted to name the building after him, although he insisted that it be called “the Ladies’ Boarding Hall.”⁴ In 1996, the building would be renamed “Bowman-Carter Hall,” after generous donations for its renovation by the Carter family.

Although most students now see the building from the south and west sides, Chapman originally designed the building to be seen from the north and east sides, since at the time Bowman was built, there was nothing to the west other than the president’s house. Charles Milhauser, the registrar during Bowman Hall’s 100th celebration and a college historian, told The Cornellian that it was “rather ironic now that the ugly, plainer back side is what most people see now.”⁵

In 1902, a single telephone was installed in Bowman Hall.⁶ If a young woman received a call, the person stationed at the desk would hit an intercom button attached to the respective woman’s room, and the two would communicate through a speaking tube to determine who the call was for.⁷ It wasn’t until renovations in the 1990s that the speaking tubes were removed from Bowman Hall.

These renovations, made possible by two $500,000 contributions from Marie and Archie Carter, class of 1933, and an anonymous donor in the Carter’s name, gave a general facelift to the building, and ensured the continuation of the building’s use as a women’s only hall.

Naval Flight Preparatory School

From January 1943 to December 1944 Bowman Hall played host to the cadets of the Naval Flight Preparatory school. The women living in Bowman at the time were transferred to other buildings on campus, making this the only time in the building’s history that it housed men. Even after the men moved into Merner Hall in 1945, they still took their meals in the Bowman dining room.⁸

Bowman-Carter self-governance

From its founding in 1885 until 1912 Bowman Hall was run by a matron, also referred to as the preceptress (dean of female students), who held the sole responsibility for enforcing the house rules. These rules dictated everything from when lights should be turned out, to when doors were locked. One such set of rules from 1908-12 mentions a “lights out” time of 10 p.m., and the locking in of the ladies at 9 p.m., unless there was a later event, in which case the doors could stay open longer.⁹ A system of housemothers (women not attending the college who worked in the building to assist residents) was later introduced. In 1917, Cornell faculty allowed the residents of Bowman to form the Bowman Hall Senate, the first self-governing student body created at Cornell.¹⁰

The newly formed senate consisted of ten members: a representative of each class along with one from each of Cornell’s six female literary societies.¹¹ Though still subject to the authority of the housemother, this senate gave Bowman Hall much greater self-governance than any other dorm on campus.¹² This autonomy was further extended in 1970, when the use of housemothers was discontinued and responsibility for the daily governing of Bowman Hall was entrusted to the Bowman Hall Senate.¹³ A building handout given to new Bowman Hall residents at the beginning of the 1976-77 school year warns that self-governance is “possible only if each individual is responsible and concerned,” highlighting the privilege the women had with this particular opportunity.¹⁴

Until 1982, the Bowman Hall Senate operated with more autonomy than most other residence halls on campus, including the election of their own residence staff since the 1960s. Beginning in 1978, however, the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) began making more strides to participate in the residence assistant (RA) selection, culminating in a statement early in the year in 1982 that they would be taking over the RA selection for all the buildings, including Bowman.¹⁵

Most of the women living in Bowman were not pleased with OSA’s sudden announcement, pointing out that their building constitution allowed them the right to select their own RAs. The OSA, however, feared that it was a popularity contest and worried about likelihood of someone being chosen who was not qualified.¹⁶

After much discussion, OSA and Bowman reached a temporary compromise: women applying to be RAs in Bowman would be interviewed by OSA staff, who would then present a list of qualified candidates to Bowman residents, who could elect their RAs from that list.¹⁷

The Ghost of Bowman-Carter

Throughout the years, The Cornellian has noted several different reports of ghosts in Bowman-Carter. These appearances come in the form of a previous resident, maid, a pregnant resident or maid, and a young man – either a suitor of a resident or one of the former naval cadets. Although the type of ghost has changed over the years, the stories follow a general theme.¹⁸

According to The Cornellian, most of these ghosts came to a tragic end by falling. In the cases of the young woman and the maid, they either fell or were pushed from a fourth-floor window. The young men tell a different tale. In the case of the suitor, he was making his way back down from his girlfriend’s room when he saw the housemother or head resident doing rounds (keep in mind young men were not allowed upstairs until the 1960s) and ducked into the nearest doorway, which happened to be the elevator door. Unfortunately for him, the elevator was on the first floor, and so he fell to his demise. Similarly, the cadet also died in the elevator shaft, although he was either pushed or the rope he was holding onto in the shaft was cut.¹⁹

These stories, however, cannot be verified. There is only one known violent death in Bowman’s past, and that is the shooting of a local resident by police, purportedly for being a Peeping Tom shortly after Bowman Hall first opened.²⁰

Most accounts suggest these are friendly ghosts, who appear to offer comfort to residents who are going through a rough time or are feeling lonely. A recent visit by paranormal activity experts in 2016, however, reported an encounter with “angry spirits” in the basement, where there is a painting of a witch done by a former Bowman resident, who was suspected of practicing “evil rituals” and who herself died under suspicious circumstances.²¹

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Related Sources:

1. Charles Milhauser, “Bowman Chronology and Exhibit,” June 13, 1985, College Archives. ↩︎
2. C. William Heywood and Richard Harlan Thomas, Cornell College: A Sesquicentennial History, 1853-2003, Vol. 1 (Cedar Rapids: WDG Pub., 2004); Milhauser, “Bowman Chronology and Exhibit.” ↩︎
3. Ibid. ↩︎
4. Charles Milhauser, “A Brief History of Bowman Hall, in honor of its 100th birthday, based upon a talk presented to the Heritage Club, June 13, 1985,” College Archives. ↩︎
5. “Bowman Hall: A Look Back in Centennial Year,” The Cornellian, October 8, 1986, College Archives. ↩︎
6. Milhauser, “Bowman Chronology and Exhibit.” ↩︎
7. Milhauser, “A Brief History of Bowman Hall, in honor of its 100th birthday…” ↩︎
8. Milhauser, “Bowman Chronology and Exhibit.” ↩︎
9. Milhauser, “A Brief History of Bowman Hall, in Honor of its 100th birthday…” ↩︎
10. Ibid. ↩︎
11. “Bowman Hall Senate New Student Body,” The Cornellian, February 10, 1917, Cornellian Records, Vol. 38, College Archives. ↩︎
12. Ibid. ↩︎
13. Pat Jones, “Bowman goes self-managing,” The Cornellian, March 27, 1970, 3. ↩︎
14. Bowman Handout 1976-77, College Archives. ↩︎
15. Christine Larsen, “The Compromise: Bowman RA Crisis Over,” The Cornellian, February 8, 1982, College Archives. ↩︎
16. Ibid. ↩︎
17. Ibid. ↩︎
18. Curt McConnell, “After 20 Years, Ghost Rumors Still Haunt Bowman,” The Cornellian, November 17, 1980, Cornellian Records, Vol. 101, College Archives. ↩︎
19. Ibid. ↩︎
20. Milhauser, “A Brief History of Bowman Hall, in honor of its 100th birthday…” ↩︎
21. McConnell, “After 20 Years, Ghost Rumors Still Haunt Bowman.” ↩︎

Cite this Page:

Brad Kane ’18 and Hannah Robertson ’18, “Bowman-Carter Hall,” Mount Vernon Iowa History Tours.