Old West, Dickinson College
Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
The oldest building on the Dickinson College campus in Carlisle carries one of the more remarkable origin stories in American architecture. The original structure burned in eighteen oh three, and the college trustees needed an architect. Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge rode to Philadelphia to ask Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who had just been appointed Surveyor of Public Buildings of the United States and was redesigning the Capitol, for help.
Latrobe agreed to design the replacement free of charge. He produced an elegant Federal-period building with a cupola and colonnaded facade. Donations to rebuild came from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Aaron Burr.
The cornerstone was laid August eighth, eighteen oh three, and construction finished in eighteen twenty-two. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in nineteen sixty-two.
