Isabel Lawrence
Isabel Lawrence
First Lawrence Hall, 1900
First Lawrence Hall room, 1903
First Lawrence Hall after January 1905 fire
Second, and current, Lawrence Hall, 1906
Biography
Isabel Lawrence was born in 1853, in Jay, ME. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, and the Oswego Normal School in Oswego, NY. She was the director of the Oswego Normal School training school, assistant superintendent of schools in Yonkers, NY, and director of the training school at the Whitewater Normal School, in Whitewater, WI. Lawrence came to St. Cloud State in 1879. In late 1914, she was named acting president while Waite Shoemaker was on leave due to illness. She served as acting president until the summer of 1916 and was the first female president at St. Cloud State. Lawrence retired in 1921 after serving St. Cloud State as director of the training school for over 40 years. She died in St. Cloud on March 21, 1936, and is buried in the city's North Star Cemetery.
Lawrence Hall (1885) and (1905)
There are very few St. Cloud State buildings that are no longer standing – and only one that met its fate through disaster. Lawrence Hall, which opened in the fall of 1885, was that one building. Initially named “Ladies Home,” it was the campus’ first building constructed as a student residence. At the February 25, 1899 meeting of the Minnesota State Normal Board, the building was renamed "Lawrence Hall" in honor of faculty member and, later, acting president, Isabel Lawrence. It was the first St. Cloud State building named in honor of an individual. The building was heated and ventilated “by the most perfect system known to architects – the Ruttan system,” which allowed temperature in each room to be between 68 and 70 degrees and “all of the air in each room is changed as often as every 20 minutes.” This system did away with fires in each room, “rendering the building practically fire proof.”
Unfortunately, the first Lawrence Hall was completely destroyed by fire on Saturday afternoon, January 14, 1905. Luckily, none of the 200 residents were killed and only a few injuries, including those of the firemen fighting the fire, were reported. The building was a total loss and was valued at $25,000. The contents were valued at $6,000, while Lawrence Hall itself was insured for $15,000. The St. Cloud community quickly acted to help the women displaced by the fire. Nearby St. Cloud residents took in all of the women and $1500 were raised to assist. The state of Minnesota acted as well – the legislature passed a bill in late March 1905 appropriating $50,000 for the construction of new residence hall to replace the gutted Lawrence Hall. Construction began in May 1905 and the building opened in late December 1905. Designed by state architect Clarence Johnston, the new Lawrence Hall was dedicated on June 12, 1906.
For more information, see the individual profiles for both Lawrence Halls on the University Archives’ website.