MOUNT VERNON — Historic Cornell College has revamped and renovated its hilltop campus with a new pedestrian mall and new landscaping across the east side of campus.
“A total makeover of the pedestrian mall has given the historic campus a new unifying feature along with inviting gathering spaces for students, faculty and staff,” says Cornell President Les Garner.
Marie Fletcher Carter Pedestrian Mall, spanning the east side of the 129-acre campus from South Hall and West Science Center to The Commons, was made possible by a $1.5 million donation from Marie Carter of Bettendorf, whose name is inscribed on a new donor wall that will also recognize other major Cornell contributors and alumni.
The mall consists of a 16-foot-wide brick walkway that serves as the main path through campus, distinctive lighting and an extensively landscaped area between Bowman-Carter Residence Hall and King Chapel. Featuring ornamental pear trees and limestone terraces, the space could serve as an outdoor venue for lectures, theatrical performances or memorial services like Cornell held to mark September 11.
“Building a community requires a place people will want to gather,” Garner says. “This is just another statement of how we as a community want this campus to be. Now we have such a place.”
Adds sophomore Raechel Gutierrez of Granite City, Ill., “The mall is something that really improves the look of the campus. It’s a place students can study, hang out or just relax.”
Carter’s husband, Archie Carter, was a 1933 graduate of Cornell, longtime contributor and member of the Cornell College Board of Trustees. Among the Carters’ many donations to Cornell was $1.5 million toward renovations to Bowman-Carter Hall from 1989-97. Archie Carter, who died in 1994, worked as a student waiter and dishwasher in then-Bowman Hall during the Depression. Bowman opened in 1885 as the first women’s residence hall west of the Mississippi.
“We owe quite a lot to Marie Carter,” Garner says. “The mall is just another statement of how she wants this campus to look.”
Landscaping along the pedestrian mall has not been completed, but plans are to add a variety of trees in select areas by fall 2003. Cornell is one of two U.S. campuses listed on the National Register of Historic Places.