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(Old) Norton Union, 1934-1962

There was not a dedicated space for student activities at the University until 1931 when funds were allocated by former Chancellor Charles P. Norton in his will for a facility to be known as Norton Hall that would serve as "a club refectory and place of rest and recreation for the day students when not actually engaged in the class lecture rooms of the University" (Report on the Meeting of the Committee on General Administration, June 8, 1931). "Because of his understanding of students and their needs, Chancellor Norton bequeathed his entire fortune to the University, that such a building could be constructed" (25th anniversary program).

On February 26, 1932 the new student union, Norton Hall (now Harriman Hall on the South Campus), was formally dedicated. Homer W. Widener described the new building:

From the main foyer on the first floor, hallways run south to the little theater and north to the dining rooms. East doors open into lounges finished in dull glazed antiques and made homelike with cushioned chairs and wood-burning fireplaces. Rising to the left and then crossing horizontally to the right a narrow staircase with open ironwork finally leads up to the second floor game rooms and offices. Here are special quarters for publications -- "The Buffalo Bee," "The Buffalonian," "The Bison" -- rooms for Debate Teams, Glee Clubs, International Relations Club.

Perhaps the outstanding feature of the building is the little theater for student plays and dancing. Equipment is all up-to-date with an electric curtain, the latest in banks of colored and white flood lights, and indirect lighting for the auditorium, with intricate switchboard controls backstage.

Thus the New Student Union opens its doors, artisitcally and adequately equipped to serve the varied extra-curricular intersts of students at the University of Buffalo.

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